As well all know all too well, London isn’t a particularly cheap place to live or work. But it’s expensive for visiting travellers, too. From entry to attractions like the London Eye (from £25.50) and tours of Buckingham Palace (£95) to museum exhibition tickets, seeing all this city’s most famous attractions can put a serious dent in your finances.
A recent study by money advice site SavingSpot confirmed that London is one of the world’s most expensive tourist cities. The study sifted through thousands of TripAdvisor reviews for attractions across the globe and noted the number of mentions of the word ‘expensive’, before ranking overpriced destinations.
Unsurprisingly, two London attractions featured in the top ten worst value destinations. The London Eye came in at third, while the View from the Shard came in at fifth. Which isn’t much of a surprise, really. The Eye has long been a bit spenny, while the Shard’s viewing platform starts from around £28 per person.
Furthermore, two further destinations that aren’t in London but are still often accessed from the city also featured in the list. The Warner Bros Studio Tour (aka ‘The Making of Harry Potter’) was named the most overpriced attraction in the world, while Legoland Windsor was named second-most expensive.
All this is, of course, worth taking with a pinch of salt. Not only is ‘value’ a pretty subjective term, but the methodology might not be so watertight. After all, if you’re searching for reviews mentioning ‘expensive’, might the study also have mistakenly counted terms like ‘not expensive’ or ‘not that expensive’?
In any case, you can read SavingSpot’s full study for yourself here.
London on a budget with Time Out
If you’re looking to do London on a budget, worry not – you have plenty of options. Time Out has a mind-bogglingly massive guide to doing this city on the cheap, from the finest cheap eats and stuff to do for £5 or less to the best totally free things to do.
Did you see that London’s tourist numbers have officially bounced back to pre-pandemic levels?
Plus: London’s Superloop bus network is massively expanding in spring 2024.
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