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

[SadUselessMum]

After the disappointment of not being able to get Taylor Swift tickets for a reasonable price, my DD(14) has decided that she would like to go to London with the money that she saved instead. She has about £300 and I can probably add an extra £100 or so. Sadly, we are on a very strict budget. She is at school (and I teach) so we are restricted to half term in October.

We need to get the train into Euston (which will cost about £100 with her disabled railcard).

She does like museums but has done the main ones (Natural History, Science, Transport) on a school trip. She’s not into shopping but would like to go to a Sephora. She would also like to see the Globe theatre and the changing of the guards on horseback.

I’ve been looking at Premier Inn and Travelodge but they are still really expensive in Central London and I have no idea if it’s feasible to stay in one further afield and travel into London every day. I also need inspiration for things in London that a 14 year old girl would enjoy.

I did also wonder about driving down to a commuter town and getting a fast train into London every day, thus saving on train fare and maybe getting a cheaper hotel?

Any recommendations for hotels or things to do from people who know London would be very gratefully received.

Agree with PP suggestion of using Citymapper. I use it all the time - I’ve lived here for over 30 years and it still sometimes surprises me with the best route or bus routes I’ve never heard of!

https://www.yha.org.uk/hostel/yha-london-central
Worth a look?
https://www.shakespearesglobe.com/5-pound-rush/
I'd contact the Globe and see if the cheaper seats are accessible. Standing is a bargain (and actually a great experience) but not sure how suitable that would be or if they can offer something that would suit?
Almeida theatre also does good value seats for under 25's

I was going to suggest Youth Hostels too. Maybe worth driving to suburbs (eg Bedford if you are coming from NorhbParking at the station and then taking the train in. Done if my colleagues do it every week for work. (Avoid peak times though) using the train you can use the 2 for 1 offers for many major sites.

the standing tickets at Guys and Dolls are very good value (£25-30). Often available on TKTS website, You can end up partying with the cast at the end.

i can also recommend restaurant Roti King..amazing Malaysian curry for around a tenner. Pizza Pilgrims also big hit with young people.

"I get annoyed by pedantic thread police filling up Mumsnet with irrelevant smart-arse passive-aggressive messages. AIBU?"

Why on Earth are you worried about leaving crumbs and cereal bar wrappers in your room? You are allowed to eat snacks in the hotel room you've paid for!

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/days-out-guide/?gad_source=1&gbraid=0AAAAAD7mwDqT_IBkK0E26lN1TXkaJzcnO&gclid=Cj0KCQjwz7C2BhDkARIsAA_SZKYbfFcL36MMbMvd2v5MhpNk5VJQgQ1slveT1ttYIJBJuIWYSlQKqYQaAhm_EALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds
this was great for us !

Have you tried getting travel tickets through the train line app? They do breakdowns and split stops to get the cheapest tickets.

I can get the fast train from my Midlands town at 7.50am get into euston for 915 and never pay more than £30 same day return. I go to London 4 times a year for exploring and bookshopping. National Express often do £15 returns and Megabus are cheap too.

We did 2 nights in London during the first week of summer hols and paid £229 for 2 nights at the Tower Hotel (overlooks tower bridge) which was a great location for the Tower of London, Brick Lane and Spitalfields city farm and market etc.

Premier Inn and Travel Lodge have cheaper night rates but aren't a cheap getaway place to sleep anymore. The same two nights at the premier inn literally over the river was £650

Things to do:

V&A museum. Free but do have paid exhibitions inside. I saw the Diva one last year which was £20. They have a small Taylor Swift display at the moment, not sure of its end date though.

Harrods Christmas Dept is open! We always like a mooch round there and in their food hall too. It's not far from V&A either

Brick Lane for Bagels and there's huge vintage shopping areas too

Camden

There's a Sephora at Westfields. That would probably take a day as the centre is huge and full of shops and places to eat. If you both like Abba, the Abba experience is fab if you can get tickets and not far from there.

Portrait Gallery is free too.

@SadUselessMum
Just returning to add the time out link for half term as attractions have finalised their timetable

https://www.timeout.com/london/kids/activities/top-half-term-activities

Have a look at the Docklands area for hotels or city aorport way . Much cheaper than central London and just a quick trip on the light railway

The far west / northern end of the Piccadilly line, or far east of central line, both hurtle into the centre and would be cheaper to stay in

If she wants to go to the Globe, combining that with walking along the South Bank, the Tate Modern, walk across to St Paul’s, lunch at Borough market is an amazing day out

@EuclidianGeometryFan your trips away sound very stressful.

Hotels don't give a hoot if you eat in the room, I've been down to the bar and asked for cutlery on more than one occasion and had full take outs in the room when travelling for work and just put the rubbish in a bin outside the door so the room doesn't smell.

Toilets - well most towns don't have a ton of public loos but there is the Flushed App if it's really a problem.

As for meal deals, ofcourse they are useful but why when you are in such a great city with fantastic and relatively cheap street food would you want a Tesco Tuna and sweetcorn sandwich.

Don’t stay in the Docklands premier inn though we stayed there in August and there were mice in the restaurant