How to Make the Most of a Day Out in London at Least Cost

If you wish to spend a day in London and enjoy some of its attractions, see a West End show and have a nice meal, you can do so without spending a lot of money. Given below are a few tips regarding the free London attractions, cheap restaurants and cheap tickets at the West End shows.

Morning

You can start your day after a sumptuous breakfast to keep you going till lunch time, by visiting one or two of the free world-class museums and art galleries that abound in London. There is a plethora of free museums such as V&A Museum, British Museum, Museum of London, Science Museum, Natural History Museum, National Gallery, National Maritime Museum, Tate Modern, Imperial War Museum, V&A Museum of Childhood and many more., You can choose to go to any of them depending on your interests and the type of exhibits that you would like to see.

If you decide to go to the National Gallery, which is located off Trafalgar Square, you can enjoy paintings by world-famous artists such as Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt, Picasso, Michelangelo, Monet and Van Gogh. The gallery also offers free 60-minute guided tours of their collection twice a day at 11:30am and 2:30pm. You can also visit the Wallace Collection which is located in a grand house near Marble Arch, where you can see its collection of portraits, porcelain and pikestaffs along with armour and weaponry in a separate large room.

Lunch Time

By the time you are through with visiting the museums of your choice, you will be quite hungry and would want to relax and have a delicious lunch at a cheap restaurant. London abounds in such cheap eateries that are spread all over the city. However, since you were spending your morning at the National Gallery, it would be best to just walk down or take a short Tube or bus ride to the Carnaby area near Oxford Circus where you can have a delicious lunch that will not burn a hole in your pocket. There are plenty of cheap restaurants in the area around the iconic Carnaby Street that offer different types of cuisines making it easy to for you to choose the type of food that you relish most. You can try Indian food at Masala Zone or Chinese food at Cha Cha Moon or just settle for some salads and sandwiches at Leon.

Staying at hotels near Piccadilly would be best if you wish to spend the least amount on commuting as most places are nearby.

Afternoon

After a delicious and sumptuous lunch, you would certainly like to rest a while and what can be better than the lush green meadows at Hyde Park which is free to enter. You can relax there and even indulge in some leisure activities or visit some of its attractions such as the Speakers’ Corner, Serpentine Lake, Serpentine Gallery, Serpentine Solar Shuttle or Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fountain.

The rest of the afternoon can be spent in some bargain shopping. You can visit one of London’s cheap shopping markets such as Portobello Road Market, Camden Market or Spitalfields. After a shopping spree, you can indulge in a bit of cheap sightseeing tour. You can take the London Bus Route 4 and use your Oyster Card for the journey. It will take you past Waterloo and you will be able to see the Houses of Parliament, Fleet Street, St Paul’s Cathedral and the Barbican.  The other option is to take London Bus route 88 that will cover attractions on the way from Camden to Clapham via Regent Street and Oxford Street. You will pass Piccadilly Circus, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament and Tate Britain. It will then pass the River Thames. You can again use your Oyster Card for the journey.

If you are visiting London and staying at BW Premier Shaftesbury London Piccadilly, you will be strategically located close to most of your places of interest.

Evening

You can plan to have an early dinner and then get discount West End theatre ticket so that you can watch the show that you like. For dinner, you should avoid the expensive restaurants and check out Chinatown which is centred on Gerrard Street where you will find plenty of cheap restaurants. A good idea is to get a Tastecard that will give you information regarding a large number of restaurants that have special offers. If you have an early evening meal, you can line up for standby theatre tickets that are available at a considerable discount as they are the returns and the unsold tickets for the evening’s show. You can line up at the theatre that offers the show that you would like to see. However, you may not be lucky to get a discounted ticket but if you race around to another theatre, you may just get what you want.

You can also go to the TKTS booth in Leicester Square where you can get theatre tickets at up to 50 percent of the original price both on the day and up to seven days in advance. Another way to get discounted West End theatre tickets is to book online in advance.

If you are interested in seeing a film, you can go to Prince Charles Cinema where you can get discounted tickets for just-off-new-release films. These discounted tickets are available from £8.00 per person. Popular Sing-A-Long-A films are also screened at the cinema where you are encouraged to sing along loud to your favourite movie musicals. If you wish to visit a late night free Museum or Gallery, you can find some that are open in the night.

Your day will certainly be long and tiring but you would have seen a lot of London’s offerings at hardly any cost at all.