Is the London Pass really worth the money?
We’re on the final afternoon trying out the Willy Wonkerish golden tourism ticket that is the six-day London Pass, which allows entry into pretty much any of the city’s attractions. It's cost £470 for me, my wife Dinah and our two children and I am in a money-saving frenzy.
So far today I’ve marshalled Dinah and the kids onto a Thames river cruise, round the Royal Observatory and The National Maritime Museum. We’ve toured the Cutty Sark and right now we’re having a stand-off outside the Fan Museum in Greenwich.
For some reason my family don’t want to see 4,000 fans from all over the world arranged in thematic collections.
“You only want to go in to raise your what-we-would-have-spent tally,” says my daughter.
“I’m not going,” says my son. “It's going to be just like the Jewish Museum.”
My wife, putting a protective arm around them. “Disneyland Paris,” she tells me. “You said afterwards I should’ve stopped you, Ben. Well, you’re doing the same thing now.”
Three years ago in Disneyland Paris, pre-warned of the food prices inside the park, I successfully smuggled our lunch through security by taping baguettes to the backs of the kids’ legs. At the time it was considered a family triumph. Now, despite her complicity in this – Dinah helped me lay the ham inside the kids’ shoes that went inside their baguettes - it’s somehow become established I’m a mean Dad, who, when I go too far saving money, requires reining in.
I argue the museum might be interesting. Does my wife know the history of fans? No. Neither do I. And besides, there’s an orangery for a cup of tea.
Our #Orangery is open today until 16.00hrs! Pop along for a slice of #cake and a cuppa to celebrate #bankholidaymonday & #EasterWeekend ! pic.twitter.com/BGgnewE95Y
— The Fan Museum (@TheFanMuseum) April 17, 2017
“A paid-for cup of tea?” she asks, then shakes her head despairingly when I hold up the little jiffy bag containing the four Typhoo tea bags I purloined that morning from our Airbnb.
“I know the fan museum would normally cost…” She reads the entrance price off the London Pass app on her phone. “£22. I understand this is tempting for you to add to your cost-saving spreadsheet that, can I say, you have become a little obsessed with, my love? But this isn’t Pokemon Go. This trip is meant to be fun, remember. For all of us. We can’t visit every free attraction on the pass. And for the record, I let you put ham in their shoes. That’s different from helping you put ham in their shoes. I was never in favour of what you did that day. Please, can we just have ice creams in Hyde Park?
So that’s the one drawback of this otherwise excellent tourism product, dreamt up to make our capital’s highly priced tourism spots affordable. It makes you attempt too much. But then that’s how I like my sightseeing (target-driven) so it’s ideal for me and I’m surprised it has not popped up on my radar before, what with it just having passed its 3.5 millionth customer. You can buy it as an app on your phone or go old school and get a physical card and you can opt for a one-, two-, three-, six- or 10-day pass (who could survive 10 days?). As a rule of thumb, the longer the pass length the greater the chance of savings. The pass then entitles you to free access to over 60 attractions in London. They’re not all fan museums either. Most are A-listers like The Tower of London or London Zoo. You can sign up for everything from walking tours to free cinema tickets, sightseeing buses and even money off back-rubs. With it you get an online guidebook, useful maps and access to pop-up special offers on your phone.
While it worked for us, it wouldn’t for those who linger at attractions. Basically you need to be taking in around three attractions daily to make it stack up. We managed to average, even with two walk-shy kids in tow, four.
Bear in mind several higher value attractions are a little way out (Windsor Castle, Wembley Stadium Tour, Hampton Court Palace). The pass trumpets its priority queuing and while it’s probably different in summer, over Easter we only benefited once from this - boarding a Thames river cruise that we’d admittedly otherwise have missed. That said there were no real queues anyway apart from at the Churchill War Rooms and to see the Crown Jewels at the Tower of London.
Our one disappointment was the free hop-on/hop off sightseeing bus. They’re supposed to pass by every 20 minutes. We waited an hour in Paddington for one before giving up.
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Also, while Curzon cinemas across London offer free screenings, not many showed child-friendly films when we were there, which is why we ended up watching A Quiet Passion off the King’s Road in Chelsea. A biopic about American Poet, Emily Dickinson, it was the only 12A available. Was it a success? Put it this way: our kids punched the air when Dickinson died at the end of kidney disease.
