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Let’s talk money.

You need it to travel, you definitely need it to visit London, and knowing how much money you need in London is essential to making sure you have enough for your trip.

In this lesson, I want to talk about costs in London and give you some ranges to help you figure out how much to budget per day and how much do you spend in London per day, or how to plan your itinerary so it fits your budget.

Start your planning with this “Intro to London” guide and access to my London planning Facebook group!

The Absolute Must-Knows (from a Londoner)

Hey! Want more honest UK tips and planning advice? Click here to join my London and UK Travel Tips Facebook group, where I can answer more of your questions!

Let’s just cut right to the chase before we break everything down.

Assuming we are excluding hotel costs (which I’ll talk about below,) the answer to how much money to take to London per day is roughly as follows (including food, transportation, and activities).

My best answer is to plan to spend an average of around £80 per person per day in London if you plan on eating out and doing tourist attractions.

You can spend less than this though, around £30-40, which I’ll reflect in the table below.

If you’re on a really strict budget, you could technically spend as little as £15-20 per day if you only do free attractions, walk everywhere, and eat ready meals from the grocery store.

Or, if you want to do lots of afternoon teas, attractions, theatre shows (even if you find cheap theatre tickets in London), and eat out for every meal, you could easily spend £150 to £200 per person per day.

Use my guide below to help you break down how much money to take to London, as well as my guide on the best hotels in London for ideas on all budgets and the best AirBnbs in London.

🛎 Still looking for somewhere to stay in London?

My favorite hotel in London for all visitors is the Strand Palace (click here to check prices).⭐⭐⭐⭐

Both the flights and your accommodation are going to vary drastically based on the time of year, your location, and your needs.

I’ve gotten flights from the East Coast of the US for as low as £300 round trip during absolute off-peak season, and I’ve paid as much as £1,000 during peak season.

Flights from Australia, for instance, can go from anywhere from £600 to £1,500+.

Use the cheap flight finding tools like Skyscanner to snag yourself the cheapest deals, taking into account that if you’re flying around Christmas or in the summer, you’re going to experience much higher flight prices due to the demand for flights to London at that point.

If you’re searching, say, late January, you’re probably going to snag some good deals!

Overall, budget around £500-700 per person for flights to London from the US, and more from further flung locations.

IMPORTANT: are you coming to the UK from abroad?

In case you’re reading this from outside the UK and will be a foreign visitor here, you need to know these 2 things to stay safe and save money.

Again, this is going to be slightly inflated during peak times and you can find some better deals during off-peak season, but in central London, hotel wise, you are going to have a hard time finding anything other than a hostel for less than £100 a night, with £200 a night being a good budget to get a safe and perfectly acceptable place to stay, £300 for a brand name hotel, and £400+ for a luxury hotel.

If you’re looking at AirBnbs in London (and this is why some people do opt for this option), you can usually rent an entire flat for about £150 – £200 pounds a night in central London, and around £100 if you go out a bit further.

Overall, accommodation in London isn’t cheap.

Price is at a premium for both residents and visitors, and you’ll want to book ahead as soon as possible to give yourself the greatest options and cheapest prices.

But you can find perfectly acceptable and friendly places to stay on most budgets, which makes London a fantastic travel option for people with all kinds of budget requirements.

The next question is the per day budget for sightseeing options, which is where the figuring out your personal answer to London spending money per day is going to come in.

I could plan you an entire sightseeing day in London that costs nothing, or I could plan one that costs hundreds of pounds.

On average, I would say, per person, £25-50 per day is a good average across your trip for attractions, but this doesn’t include day trips out of London or more expensive private tours.

If you want to learn more about paying a flat fee to get into most London attractions, check out my advice on the London Pass, otherwise check out this list of current entry prices for some of the major activities you might like to do to help you get an idea for whether you have expensive plans or not!

Aside from transportation to and from the airport, which depends on the method of transport you use, daily travel costs if you’re just taking the tube and buses should run about £10 a person at most.

If you’re taking Ubers or black cabs or prebooked car services, this will obviously be more and particularly for Uber, it depends on the time of day.

Read more about how much your taxi may cost you here.

