Before I move on to the cruise part of the trip, I thought I would make a post about our final thoughts on London. We loved the city and we are going back again this year for a week.
London Hotel
The hotel we stayed at, the Premier Inn Bankside, is in a fantastic location. It is easy to walk to many sites and a short walk from London Bridge station making it easy to travel around London. The hotel is older and could use some sprucing up, but the beds are comfortable and the shower is fantastic. We decided to stay at this hotel because of its price and proximity to the Borough Market. The Borough Market closes in the early evening, five or six pm depending on the day. We mainly stopped there in the morning and didn’t eat as many meals there as I would have liked.
I would stay there again. However, this year we are thinking about staying at either the Premier Inn by the Tate Modern or the Premier Inn Victoria. The Tate Modern Premier Inn is in the same area as the Premier Inn Bankside but is a bit cheaper and a newer hotel. The Premier Inn Victoria is very close to Victoria Station and close to the West End. We have tickets for Hamilton this year. It would give us a different area of London to explore, although the hotel is more expensive. It is also just around the corner from the Disney Cruise Line pick-up point to travel to Dover. Update we stayed at the Premier Inn Victoria.
The cost of the hotel for six nights was £834.50 for a family room. We booked a non-flex rate a couple weeks before we left. We also paid an additional £15 for the Ultimate Wi-Fi package.
Favourite London Attraction
My favourite London attraction was Westminster Abbey. I recommend taking the time to visit the Abbey. It is full of English history. It wasn’t top of my list during the planning it was a nice surprise to find it so interesting. A close second for my favourite attraction was the Tower of London. Make sure you give yourself plenty of time to explore.
Costs
I thought I would also give you an idea about how much we spent while in London. London can be an expensive city, but there are lots of free things to see and do. We are a family of three with a tween. I highly recommend getting a Zip Oyster card for kids it will save you a lot if you are planning on using public transportation. We used a mixture of the tube and cabs for a total £115.16, ($196.26CAD). The Gett app was helpful to see how much the cab would cost before ordering it.
Food can be expensive in London. we ate at the Borough Market a few times. There was a Nando’s just outside of our hotel and we ate there a few times since it was close and reasonably priced. My daughter also loved it. One night we picked up pre-made food at a Tesco and it wasn’t bad, we were tired and didn’t have the energy to head out for dinner. The most expensive meal we had was Tea at the National Gallery £79.59, ($136.49CAD). Altogether we spent £517.86, ($885.73).
We are not big shoppers on vacation and only bought a few souvenirs totalling £69.42, ($118.87CAD). I don’t really remember wha we bought now. I think there was a Rosetta Stone puzzle, magnets, and some postcards.
We also paid entrance fees for Westminster Abbey and headsets for an audio tour of the National Gallery. That total was £55.25, ($94.55CAD). the tours we took with Take Walks included admission to the Tower of London and cost $241.37CAD for the three of us.
We loved London and can’t wait to return there this year. This year we are arriving a week before the cruise and are staying in London until Friday. On Friday we are heading to Canterbury to spend two nights before boarding the Disney Magic. I think we will revisit our favourite attractions Westminster Abbey and the Tower of London, my sister and her daughter will be joining us this year. We are hoping to visit Greenwich and Buckingham Palace and managed to get tickets to see Hamilton.
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If you enjoyed this post and wanted to read more about our trip please check out my other posts about our planning, travelling to London, our first day in London, visiting the Borough Market and our visit to the British Museum and Tour for Muggles, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and more museums. As well as stateroom tours of our secret porthole rooms 6006 and 5520.
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Thank you for this information. You have given us a lot of information on what to do and how to get around before we get on Disney for the cruise..
Hello, we are also a family on the East Coast of Canada, and planning our Dover Disney Trip. We are doing the British Isles itinerary, but spending a total of 3 days in London (2 before, 1 after). Your tips and blog have been very helpful. Would love to reach out and start a dialogue on the “unique” challenges of travelling from our part of the world for any Disney trip. Thanks
Have a great cruise. I find travelling to Europe from Nova Scotia to be relatively easy we have a lot of direct flight options which is nice ?
Hi . is the DCL is for $60 round trip? If we decide to take the train, which train do you suggest should we take going to Dover. Thank you in advance
It was $60 each way. Most people take the train from St Pancras direct to Dover. This past year we stayed near Victoria station and took the train from there to Canterbury, spent a couple nights in Canterbury, and continued to Dover the day of the cruise. The train was very easy and we booked our tickets with Southwestern Rail.