London on a Budget: How to Spend £50-70 Per Day
London's reputation as an expensive city is earned — but avoidable. With free world-class museums, cheap transport caps, and £5 pub meals if you know where to look, you can explore the capital comfortably on £50-70 per day. The secret is that many of London's best experiences cost absolutely nothing. This guide shows exactly how to stretch every pound without missing the good stuff.
Accommodation: £15-35 Per Night
Hostels in Zones 1-2 run £20-35 per dorm bed. Wombat's City Hostel near Tower Hill offers modern rooms with lockers, a bar, and en-suite dorms. Generator London near Russell Square is a design-forward hostel with a buzzing common area and beds from £22. Both include decent Wi-Fi and central locations.
For even cheaper: Clink78 near King's Cross has beds from £18 in a converted Victorian courthouse — the building alone is worth the stay. If you're flexible on location, hostels in Zone 2 (Elephant & Castle, Bermondsey, Shepherd's Bush) drop to £15-22 and are only 10-15 minutes from the centre by Tube. Book two weeks ahead in summer for the best rates; prices spike for last-minute bookings. Many hostels have guest kitchens — cooking a few meals from supermarket ingredients (pasta, sauce, vegetables) saves £10-15 per day compared to eating every meal out.
Transport: £8 Per Day Max
Use contactless payment (any debit or credit card, Apple Pay, or Google Pay) on the Tube and buses. It auto-caps at £8.10 for Zones 1-2 daily — the same fare as an Oyster card but without needing to buy one or pay a deposit. This is the single best money tip for London: never buy single paper tickets, which cost an outrageous £6.70 each.
Walk between close attractions whenever possible. Westminster to Borough Market is 20 minutes on foot across the bridge, far more scenic than the Tube. The South Bank walk from Westminster to Tower Bridge is 45 minutes of free sightseeing past the London Eye, Tate Modern, and Globe Theatre. Buses cost £1.75 per ride (one-hour free transfers) and let you sightsee from the top deck. The number 11 bus route passes Big Ben, Trafalgar Square, and St Paul's Cathedral — it's essentially a free tour bus.
Free Museums & Attractions
London's greatest bargain: nearly every major museum is completely free, funded by government grants and donations. The British Museum (Egyptian mummies, Rosetta Stone), Natural History Museum (dinosaur skeletons, the Hintze Hall whale), V&A (decorative arts across 5,000 years), National Gallery (Van Gogh, Monet, Rembrandt), Tate Modern (contemporary art in a power station), and the Science Museum all cost nothing. That's easily three full days of world-class culture at zero cost.
Free outdoor experiences are equally impressive. Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens offer 625 acres of green space. Hampstead Heath has wild parkland and the best free panoramic view from Parliament Hill. The Sky Garden atop the Walkie Talkie building is a free indoor observation deck with gardens — book timed tickets three weeks ahead online. The Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace is free to watch; arrive by 10:30am for a front-row spot.
Eating on £15-20 Per Day
Breakfast: Supermarket meal deals are the budget traveller's best friend. Tesco, Sainsbury's, and Boots all offer a sandwich or wrap + drink + snack for £3.50-4. These are found on every high street and in most Tube stations. Many hostels include free toast, cereal, and coffee — take advantage of this.
Lunch: Market stalls serve generous portions for £5-8. Whitecross Street Market (weekday lunchtimes near Barbican) has Thai curry, burritos, and falafel wraps all under £7, and it's where local office workers eat. Supermarket sushi packs cost £3-4 and are surprisingly decent. Pret A Manger does hot wraps and soups for £3-5.
Dinner: Pub chains like Wetherspoons serve full meals from £5-8 with pints at £3-4 — not gourmet, but filling and cheap. Franco Manca does sourdough pizza from £7.50 with locations across London. Chinatown's all-you-can-eat buffets start at £10 for unlimited dishes, and the restaurants along Wardour Street serve sharing plates of noodles and rice for £8-12.