Here are some at-a-glance London transportation costs.

The “price cap” is the maximum amount that you will be charged per day if you use an Oyster card or contactless payment card, no matter how many journeys you take within that zone.

One of the final, but very important, major sections when it comes to your daily budget is your food and drink!

Again, it’s hard for me to come up with a suggested number or range because if you’re a student on a budget, I can suggest ways for you to survive on £5-10 a day (check out my guide on saving money in London here), whereas if you have the money to spend, you can easily rack up hundreds of pounds of food costs for a family in one day.

To help you figure out where you might come in on your food and drinks budget, I’ve provided a ton of examples below of the costs of various items and what you might expect to spend when out a particular types of restaurants.

This is per person, so multiple this cost times the number of people in your traveling party if you’re traveling as a family and need an overall budget.

One thing to note is that food in UK grocery stores is not very expensive compared to other countries.

If you have your own self-catering apartment when you’re staying in London, here are some food prices in stores:

12 eggs: £1.50 – £2.00Loaf of bread: 55p – £1.50Banana: 15p per bananaPasta: packet of spaghetti for £1.00Pasta sauce: 50p – £1.00 for a standard sized jarWhole chicken, uncooked: £3.00 – £5.004 pints of milk (about a gallon): £1.00 – £1.25Meal deal with a ready-to-eat sandwich, crisps (potato chips), and a drink: £3.00

If you’re planning on eating out, here’s a helpful list for you:

Egg and Cress sandwich at Pret (inexpensive): £2.99Cheese pizza at Icco (inexpensive): £5.00McDonald’s Big Mac (inexpensive): £2.49McDonald’s Large Fries (inexpensive): £1.49

Traditional English Breakfast at Bill’s (mid-range): £9.75Fish and Chips Main at Mayflower Pub (mid-range): £10.95Dessert at Mayflower Pub (mid-range): £5.95Pepperoni Pizza at Pizza Express (Mid-range): £10.10

Shepherd’s Pie main entrée at the Ivy (more expensive): £19.50Profiteroles (dessert) at the Ivy (more expensive): £9.75

Americano at Costa Coffee: £2.20Small glass of Pino Grigio at Mayflower pub: £5.25Average cost of a pint of beer in London: £4.50

As you can see, you’re looking at around £10-15 for a main/entrée at many of London’s mid-ranged restaurants and £17-25 at more expensive restaurants (and then it can just keep going up from there!)

Add in drinks, any starters and desserts, and you could easily spend £150-200 on a dinner for four at a mid-ranged restaurant if you all get starters and drinks and mains.

🏥 Should I buy UK travel insurance?

Absolutely yes. Basic coverage is not expensive, and as a visitor you are NOT covered under the NHS. Compare policies and prices with Travel Insurance Master here, a big name in the travel insurance business, and cross that off your list.

🔌 Do I need travel adapters for the UK?

Yes, you do, otherwise you won’t be able to plug in your electronics/phone/lifelines. I recommend this one, which is all-in-one so you can use it in other countries.

🚗 What do I need to drive in the UK?

The first thing you need to check out if you’re planning on renting a car in the UK is this guide to driving in the UK for visitors – the roads, signs, and driving experience will likely not be what you’re used to and it’s essential to prepare yourself to stay safe and aware.

🛌 What’s the best way to book hotels in the UK?

For UK hotels, Booking is the best site as it offers free cancellation on many properties. If you want an apartment, I always recommend VRBO over AirBnb.

📳 Will my phone work in the UK?

Yes – if you set it up right. Check out my guide on making your foreign phone work in the UK to ensure that you get the type of service you need.

🚿 Can I drink the water in the UK?

Yes, UK water is great and perfectly safe. But drink out of taps in any kitchen or use water fountains. Double check before drinking out of the taps in hotel bathrooms, though, as they may be on a different system. London water is safe to drink.

Check out my Ultimate Guide to London for Visitors.Using text, images and video, this guide is packed full of tips, tricks, safety advice, knowledge on how to get around and what to do, and more!

Grab my book which covers moving to the UK, struggles I faced and that you might face too, and uplifting advice to help you along the way!

Available in hard copy and on Kindle.