London Trip

london changing of the guard

Myself and a friend decided on a trip to London with 6 kids all over 11 and under 15. Train fares from Derbyshire were really pricey unless we went in the middle of the day. So we decided to plan our Read the full article…

Myself and a friend decided on a trip to London with 6 kids all over 11 and under 15. Train fares from Derbyshire were really pricey unless we went in the middle of the day. So we decided to plan our trip to stay overnight.

Looking for cheap accommodation in London

Looking for cheap accommodation for us all, trawling through the usual budget hotels and getting nowhere fast, I remembered my Independent Hostel Guide and looked at the map of Hostels in London.  We phoned the hostel direct and they were great, organizing an 8 berth dorm for us.

London Dover Castle Hostel
London Dover Castle Hostel

It was very exciting, Return train for 8 of us from Matlock Bath £95, Hostel B&B  £17 each, Cheap tickets for the musical Oliver £15 each.  We then went to HMS Belfast, Tate Modern (watching the peregrine falcons who live in the chimney courtesy of the RSPB who had telescopes set up) Natural History museum, Covent Garden Transport Museum, all free and greatly enjoyed.  These things are all free and well worth a visit. We got cheap bus and underground tickets for 2 days with unlimited travel.

London St Pancras Station
London St Pancras Station

The best thing was a visit to St Paul’s, magnificent inside, we all went right to the top, 530 steps, incredible. I would recommend this. It was the only attraction we paid for and we had downloaded discounted entry from the internet.

London British Library
London British Library

What a great way for a cheap city break,  we climbed, walked miles, bird watched oh and mingled with tyranasurus Rex..

There are city centre hostels in most of the major cities in the UK.  For more information look at our Map of City, Backpackers and Boutique Hostels