To be able to visit London on a budget in half term?

What's the nature of her disability?

London can involve an awful lot of walking! It's easy to clock up 20,000 steps just walking around.
Staying in a Premier Inn/Travelodge on the outskirts might end up cheaper, but you'd have to crunch the numbers with the additional travel costs. You'd also have to factor in the issue with just being further away from everything.

I stayed in London overnight this weekend, well when I say London, I actually stayed at Premier Inn Heathrow, cost £45 for the night and buses in to London stop right outside. It is about an hour out by bus, but if you then get a travelcard you can see most of the sights by bus.

Took my autistic son in to London last weekend, he loved the London Transport Museum, and it didn't cost us anything to get in as he's under 18 and I'm his carer. We then did a few sights by bus, including horse guards before taking a river cruise (that was about £30). All in including £50 for our trains in to London/Travelcards it cost us around £100 for a full day out.

Maybe there's a small air b and b with a parking space out on edge of London

This is possible - don't get a train, drive to the outskirts, park for the week, and tube in.
However most areas have restricted residential parking so you will have to research where you can leave a car - it will be right out in zone 4 or 5

Money saving tip:

If you have to buy three meals a day out, plus snacks and drinks, it will cost a fortune, so look for ways to avoid this:

Consider getting an Air BnB or similar accommodation with a kitchen, then shop at a supermarket, and always eat a good breakfast before setting off. You could also come back to the accommodation for a late afternoon meal before going out again in the evening.

Or get a hotel where a buffet breakfast is included, eat a huge breakfast and skip lunch.

If in a hotel and breakfast is not included, don't pay for it: bring a bag of snacks like cereal bars, fruit, pastries etc, and then you just buy a morning coffee and eat a picnic breakfast in a park, or even eat in the hotel room and use their kettle so you don't even have to buy a coffee (avoid crumbs, and don't leave too many snack wrappers in the hotel bin).

There are convenience mini-supermarkets in central London where you can get the usual sandwich or meal deal for lunch - look out for these.

Always carry plenty of water and snacks in a small rucksack - if you buy small bottles of water all day it will add up.

Beware - there are very few public loos in central London: due to sexual and drug misuse historically they were closed, so think about where and when you can go - at the museums/attractions, possibly big department stores, or get a small drink in a café or fast-food place and use their facilities.

If your Dd has a blue badge or get DLA you can get carer tickets free for lots of places…..so you would be free entry…..including theatre tickets….just take the letters/blue card with you….and sign up for theatre discounts with the likes of agt…..we got tickets to moulin rouge for 50 for me and carer together…..and the best bargain we got was Caberet tickets for 30 quid….really good seats….. make one of your nights a Sunday,.Sunday night accommodation is generally much cheaper …..we just stayed at Euston travel lodge for 49£ for the room on a Sunday night….likewise don’t stay a Friday or Saturday night as it costs more…l.do free things like sky garden, horizon 22 for good views……the Sunday markets brick lane etc are good for teens in vintage stuff…
.st Paul’s is free for people with disabilities and their carers

Pizza Union has a few places throughout London- great pizza, teen-friendly vibe and about £8 a pizza.

If you book a Premier inn or travelodge flexible rate, you can keep checking the website and rebook if the room gets cheaper. DS and I stayed at Liverpool St travelodge for £90 this August, and only booked a few days before. All you can eat breakfast buffet is about £12 - but half that as kids eat free.

For underground, a teen oyster daycard is capped at £4.20. You have to pay a £7 deposit but this is refundable.

We drive because it’s cheaper, park on the outskirts and tube in. Then we tend to stay in Wembley if we need a cheaper trip (and there’s nothing on in Wembley!) premier inn and travel lodge aren’t always the best value.

Clubcard points work on hotels.com and for restaurants.

That might be later than the half term week for a lot of places in the south (I think we are the week before), so you might find that there are some cheaper places, epsecially if you went on a weeknight.

Bit of a way out, but I have stayed at the Premier Inn at Heathrow (terminal 4) for only £50 a night, and with the elizabeth line, it is not actually very long into central London (Paddington). If you could drive to somewhere else along the Elizabeth line further out, you could then save on train tickets to get there as well. And you can get the capped day price for underground travel (though it's more when you are going to heathrow on Elizabeth line than normal underground I think, but still reasonable).

