Nacktschnecken omlet Cube

[Chucky Mama]

ES and 3 other 16 year olds are going up to London for 2 days in a weeks time to celebrate the end of their GCSEs. They will be on a budget. Any tips or ideas on what they can do on a budget?

[Cinnamon]

We did a day trip last year, & the highlight for me (I am easily pleased) was visiting the spectacular Gherkin building in the financial district

It was just brilliant - a truly gorgeous building!

 

Wandering around Covent Garden is always entertaining too.

[patsylabrador]

I always recommend walking along the South Bank. It's central, easy to get to and can suit all budgets. So much goes on along there, especially during the summer months. It's busy, energetic and of course you always have the excitement of everything happening on the Thames itself. If they like history there's tons to see along there, there are nice shopping arcades, museums, street theatre, the London Eye and of course Tower Bridge and across the river the Tower of London which is fun to stroll around with an ice cream even if you can't go in.

There's a little beach with some spectacular sand sculptures.

I like to start from Westminster Bridge end so of course there's the Houses of Parliament as well.

I'm putting a link to a site which is quite good for free ideas for visiting London.

londonforfree

 

Just thought I'd add that if he loves his food and is near Southwark Market on one of his days, they will be overwhelmed by the food you can buy there. Much better option than fast food places. Big bacon butties, fresh bread, fruit, olives sausages, pies, all sorts of stuff. They would probably enjoy the London Dungeons which are expensive but cheaper if you buy tickets online I think. All these things are in close proximity which would save too much time- wasting on the tubes.

Also, some stations are within easy walking distance but look miles apart on the tube map, a good A-Z is essential.

Even though I am a regular visitor to London I always have an A-Z and tube map with me.

Edited July 28, 2010 by Guest

[Egluntyne]

A trip on the Thames on the waterbus thingy, up to the O2 and back is amazing for us out of towners, and is very cheap.

[Tutti Frutti]

Museums are free!!! Science museum (inc moon landings!), natural history (dinosaurs), British (egyptian treasures). Watch the artists in Covent Garden, visit Carnaby Street. Wander around China Town (there's a great chinese called Wong Kei's - formica tables, cash only, food comes quickly - like a chinese cafe! They plonk you down on any old table so you might end up sharing a table with other people but the food is FABULOUS! No airs and graces, let alone music ). Harrods for a nosey round - they don't HAVE to buy anything . Picnic in a park - Hyde Park/Kensington Gardens are both lovely. Wander along the embankment. Are the bicycles available to hire yet? I think so but you need to become a member...

 

See BBC website

 

And there's this one.

 

And he should think about getting an Oyster Card.

 

Also, check your train service as some offer cheap days out tickets (going by South West Trains).

 

More as and when I think of it (used to be a student in Kensington ).

[Lewis]

Southbank is good for a wander around, maybe walk up to the Tate Modern.

 

Get a tube pass for the day and just see everything they can

Theres always the Monopoly Run, where you go + see all the places on the monopoly board and get a picture ... which is free to do

Camden is a place to walk around + get something to eat too, especially for teenagers.

 

Depending on what they like you can always get cheap theatre tickets for a matinee/evening, we got some for £15 + £25 last year I love Avenue Q + theres always good deals but theres probably an age limit - was only something like over 12s though.

[Tutti Frutti]

Lots of free things to do in London (and elsewhere!) on this website

[chick wiggle]

You can do all the sightseeing things pretty quickly ie, the London eye, houses of parliament, thames, london bridge, buckingham palace, harrods.

Camden market is my favourite place, its brilliant just to walk around and watch all the different people there, great different stuff you dont see in normal markets, wonderful smells, and cheap food.

Covent garden is great and if its a weekend covent garden and leicester square always have brilliant street entertainers there.

He'll have a brilliant time im sure.

[Olly]

some good advice above, an Oyster card is a must because tickets without Oyster are (deliberately) much more expensive. I think just hopping on and off buses and riding around is quite good fun, and as said above, most of the museums are free, and they are not dusty halls full of glass cases any more, many including the Science and Natural History Museum have some quite good interactive stuff, albeit a lot of it is aimed at younger children.