We downloaded the passes to my phone but if I did it again I’d go for the physical pass which you get mailed to you (or you can pick one up at the London Pass HQ near Leicester Square station) because there’s a risk your phone will run out of charge by the end of the day, meaning you can’t show your passes.
Of course, don’t forget there are also loads of amazing free museums and galleries in London that you should incorporate into your trip. Just visit them before activating your pass or after it’s expired to get your money’s worth.
We’re licking ice creams in Hyde Park. I’ve been forgiven for the time we spent staring at the vellum fan depicting the 20th birthday celebrations of the Grand Dauphin. My son’s playing with a boomerang from the Science Museum gift shop. It’s an hour before our train home and a pop-up offer fills my screen for a discounted glass of champagne at the top of The Shard.
“Go on then, Mr Spreadsheet,” says my wife. “What have we saved then?”
“Minus the £2 coin stolen from your handbag by that spider monkey in London Zoo, £317. Although it could be more.”
“More?”
I show her the Shard offer.
The kids pause licking their ice creams. My wife shakes her head.
“No?”
“No.” She holds up her tea cup. I plonk another teabag inside it and walk to the Lido café to fetch hot water.
Travel tips
Break London into geographical pockets. There’s a useful map on the app for this. Hit one area each day via a single tube ride then plunder every attraction within walking distance.
Don’t bother queuing to buy an Oyster card. Your contactless card doubles as one. Just swipe it over the yellow button at underground gates and it calculates the cheapest Travelcard fare at the end of each day (always use the same card to make this work). For kids an Oyster card is best. Under 11s are free on the underground.
Take decent footwear. According to my phone some days we recorded 22,000 steps, the equivalent of walking 14Km.
Day one of your London Pass ends at midnight on the first day you use it so start your sightseeing in the morning.
How to get one
A six Day London Pass costs £139 for adults, £96 for kids. Similar passes are available for 1, 2, 3 and 10 days.
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Our six days
Day One
Natural History Museum – free but my son NEEDED to see the dinosaurs.
Victoria and Albert Museum – free but my wife NEEDED to see 19th century dresses.
Day’s savings: Nil. (Not happy that night)
Day Two
London Bridge Experience – (Adults: £19.95. Kids: £16.50). Saving: £72.90.
HMS Belfast – (Family ticket: £37.05). Saving: £37.05.
Tower Bridge Experience (Family ticket £22) Saving: £22
Tower of London (Family ticket) £70. Saving £70. Day’s savings: £201.95. (Back in the game!)
Day Three
Kensington Palace (Adults: £19.10. Kids: free) Saving: £38.20
Science Museum Imax (Adults £11. Kids £5) Saving: £32
London Zoo (Family ticket £103.50) Saving: £103.50.
The Jewish Museum (Adults £7.50. Kids £3.50) Saving £22
Curzon Cinema – (Adults £14.50. Kids £9) Saving: £46.
Day’s savings: £241.70 (Almost broken even)
why london is perfect for families
Day Four
Imperial War Museum – Free.
Florence Nightingale Museum (Adults £7.50. Kids £3.80) Saving: £22.60
Churchill War Rooms (Family ticket £48.40. Saving: £48.40
Curzon cinema (Adults £14.50. Kids £9). Saving: £46.
Day’s saving: £117.05 (Boom! Now in healthy profit)
Day Five
St Paul’s Cathedral (Adults £18. Kids £8). Saving: £52
The Globe Theatre. (Family ticket £43) Saving £43
Tate Modern – Free.
Day’s savings: £95
Day Six
River cruise Westminster Pier to Greenwich – (Adults £16.50. Kids £8.25) Saving: £49.50
Royal Observatory (Adults £9.50. Kids £5) , Saving: £29
National Maritime Museum – Free.
Cutty Sark – (Adult £13.50. Kids £7. Saving: £41.
The Fan Museum – (Adults £4, kids £3). Savings £14
The Science Museum – Free.
Day’s Savings: £133.50
Overall savings (£777.20 minus £470 cost of London Pass) = £319.20 (KERCHING!)
Ben Hatch is the author of Are We Nearly There Yet? Road to Rouen, The P45 Diaries, and A Million Dirty Robots.
