Hi My name is chris andmy husband and myself are travelling to london in april to tour britain and europe we want to see a west end show and also see all the sights of london but we're concerned about whether we should organise all this before we leave Australia or when we arrive we will have about 7 days in london before we commence our first tour any assistance would be appreciated.
Regards
chris

Hi Chris, we've just been to London and your best option is to buy a 'London pass' for the time you're in Lond - this will give you free transport and also entry into most attractions in London. With regard to theatre tickets we got them for Wicked for approx £38 (usually £60) we got excellent seats, on the day we wanted to go at 'half price' outlets in Leicester Square (sorry about the spelling) we got their on our travel ticket which was included in our London Pass. London's metro is fantastic, it's colour coded and we didn't get lost once! Regards Marianne

Hi Marianne thanks for the information, did you buy the pass before you left Australia or when you arrived so many people keep telling us how expensive it is over there, not that it worries us we want to have a great time and have been looking forward to this for years.
Did you go on any tours around london itself?
We start our tour with the britain and ireland explorer on the 12th april and then spend another 3 days before we start our europe trip.
Do you know how long the london pass is valid for?
Anyrate thank you for your help.
regards
chris

Hi Chris, we purchased the London pass prior to leaving Oz. we got a 3 day pass, which suited us fine as we were only there for 3 days. I think you can get a 7 day one also. Make sure you get the one that includes transport, it was so easy to get around, not having to buy tickets for each leg or day. We ended in London, following a tour through France with a different tour company than Insight. In London we did the London Eye and also entry into other well know touristy places such as Buckingham Palace, changing of the guards, queens gallery, london tower, london tower jewellry exhibition, london tower bridge, westminster abbey etc etc. If you don't get a London Pass, it may be best for you to get an 'oyster card' or even both ' get the london pass for 3 days and an oyster card for the remaining 4 days, which is just a travel pass on the underground. Anyway - do your research and I'm sure you'll work out what is best for you. Regards Marianne

The Hop-on Hop-off buses are a great way to familiarize yourself with the area. I did the Big Brown Bus line. There are different color coded routes, I did all of them. I think they were blue, red & yellow. (not too sure, it was back in 2002, the memory isn't too great) It's a good way to get a feel for the area, then go back to places you want to spend more time at.

Hi Marianne and all,
Have checked out london pass sight and I guess the other pass is the travel card is that right,we are trying to work out if buying two separate 3 day passes will be ok, our travel agent I presume will be able to purchase these for us did you buy them yourself marianne or go through a agency.
Once again thanks for all your help
regards
chris

Hi Chris

When I went to London 18 months ago I bought a 7 day London Pass with the included Travel Pass in advance and it was brilliant. We really used the Travel Pass and it sure made life easy. We just hopped on and off the regular buses all day long. It is highly recommended.

We also purchased tickets to The Phantom of the Opera and The Mousetrap online prior to leaving Australia.
A couple of things to think about though.

Firstly the online ticket agencies will offer you the next available seat in the section you are interested in. We kept being offer B2 and B3 which are pretty close to the front, but were not what we wanted. So open up the map of the theatre page and keep refreshing the page which tells you which seats they are offering you, until seats in the area you want come up. I had about 5 different ticket agencies open at the same time and kept refreshing until the seats I wanted came up. I wanted seats beside the middle aisle near the back so that I could see really well. Eventually I got them. And when we got to the Phantom of the Opera we were in the perfect place! Great show and we saw everything!

Secondly, if you buy online you will need to go to the theatre to collect your tickets. The email will tell you to go approximately 30 minutes before the show starts. This paniced me so we went early - several hours early - because I was scared we didn't actually have seats and we had been scammed. I'd never bought tickets to a show online before and I was really nervous.

However, the tickets are delivered to the theatre about 45 mins before the show, so they weren't there (more panicking! LOL). But when we went back 30 minutes before the show, they were there and I collected them and still had 20 minutes before the show was to start. So much for worrying the line would be so long I would miss the start. Can't you tell I'm a worrier!

So if you opt for buying online go to collect your tickets 30 minutes before the show, they will be there and you'll have nothing to worry about. Use a credit card so if you have to back out or anything goes wrong you can do a chargeback if they won't refund your money.

The best thing was that we got great seats for both shows and we were able relax knowing that we were booked in.

The other option is to get the tickets through the Concierge of your hotel, but I don't think you get to choose your seats that way, only the area you would prefer. I just loved knowing everything was prebooked and prepaid.

I hope that helps - if you want more info just email me

Have a great holiday
Best wishes
jeni

Re: West End Show Tickets

If you take the Picadilly Line of the underground to Leicester Square you will so loads of little shops selling tickets at discount prices. The official TKTS discount booth stands on its own, further away from the underground/tube entrances, at the far end of the little park/square. You can check them out at their website: www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/tkts/

To see a complete listing of all West End shows, go to the following site:
www.londontheatre.co.uk

If you see that the TKTS booth doesn't sell tickets for a particular production and you really want to see it, you could do what I have done many times in the past. Get the phone number of the theatre from the londontheatre site and call them long distance (keeping time differences in mind). While you are on the line with their box office, you can bring up the theatre's seating plan so you know which seats they are offering you. You buy the tickets on your credit card and then pick them up before the show. (Remember to take that particular credit card with you.)

The nice thing about waiting until you get to London to purchase your tickets is that leaves your time more flexible without having made a big commitment - considering the price of theatre tickets.

Hi Chris - It's the London Pass which includes the travel pass. You may be better off buying a 7 day pass which may work out cheaper than 2 3 day passes. We purchased ours online direct on the London pass website. We also got them sent to us in Oz prior to us leaving - it cost an addition £5, but it was well worth it as we got the pass which we could use instantly from arrival and also the book which shows you want you are entitled to with the pass, it gave us time to research and plan our few days in London. Also as we had the pass, we could use it straight away, if you pick it up in London, you have to travel(at your expense) to pick up the pass and you will be using your valuable touring time to get the pass, rather than being out and about using it. Regards Marianne

Thanks again marianne and also jeni I appreciate the feed back, I'm pretty sure we will purchase the pass and travel online before we go and even get the theatre tickets I'm the sort of person that likes to be organised and no what we are doing.
thanks again
chris