Our last morning in London was bright and sunny. We didn’t have a full day scheduled because we needed to catch the train to return home. My plan was to use the Golden Bus Tour that was part of our London Pass. We checked our bags at bell hop services in the hotel and headed out across Westminster Bridge to exchange our London Pass for a bus ticket.
Being so close to Tower Victoria once again came in handy because we were very close to a tour operator to grab tickets. We waited for the Blue Line as each bus is labeled differently and is a different tour. One bus is specifically a tour that you use headphones on and the other tour has a live tour guide. I really wanted to tour with a live tour guide and was waiting for that bus. The guide, who was at the stop, had us to get on the wrong bus. We headed up one stop and I made everyone in my family get off. At first they were not very happy with me. We waited at that stop for a long time waiting for a tour bus with a live guide and once we finally got on the correct bus it was full and we had to ride on the bottom level. The bus tours around London are very popular and can get very full in the early morning.
The live guide was amazing and as we headed towards some of the more popular sites people exited the bus and we were able to head up to the top and have a great view of the city.
We rode the entire loop and then hopped off the bus to grab a late lunch at one of our favorite places. Hard Rock Café London.
Once again the food was delicious and the atmosphere was loads of fun. It was a great way to spend our last day in London. We grabbed a taxi back to our hotel where we collected our luggage and headed to the train station. After an uneventful train ride we arrived at home. I love being able to travel to one of the best cities in the world just by hopping on a train. It will never grow old.
A final London Pass Tally:
Golden Tours 1-Day Hop On Hop Off Bus Tour: Adult £25.00 Child £11.00
Total Tickets for the Day: £108
Total Transportation for the Day: £20 plus tip
Total Tickets we would have paid for without the London Pass: £506.40
Total Cost of the London Pass for 3 Adults and 3 Children: £483.00 (I also found a 10% off code so it was even less than that.)
So in the end without rushing or having to pack our days it was a good value for us to use the London Pass. It would not have been good for us to add the transportation to our pass to use the buses and tube. To add transportation the total London Pass would have increased £120. We spent about £75 plus tips to use cabs when we needed to. I was able to keep them to a minimum with good planning and visiting attractions that were clustered together and we stayed close to the center of London. The cabs were easy and convenient. If you will be leaving the historic area and exploring other parts of London. Adding transportation may be very beneficial for you.
Hope this review of the London Pass is helpful to you if your planning on heading to London for a few days. My advice is to go to the London Pass site and mark all the places your would like to visit. The actually schedule a time during your trip to visit them. Leave yourself plenty of time to enjoy the attractions and use the map to plan to see locations that are close to each other on the same day.
Next year I am planning on taking the family to Paris. I am still trying to decide if the Paris Pass will be a good deal for us. I’ll let you know what I decide when we get closer!
Around the World with the Love of Five 