Lovely, Lively London

I was lucky to have spent three wonderful weeks in Denmark, and after bidding our beloved neighbourhood and awesome apartment goodbye, we took a quick flight to London. London had not been a particularly high-ranking destination for me (what with the fact that they speak English and all) but Ian had received a somewhat open invitation to the British Library. We figured we might as well stop in London for a few days since we were so close, and considering I’d never been. After my first half-day exploring the city, I was very glad we went; London was so much more than I’d expected.

I’m taking a slightly different approach with this post and discussing two very valuable ways that I saw the city. I would highly recommend both to anyone with an itinerary of must-see sites in London.

The London Pass 

When I started googling things to do in London – two days before arriving there – I quickly realized that there were many attractions I wanted to see, and basically everything had an admission price, aside from the major national museums. I quickly stumbled upon the London Pass. Typically, I’m not a huge fan of such passes because I feel like they aren’t designed for me. Either I’ve already been to a city previously, and therefore don’t have to do ALL the sightseeing; I’m not interested in seeing all of the major attractions, and therefore the high pass price just isn’t worth it; or I simply don’t have time to get value out of it.

It turns out that the London Pass was the perfect way to see London. It’s super flexible – you can buy for 1, 2, 3 or 6 days. I had 5 days in the UK, but only 4 in London so I bought the 3 day pass, and did sightseeing that was not included in the pass on my first London day – Regent’s Park, Primrose Hill, Camden Lock Market, Brick Lane, London Eye, Trafalgar Square, etc. This means that if or when back in London, I’ll be able to focus on the free museums, none of which I had time to visit.

London Pass – Benefits

Not only did the pass cover admission to almost all the major sites, other than the London Eye, but it also offered Fast Track Entry at multiple sites, which in London is actually a valuable perk. London really is tourist galore! Further, it came with a useful pocketbook with info on all the attractions included with the Pass, including directions, hours, and what the pass offered.

The final benefit of the London Pass was that it was a flat fee – and I could use it as much as I wanted, though there is a total cap on the value for which you can redeem it, but I didn’t come too close to that. Which meant that I could do things that I otherwise wouldn’t have spent money on, including the Thames River Cruise. Rather than taking the tube from the Tower of London back into the heart of the city, I hopped on a River Cruise, which departed every 30 minutes I believe. The cruise was a wonderful way to see many of the sites bordering the Thames, while also relaxing and listening to an entertaining guide point out noteworthy buildings and provide some history.

And here are just a few pics taken at some of the attractions I visited using my London Pass. I also used my pass to go to the London Transport Museum (on the top of Ian’s to-do list) and the Museum of London. Both were very well done.

London Eye view. Note, the London Eye is owned by Virgin and is NOT included with the London Pass.
Tip: Book Eye tickets in advance so you can skip all the lines!

Tower of London

London Pass = discounted audio guide at Tower of London.

Tower Bridge. The Tower Bridge Experience was included in the London Pass.

Tower Bridge from the Thames River Cruise, included in the London Pass.

Westminster and Big Ben, where I disembarked from the River Cruise.

Kensington Palace, included in London Pass. It’s William and Kate’s primary residence and where Queen Victoria was born and learned she had become Queen.

Royal Albert Hall was included in the London Pass, but I passed by after it had closed to visitors. Diane Krall was about to take the stage.

Westminster Abbey, included in the London Pass.

Hallway in Westminster Abbey. No photos were allowed in the main spaces but this somewhat captures the beautiful gothic ceilings. The building was WAY more stunning than I could have imagined.

I missed the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, but caught it here at Windsor Castle, my absolute favourite.

Windsor Castle watchtower.

Eton College Chapel is the large white building, seen from Windsor Castle. I visited Windsor Castle with a family member who’s a local so she took me on a drive through Eton so I could see the boys in their uniforms, tails and all.

The London Underground – Contactless Payment 

While we relied heavily on cycling and walking to get around in Copenhagen, I knew that I’d be riding the Tube to get around London. It’s such a huge city, and I had only 4 days in the city and a long list of attractions to get to. I would have to travel as efficiently as possible. So, given we planned on using the tube a lot, Ian and I researched the most economical way of doing this. Would we buy day passes, a weekly pass, get an Oyster card? There seemed to be a number of options….

Then I found about about contactless payment, which was by far the easiest way I could imagine to get around the city. All Transport for London modes of transport allow riders to tap their credit cards where they originate and terminate their journey. That’s right – a simple tap of the credit card is all you need to open the turnstiles. We were lucky because we have Amex cards; regular North American credit cards such as our TD Visas did not work, at least not yet. But with our Amex, we tapped on and off, charging us fare for our distance travelled. And here’s the beauty. There are daily and Monday-Sunday caps! So you pay as you go, but get capped if you hit the ceiling.

Thank you Transport for London for makes riding the tube easy AND economical. Makes the TTC’s day passes seem rather outdated….

More observations and commentary on London to come in my next post!