…Not only London, but lots of attractions outside the buzzing city! Day or night!
One of the main reasons behind this post is the fact that I often get lots of questions about which are the best ways to plan a visit to London, what to see first and where to find the best deals if possible.
Because I used London Pass in the past for myself, or when friends and family were visiting, this was a no brainer when asked to write a post and share my thoughts on it.
My mum visited me just before the holidays, so I’ll be sharing below a few of our thoughts on how the day went, what we visited and how we planned it all.
The process was rather smooth, not because I’m a Londoner, but because they actually made the booking process so straightforward: all we had to do was pick the duration of our London Pass (1, 2, 3, 6, or 10 consecutive days), and note that the longer your pass the more you save, install the mobile app – which is super suuuper easy to navigate. If you go on the website you’ll even see a few itinerary examples which are always helpful as they give you a sense of time and space. The maps are also great, we were given one when we took the bus tour, but you can access them online, too.
We went for a two day pass as my mum was here for a very short visit this time, then we checked in advance what we wanted to see. On the first day we had my 2yo Amelie who I thought would be slowing us down a little so we aimed more for indoors locations, on the second day we did more of the bus tour which was taking us to a variety of places, from Westminster Abbey to the Shard and Tower Bridge area.
How to Use Your London PassLondon Pass
Passes are valid for consecutive days, not 24-hour periods, so start early in the day to make the most of the 80+ incredible attractions at your fingertips. It was a brilliant excuse for myself to take a break from my daily routine and see some places that I hadn’t seen before or revisit a few of my top favourites. While keeping my mum entertained!
The London Pass benefits
There are lots of benefits when choosing a London Pass, you get to experience the city in various fun ways: by bus, by boat or/ and by tube if choosing a pass with public transport pass, too. I’ve included below some of the main ones:
Access to 80+ top attractions included
1-day Hop-on, Hop-off bus tour included
Skip the ticket line at selected attractions
Exclusive offers and discounts
Enjoy access to the Thames river cruise
Pass central London’s most iconic landmarks, including the London Eye, Tower Bridge, Greenwich and Westminster.
One of the best benefits in my opinion is the 24-hr Thames river cruise you get with The London Pass, so if you have any night owl friends, they would most likely enjoy a midnight cruise along Thames.
We didn’t forget to stop and enjoy a cup of hot tea break or go for fish and chips by the river. And the views are always impressive, aren’t they…
Even if you don’t manage to visit everything you planned for in your first day, I promise you that the second day will be even smoother 😉
For example, one of the attractions that I didn’t manage to see even though I’ve been living in London for almost 10 years. is The original Shakespeare’s Globe, a reconstruction of Shakespeare’s original Globe Theatre. It was built by the actor and director Sam Wanamaker close to the original site – just 230 metres away. The original theatre burned down in 1613 because of a miss-fired cannon during a Henry VIII performance, but I should let the guided tours tell you more about it 😉
One of the most memorable places has to the the Tower Bridge, especially its glass floor my mum was soooo terrified of! She was extremely scared of stepping on it, despite the fact that the guide told her twice that 7 elephants could jump on it and nothing would happen, it wouldn’t break!
There are a few places where pictures are not allowed/ encouraged and Westminster Abbey is one of them. I got a couple unintended cheeky ones before I got to read the sign, but most of the time I was slow living these special moments with my mother while creating memories.
One of the most fun ways to learn about London’s history is by taking the Hop in, Hop off bus tour. The guides are so knowledgable and brilliantly funny, I could spend all day listening to them talking about oldest pubs, city legends and Churchill’s wisdom quotes.
Have you tried the London PassLondon Pass before?
If so, which are your thoughts on it? And how do you plan a city escape, do you plan ahead or skip any research just to figure it all out when you get to your holiday destination? 🙂
