Just how expensive is a day out in London? We recently heard that London is the world’s priciest city for culture with the average cost for 2 people to an art gallery, museum, heritage site, the opera, the ballet and a classical concert costing £256.
Despite the premium prices, London’s tourist figures have been sky-rocketing with millions filling the cities attractions every year. Clearly the costs aren’t putting people off!
So are London’s attractions really overpriced? Do we get a great experience for what we pay for or is it all one big rip off? I’ve taken a sample of London tourist attractions, researched the ticket price of 1 adult and 1 child and created a price comparison table. As you take a look, think about if you would be willing to pay that amount for that attraction.
London attraction price comparison.
The average price of an adult ticket for the above attractions: £21.03
The average price of a child ticket for the above attractions: £15.80
So what do you think? Which of these attractions is worth the admission price? Maybe you have visited one of these attractions before – if so did you think it was value for money? Let’s see if London is really as overpriced as we are led to believe.
Whilst this table only illustrates paid attractions, there are still plenty of free things to do in London which can help you balance the books when you plan your days out.
I’ve been to a few of these attractions, so here is what I think regarding their value for money:
View from the Shard: An amazing view and nothing else quite like it in London, but that’s all you get, the view. At £25 per person it’s pushing the limits of what its worth here. It;s one of those places that you should go once but probably not worth going again.
London Eye: A bit of a let down if I’m honest. £18 to queue up for an hour and ride for 30 minutes. I admit the view is pretty good once you get to the top, but you are only there for a few minutes before you are half way back down again. Save up and go to the shard instead.
Emirates Air Line: A really fun addition to the London transport network (regardless of it’s worth the costs or not) and can make for a unique and thrilling ride. The views on the short journey across the Thames are magnificent and all for a measly £3.30 off your oyster. This is definitely a value for money London attraction.
I’ve not visited the other attractions in the recent past yet (been to London zoo when I was 5, memory is a bit hazy these days), but it looks to me that white water rafting could be a bit of a rip off, but it could also be bags of fun, it would depend how long you got to have a go. Climbing up the o2 also seems like a bit of an expensive gimmick, but again I’ve not been so can’t confirm.
Battersea children’s zoo and the Cutty Sark seem to be worth the admission price on first glance, I’ll be checking them out soon.