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What $100 of Travel Money Will Get You in London

London
by Matt Hershberger Feb 11, 2015

LONDON, YOU WILL constantly hear, is one of the most expensive cities in the world. Which is a shame for travelers, because it’s also one of the most beautiful, most fun, and most interesting cities in the world. So say you’re planning a trip to London, and are trying to keep your budget for particular things under $100 — how can you possibly do that in this most expensive of cities?

As of this writing, one British pound is worth roughly $1.52, which means that if you want to spend $100 in London, you’re spending under £66. Here’s how to do it.

Museums and culture

If you want to see London’s museums, $100 will get you the following:

  • Entrance to the British Museum, the Victoria & Albert, the National Gallery, the Natural History Museum, the Tate Modern, and the Imperial War Museum, and $100 worth of beer. (All those museums are free).
  • 4 sightseeing tickets in St. Paul’s. Unless, of course, you go to a service, which is totally free.
  • Just under 3 tickets to the Tower of London ($34 each).
  • 3 tickets to Westminster Abbey ($28 each).
  • 2 tickets on the London Eye ($46).
  • 2 tickets to Madame Tussauds ($45).

Restaurants

For $100, you can get the following from London restaurants:

  • At least 6 full meals (with drinks included) at Brick Lane, provided you’re a good bargainer.
  • A dinner for two at a not-too-posh restaurant (excluding drinks)
  • 10 full English breakfasts (not including pints and Bloody Marys)
  • 5 servings of fish and chips

Drinking

If you want to drink in London (and if you don’t, why are you even visiting?), for $100, you can get:

  • Around 18 pints of beer at a London pub (the average price of a London pint is $5.50). The good news is you don’t have to tip, so it all goes towards the beer. The bad news is it’s still crazy expensive.

Transportation

For $100, you can do the following to get around London:

  • Do a single trip in a cab from Heathrow to Central London ($84), with room for a few pints.
  • Take a cab for about 20 kilometers (around $15 per 3 km)
  • Get unlimited Tube and bus passes in Zone One for 7 days ($14 per day)
  • Buy 12 Oyster cards (public transportation passes at $8 each), all of which would be refunded upon leaving.

Tours

For tours around London, $100 will get you:

  • 2 hop-on, hop-off sightseeing bus tours ($45).
  • 2 tickets on the Literary Pub Crawl ($37 each), with money left for pints.
  • 3 open-top bus tours.
  • 7 Beatles walking tours.

Accommodation

If you want to crash in London, you can get the following for $100:

  • 3 nights in a Central London hostel dorm room (about $30 a night per person).
  • 5 nights in an outer London hostel dorm room (about $20 a night per person).
  • A single night in an outer London hotel (around $80 a night).
  • Three-quarters of a night in a Central London hotel (around $130 a night).

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