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London is a city loved by travellers far and wide for its beautiful sights, famous attractions, and vibrant atmosphere. Unfortunately, despite this fame, the city is still a confusing place, causing many first-time tourists to make some major mistakes. Thankfully, many of these will cause little harm, but some could cost you time or money you can’t afford to lose. To get the best possible experience from your London trip, here are five tourist mistakes that you need to avoid.
Visiting During Peak Season
With nine million people calling it home, and a further three million commuting in each day, it’s fairly safe to say that London is a busy city. For this reason, it’s always sensible to visit during off-peak and shoulder seasons. This way, you can avoid some of the chaos and save some cash. You should also steer clear of public transport during peak hours throughout the week.
Paying For Museum Visits
London may be a notoriously expensive city, but that doesn’t mean that everything you do during your trip has to cost an arm and a leg. In fact, there are plenty of free activities for you to try out, including walking tours, and, of course, museum visits. Most of London’s best and most famous museums happen to be free, so don’t make the mistake of paying for a ticket elsewhere.
Eating Out Every Meal
Eating out in London can get incredibly costly incredibly quickly. Thankfully, eating in, on the other hand, is pretty cheap. Because of this, you may want to skip a hotel and opt for accommodation with a kitchen instead, like the short term lets from London Serviced Apartments. This way, you can cook most of your own meals and only need to eat out when you really want to.
Skipping The Oyster Card
With high parking prices and congestion charges, driving around London can be expensive and stressful. For this reason, most people tend to avoid it and stick to buses and tubes instead. If this is what you intend to do, then make sure that you pick up an Oyster card when you stop at a tube station. This makes ticket purchases much simpler and also offers discounted travel.
Keeping To Zone One
Many of London’s major attractions and landmarks happen to be in the very centre, but that doesn’t mean that you should spend your whole time away there. Much of the city’s charm lies outside of this zone, in Brixton, Hackney, Notting Hill, and the markets of Camden. If you want to really make the most of your trip, then you should explore past the boundaries of Westminster.
Forgetting To Book Ahead
No one likes to stick to a strict schedule while they’re away, but, when it comes to London, having some idea of the attractions you want to visit can be beneficial. This is because many of these places offer discounted tickets when you book online ahead of your visit. For this reason, you should always try to have a rough idea of your plans before you head off.
A visit to London can be fun and exciting, but there is a lot of stress to face too. If you want to make the most of your trip, then avoid the mistakes listed above.
