A weekend in London is an ideal way for a temporary and occasional escape from the everyday reality. Cheap tickets to London have became easily available, and there are departures from almost all major cities in Europe and beyond. As a result, London has become the “go to” choice for escaping for a few days, and as an excuse for a shorter trip.
Two or three days in this European metropolis with an enviable history can be quite enough if you plan your time wisely.
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How to organize a weekend in London?
Well, let’s start with the assumption that you decide to travel to London on Friday morning, and that you plan to return on Monday, you have 3 full days left to explore London.
Here is a map with attractions in London that you can use during your trip. 😉
How to get a cheap plane ticket for a weekend in London?
A detailed guide on how to get a cheap plane ticket every time anywhere and anytime I wrote here: How to get a cheap plane ticket every time – a complete guide in 15 steps.
But for this specific case of a weekend in London, it is best to follow the Skyscanner website where you can see directly the prices for a specific date and flight of interest.
Search for your flight to London from anywhere in the world on skyscanner.
Or the version I prefer is skyscanner, where you choose the airport from which you depart as well as the airport of your destination, and you can find the cheapest ticket much more easily via the “cheapest month” or “whole month” options.
I would definitely have to emphasize that the easiest way to find a cheap plane ticket is to be flexible when it comes to travel dates.
How to get there from the airport? Stansted or Heathrow or Luton.
Stansted
The easiest, fastest and cheapest way to get from Stansted is by the bus or the train. Here are some options:
- Stansted Airport: Bus Transfer from central London
- London: Express Train Transfer to/from Stansted Airport
- London: Stansted Express Airport Transfer to/from Stratford
Heathrow.
London: Express Train Transfer to/from Heathrow Airport
LHR London Heathrow Airport: Plaza Premium Lounge
Luton.
Luton Airport to Central London Bus Transfer
Gatwick.
London: Gatwick Airport to Central London Roundtrip Transfer
London Gatwick Airport (LGW): Premium Lounge Entry
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Accommodation for the weekend in London?
It is possible to find fairly cheap weekend accommodation in London in just a few steps.
Namely, in the London district “Paddington” there are a bunch of “low and middle budget” hotels that are quite decent and ok for a weekend in London.
The rooms are tidy, the neighborhood is safe and well connected, there is hot water and you are greeted with new towels every day. Most of them offer breakfast included in the price.
For these conditions, you can find a hotel room for about 30 euros per person per night.
Public transport in London
I have to admit that when researching travel it was quite difficult for me to find specific and accurate information about public transport in London. On the other hand, for a weekend in London, public transport is quite easy to use.
There are several ways to pay for public transport, but I would still focus here on the two simplest and cheapest.
The real thing is their Oyster card which can be bought and then topped up with pounds which can then be spent on transport.
Another is to use your own (debit) card, the principle of use of which works the same as Oyster.
When entering the metro or bus, the card/oyster is simply placed against the reader.
PRICES of public transport:
RED BUS: If you use the bus, the price you will pay for a 60-minute ride is 1.5 pounds. At that time you can change several buses and lines. Every time you enter, you have to read the card/oyster, but no new payment will be made within 60 minutes. It is not necessary to read the card when exiting.
What is interesting is that no matter how many times you read the card/oyster in a day for bus rides, you will not be charged for more than 4 rides, i.e. the value of the daily bus ticket.
METRO (TUBE/UNDERGROUND): If you use the metro and pay with a card/oyster, the price of ONE RIDE will be 2.4 pounds, while buying a physical ticket costs 5 pounds.
London is divided into 9 zones, and zone 1 is the central one, where you will probably move during the weekend in London.
There is also a hop on hop off bus, in my opinion a great way to see London in such a short time. You have a choice of hop on bus for 1, 2 or 3 days. During that time, you can get on and off the bus countless times at marked stops, which are everywhere. This includes a boat ride on the River Thames.
View the offer here: London Hop-On Hop-Off Bus + boat ride on the river Thames
Attractions in London, what to see and visit?
Among the “paid” attractions, that is, those for which you will have to pay if you want to participate, I would single out climbing Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, the London Eye and a visit to Shakespeare’s Globe theater – we loved this one!
Of course, there is also the inevitable free walking tour, which you can book HERE.
London pass
The London pass is one of the more popular options for visiting a large number of museums and attractions for a cheaper price.
Choose between a London pass for 1 day, 2 days, 3 days or 6 days. In addition to “skipping the line” or “skip the line” for entering museums, one day on the hop on hop off bus is also included, which I think is a great option to see as much of London as possible for as little money as possible in a short amount of time!
Read more about the London pass HERE.
Excursions from London
Among the most popular one-day and half-day trips from London are those to Oxford, Windsor, Stonehenge, Bath (Roman baths).
Excursions are relatively affordable if you choose a good and quality tour. I already wrote about this in the article: STONEHENGE – TRIP FROM LONDON – EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW.
Tour: Stonehenge from London – multiple departures per day
We took a day trip to Stonehenge + Windsor + Bath and we were very satisfied.
On the link, check all the information that would be good for you to know before booking a trip from London. In addition, there you will find suggestions for tours and how to avoid bad ones.
Some interesting tours and tickets:
- Warner Bros Studio Tura (uključen transfer)
- London pass
- London Eye: standardna ulazica ili skip the line ulaznica
- Stansted Airport: Bus Transfer iz centra Londona
- Madame Tussauds London ulaznice
- SEA LIFE London ulaznice
- London: Windsor Castle, Stonehenge & Bath cijelodnevna Toura
- London: Windsor dvorac, Stonehenge, and Oxford Tour cijelodnevna tura
- Madame Tussauds London ulaznice
- The London Bridge experience
- London Stadium Tour
- Shakespeare’s Globe kazalište tura i ulaznice
- Kuća Shakespearova rođenja ulaznice
- London zoo ulaznice
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*All photos and text of the article are the property of the author and may not be used without consultation.
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