 

Covent Garden definitely, because it's free to wander round and watch the street artists, and Camden is also quite lively. It depends what they are interested in, they may just enjoy Oxford Street/Carnaby Street etc, not quite like it was in the Swinging Sixties (or so I'm told!) but lots of shops to hang around. Much as it pains me to say so, the cheapest place they can eat is probably MacDonalds or similar ... Chinatown is a good idea, but pretty much everywhere else is going to be expensive. It's London, innit.

 

While I agree that the Gherkin is lovely to look at (I see it every day!) you can't actually get into the building, so unless they are interested in architecture, in which case the Lloyds Building is just round the corner, there probably isn't much else to interest teenagers over there. Of course they could find a book and follow some history - Spitalfields Market is great - they could do a Jack The Ripper walk or similar, although there are charges for those. A ticket on the ordinary riverboat service is very good value, it goes down to Greenwich and back and the views are fabulous, Greenwich is also very interesting. Oh yes, and the half-price tickets booth in Leicester Square, always worth a visit although you're unlikely to get tickets to the really popular shows.

 

I'm afraid that working in London every day makes me a bit blase about the sights and things available to do, I take them for granted a bit and usually can't wait to get out of town and back to my chickens!

[whoopsie]

If they want to go to the cinema then there is the Prince Charles in Leicester Square. They might not show the big blockbusters but they still ahve good film and the tickets are very cheap.

 

it's worth looking to see if there are any events on too - I went into town on a random day last year and found myself in the middle of a Spanish festival!

[Tutti Frutti]

I went into town on a random day last year and found myself in the middle of a Spanish festival!

 

Was it this one? Coming up in the next couple of days!

[Poached]

Hi

 

 

I Go up to London every weekend and on thursday,friday and Saturday their is borough market (Which is near southwark) which has a varied range of food from lots of different cultures and when i went up on saturday i was full up from the samples they put out

 

 

Josh

[patsylabrador]

Camden is a place to walk around + get something to eat too, especially for teenagers.

 

I haven't been there since last summer, but when I did go there, admittedly on the back of a motorbike so my vision was obscured, I'm sure I saw a cafe which had mopeds/scooters as the outside seats. For the brief seconds I saw it, it looked good fun with swarms of young people. My husband thought he saw it but he was having to concentrate on the traffic and peds who were all over the place.

Did you see it?

[whoopsie]

OOh no it wasn't Tutti Frutti, but that one sounds even better!

[poachedegg]

We went last weekend and loved it, however your ES shouldn't underestimate how busy it is at the moment and the queues for everything was .

 

We found the open top bus tour really interesting and you could hop on/off when you wanted, as we booked with The Original Tour Company, the river cruise was free (we booked online and was a little cheaper), we went to Greenwich on the boat, as we were actually staying there, but worth a trip anyhow.

 

Though we saw all the sights, we didn't bother actually going in any as it would have taken an age just to get in.

 

We also didn't buy an Oyster card, we bought a day ticket £5.25 for all day in Zone 1 & 2, which covered tube, buses and trains within those zones. Not sure what the price would be for 16 yr olds.

 

The Embankment and Covent Garden were our favourite (though we are a little older than your ES ).

 

Hope he has a good time.

Edited July 29, 2010 by Guest

[Lewis]

Camden is a place to walk around + get something to eat too, especially for teenagers.

I haven't been there since last summer, but when I did go there, admittedly on the back of a motorbike so my vision was obscured, I'm sure I saw a cafe which had mopeds/scooters as the outside seats. For the brief seconds I saw it, it looked good fun with swarms of young people. My husband thought he saw it but he was having to concentrate on the traffic and peds who were all over the place.

Did you see it?

Ye, I know what you mean

They have just the back, seat half, of retro mopeds screwed to the side of bar to sit on - theres a place the same in the Bullring

 

TKTS is the Leicester Square cheap tickets place, we've been there a few times + got bargains

 

My brother went yesterday, must be really busy 'cos its the first week of the holidays so everyone's going!

[Chucky Mama]

Some great ideas, thanks, I knew that you would come up trumps.