 The London Pass 
Plan Your Route Around London
View Map
Recommendation added: 07/05/2007 01:35
By: dewberry (YSUK rating +714)dewberry has been thanked 0 times for this contribution
"A trip to London last year proved more expensive than me and Mark had bargained for and the exorbitant entrance prices into the more popular attractions meant were seriously over budget by the time we came home. As sods law would have it, we were told about the London Pass literally as we were getting into the car to drive back to Birmingham but I was interested enough to look into it when we got home.
We've decided to have a couple of days in London next weekend for my birthday and as this will definitely be the last break until after the baby is born in June, we've invested in a two day London Pass each so we can have a whirlwind visit to the capital and take in as much as possible without the added trips to the ATM every half an hour!
www.londonpass.co.uk proved invaluable during the planning of this next trip. This site is basically where you buy your pass from if you're buying online; there are several places within London where you can purchase the pass, but I think buying it via the website is by far the easiest option. For a start, once you've placed your order and your pass has arrived you know you've got it. No running around trying to locate somewhere to buy a pass, and no need to have to pay cash for it as you'll have paid in advance - simply leave your hotel as soon as you get to London and hit your first attraction.
Ordering via the website is a quick and easy process. Simply choose how many days you want your pass to run for, input your contact details and pay via the secure card payment screen. You'll be asked to choose a start date for your pass so be careful to make sure you have your travel and accommodation dates sorted before ordering the pass. If you buy your pass online you also have the option to upgrade to a pass which would include travel; we have our travel costs arranged so had no need of this service but the website has a very good explanation of why the London Pass with Travel is a very useful and affordable way of seeing London and getting between the attractions.
www.londonpass.co.uk is really easy to navigate and chock a block full of advice and information about how to get the most of your pass. The attractions are laid out in sub categories so you can see at a glance what there is in your area of interest, although there are over 55 top London attractions which will give you free entry on production of the London Pass so there's bound to be something to suit even the pickiest of tourists! The website gives you a brief description of each attraction, along with opening times and details of any extra discounts your pass entitles you to once inside. Most of the attractions included in the London Pass have secondary offers which give 10% off gift shop purchases or a free cup of coffee in the visitors café, these offers aren't always well publicised at the attractions themselves so it's well worth checking the website out and, if necessary, making a note of what you can have and where!
An aspect of the London Pass site which I particularly like is the help it gives me in planning my route around London. We're only in the capital for two full days and I want to make the most of it and see as much as possible, the fact that www.londonpass.co.uk has provided links to nearby attractions has made this site invaluable when I've been researching our trip. For example, I know Mark wants to have a tour on the Catamaran circular Thames cruise and by looking it up on the website I can see at a glance the closest three or four attractions - one of which is the National Portrait Gallery which I've always wanted to see. From here I can see the historical Banqueting House is nearby as well as Planet Hollywood where I can get a decent discount on production of my pass.
You can sign up for a free London Planner which will allow you to save the attractions you're most interested in visiting so you can easily compare your options and really start to see your sight seeing timetable fill up. I'm using my London Planner to keep track of the six attractions we've both decided are definite must sees; The Tower of London, Catamaran Cruise, St Pauls Cathedral, London Zoo, Kensington Palace and the London Aquarium. The list is, of course, changing all the time but there's so much choice on the website that keeping it to a realistic six (in two days) is getting difficult! There are many other, smaller attractions included in the pass which I'm sure we'll have time to pop into en route to the more touristy places we've earmarked.
The London Pass site also tells you how much each attraction would cost you if you had to pay admission on the gate so you can work out whether you'll be saving enough to justify the initial outlay of the pass. The combined admission prices for the six attractions I mentioned above is £142.50 based on two adult admission prices per attraction. I paid just £88 for both London Passes so that's a pretty hefty saving even without taking into account the extra shopping and restaurant discounts. Once you've ordered your passes online you can expect them to arrive within three working days but remember Royal Mail isn't terribly reliable so I'd suggest not leaving it to the very last minute. Saying that, I placed my order on Sunday evening and the passes were delivered on Tuesday morning so I can't fault the site for their delivery times.
All in all I'd definitely recommend www.londonpass.co.uk as an excellent source of information whether you're a tourist from within the UK or further afield. It's, obviously, the place to buy your London Pass but even if you're just looking for information about some of London's attractions this site is a good starting point. I like the nice, easy to view layout of the pages because it's sometimes so easy to get bogged down in information when looking a tourism type websites - the London Pass site gives concise but accurate and useful information without overloading you with facts and figures. If you decide to order a London Pass online they'll also send you a nicely written London guidebook which would otherwise cost you £5.99. This book looks to be a great supplement to the site; containing maps and suggested itineraries to help you cram as much into your break as possible, I've had a quick flick through our copy and it gives all of the more important information from the website plus a few little tips and tricks for while you're out and about.
www.londonpass.co.uk"
Was this recommendation useful?
|
;)