We are so lucky to have free museums still. You can’t ‘do’ the museums on a school trip in one day. Suggest Science Museum or Natural History Museum one day each, and exhibitions change.

lived in London and there is lots of other free stuff.

Book the sky garden if availability still
the London Mithraeum is brilliant and free - near the sky garden. It’s a Roman temple preserved under a modern office.
Houses of Parliament tour is free and amazing

but what is she interested in? History, shopping, art, music, dance, sport?

As suggested I’d blow some budget on a show and do museums and a bit of shopping. A meal in the evening and a picnic lunch in a park (or if you go to the V and A you can bring a picnic and sit in the courtyard in the middle which is gorgeous.

@SadUselessMum

The Sunday night and Monday night at the Travelodge near Liverpool Street would be £183 flexible rate per person.

You could walk down Minories to the Tower for a look around and then jump on the hop-on/hop-off bus for a tour of Central London.

https://www.travelodge.co.uk/hotels/44/London-Central-Liverpool-Street-hotel

https://www.hrp.org.uk/tower-of-london/#gs.e63k4t

https://www.bigbustours.com/en/london/london-routes-and-tour-maps

If you buy advance train tickets you should be able to save some money there.

Hi are you claiming any type of benefits as a lot of places including Tower of London do entry for £1

There’s a Sephora at Westfield in Stratford, plus lots of other make up type places, most a bit cheaper. Has she found Kiko yet- there’s one there too! Stratford has lots of chain hotels, and is also a great transport hub for getting around to almost anywhere in London. Loads of eating places too for an evening meal.

Download the TfL website for transport links and advice on step free access.

You have got time to get her a zip Oyster card for discounted and free travel.

If you have points on a Tesco clubcard you can use them against hotels in London. And Friends and Family railcard is good as you get a third off your fare too plus 60 percent off your daughter's. I travel with my son for around £58 open return. But you could get cheaper if you booked specific trains, obviously depending on where you are.

Unis don't have half term though.

I often stay around pimlico. I've had rooms for £30 a night. Just google map booking.com results. There should be cheap train tickets available now.

@SadUselessMum

Which dates do you think you are likely to be in town, OP?

I would persnally stay in Richmond rather than Hammersmith - far nicer and less of a busy city feeling about it. There is a Premier Inn in Richmond. From Richmond train station you can get: a direct 15 minute British Rail train to Waterloo, the district line underground, or the London overground up to North London.

Plus, Richmond itself is beautiful as there are lots of little streets to wander round and the river to go for coffee/food etc

Lots of other free London museums including The National Portrait Gallery and The British Museum which are my favourites. If your daughter is interested in the theatre you can often get very cheap concession tickets at The National. There are often fun things happening around The South Bank at Waterloo too.

If your daughter is into beauty, Selfridges is far superior to Harrods or Harvey Nichols! Avoid Borough Market. I've been going for years but went last week and the crowds and crushing happening were unbelievable. It's always been busy but this actually felt dangerous.

Enjoy!!

To save money on transport you could drive and park up for a couple of days somewhere on a good commuter route then train in. JustPark has loads of parking options near all the stations.

Not read the whole thread but we got half price or 2 for 1 for various attractions because we’d travelled by train. Some you actually get tickets for, others you print off a form that gets you a reduction. Kew Gardens definitely, also Westminster Abbey. Loads of options for family attractions too as I appreciate those aren’t especially interesting for a teen 😂
And yes, if you can go Sunday to Tuesday or Wednesday it’s much cheaper.

Premier Inn Hammersmith is literally opposite the Tube station, is one of the newer hotels and was very cheap when I stayed there this summer. Easy enough to get around from there and plenty of amenities locally.

I booked premier inn Stratford for feb half term yesterday 17th £66 and 18th £81. Also Waterloo and county hall which are really central were coming up reasonably cheap for same nights but I decided I was going to drive. Sunday nights tend to be cheapest if you do a Sunday/monday but you’d need to check the places you wanted to go were open