Cheap Nights Out
Happy hours run 4-7pm at most central London bars, with cocktails dropping from £14 to £7-9. Gordon's Wine Bar near Embankment is the oldest wine bar in London and serves glasses from £5.50 in atmospheric candlelit caves. Many comedy clubs offer free entry on weekday nights — Angel Comedy in Islington runs free shows every night (donations welcome), and the performers are often testing material for Edinburgh Fringe.
West End shows don't have to break the bank. The TKTS booth on Leicester Square sells same-day tickets at 25-50% off for dozens of shows. Rush tickets at individual theatres start from £15-20 if you queue when the box office opens. The National Theatre offers £15 Travelex tickets for select productions. Friday-night late openings at museums (V&A, Science Museum) are free and include DJ sets, talks, and bar pop-ups.
Free Walking Tours
Several companies run tip-based walking tours across London — you join for free and pay what you think the guide deserves at the end (£5-15 is typical). Sandemans New Europe and Strawberry Tours both offer 2.5-hour walks through Westminster, the City, and the South Bank daily. It's the most cost-effective way to get oriented and learn the history behind what you're seeing.
Self-guided walking is equally rewarding. Download the free Citymapper app for London — it shows walking times between any two points and often suggests scenic routes. The walk from Buckingham Palace through St James's Park to Westminster takes 20 minutes and is one of the most beautiful urban walks in Europe, passing pelicans on the lake with the London Eye visible through the trees.
Daily Budget Breakdown
| Category | Shoestring | Comfortable Budget | Budget+ |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hostel / Accommodation | £18-22 | £25-35 | £40-55 |
| Food | £12-15 | £18-25 | £25-35 |
| Transport | £5 (walk + bus) | £8 (Tube daily cap) | £8-12 |
| Attractions | £0 (free museums) | £5-10 | £10-20 |
| Daily Total | £35-42 | £56-78 | £83-122 |
Budget Accommodation Tips
Accommodation is typically the biggest single expense in London, and where you sleep has more impact on your total daily budget than any other choice. The good news is that the hostel scene in London is genuinely excellent — several of the city's best-known hostels are architecturally interesting, socially lively, and located steps from major attractions. The bad news is that cheap rooms in Zone 1 fill fast, especially from May through September, so booking two to three weeks ahead is essential rather than optional.
The three hostels most consistently recommended by budget travellers are Clink78 near King's Cross (beds from £18, built inside a Victorian courthouse with original holding cells used as common areas), Generator London near Russell Square (beds from £22, design-forward with a large bar and social spaces), and Wombat's City Hostel near Tower Hill (beds from £25, private en-suite dorms and a well-stocked kitchen). All three have 24-hour reception, secure lockers, and are within walking distance of Tube stations. Clink78's location near King's Cross puts you on the doorstep of direct trains to St Pancras International if you're arriving from Europe by Eurostar.
Zone 2 hostels offer genuine savings for visitors who don't mind a short Tube commute. Hostels in Elephant and Castle, Bermondsey, Hackney, and Shepherd's Bush regularly post beds at £15-20 per night and are rarely more than 20 minutes from Zone 1 attractions. The Tube journey itself costs nothing extra when you've already hit the £8.10 daily cap — so once you've made two or three journeys, any additional travel including your commute from Zone 2 costs zero. A Zone 2 hostel bed at £18 plus the standard £8 transport cap can undercut a Zone 1 hostel at £28 with no transport needed.
For stays of a week or more, aparthotels and private room rentals on platforms like Booking.com and Hostelworld's private room listings often undercut hotels significantly. Areas like Stratford (served by the Elizabeth line and Jubilee line), Bermondsey, and Dalston offer private rooms for £45-65 per night — significantly cheaper than equivalent Zone 1 hotel rooms at £90-130. The Stratford option is particularly practical: the Olympic Park is on your doorstep, the Elizabeth line reaches Liverpool Street in 8 minutes, and the local food scene around the Westfield complex and the nearby Broadway Market (open Saturdays) is genuinely excellent. Check-in to these properties is typically self-service via key lockbox, making late-night arrivals stress-free.
Start Planning
Find budget hotels in London | Search cheap flights to London
