What a day in London actually costs

Budget guides for London tend to be either fantasy or panic. This is the shape of a normal day, without the two extremes.

Transport

If you are moving around central London, your daily transport cost is effectively capped: once you reach the cap, everything else that day is free. That makes transport the easiest part of your budget to predict, and it means there is no reason to walk an extra forty minutes to save money once you have hit it.

Buses cost less per journey than the Tube and have their own hourly transfer deal, so a day spent mostly on buses lands well under the cap.

Food

The three realistic levels are: supermarket meal deal, casual sit-down lunch, and a proper dinner. Mixing them is how most people actually eat here — a cheap lunch buys you a better dinner. Tap water is free and safe everywhere, and asking for it in a restaurant is completely normal.

One paid thing

Most days have a single ticketed item in them: a show, an exhibition, a viewpoint, a tour. Building your day around one paid thing and filling the rest with free museums and walking is the difference between an expensive week and a reasonable one.

The charges nobody mentions

• Card machines abroad often ask whether you want to pay in your own currency. Always choose pounds. Choosing your own currency lets the machine set its own exchange rate, and it is a bad one.
• Some banks add a fee to every foreign transaction. Check yours before you rely on tapping for everything.
• Tipping is not automatic. Many restaurants add a service charge to the bill, and you are not expected to tip again on top. There is no tipping in pubs when you order at the bar.

The honest summary

Transport is predictable, food is where the range is widest, and the single biggest saving available to you is choosing how many ticketed attractions you do in a day.