Don’t have dinner at a real restaurant every evening

As mentioned before, having dinner in a London restaurant is not cheap. You can make your stay more affordable by buying your food at a supermarket or by eating at a fastfood restaurant a couple of evenings, and by only going to a ‘real’ restaurant once or twice.

Eating in a park or at your hotel room or campsite is of course the cheapest option. You can buy some food at a supermarket. In summer, it can be fun to have dinner in a park. In youth hostels it is not uncommon that there is a cooking facility, so that you can even prepare a healthy meal yourself.

There are many fastfood restaurants in London: McDonald’s, Subway, Pizza Hut etcetera. In these restaurants, you can have a (relatively) cheap dinner. If you’re staying at a youth hostel, it is sometimes possible to have dinner there.

Going to a ‘real’ restaurant is of course the most expensive option. By just having a main course (and maybe a dessert) you can make your dinner there less expensive. It may be a good idea to make your dinner at a real restaurant part of a fancy evening out; if you’re planning on going to the theatre in London, have dinner before, and content yourself with less fancy food during the rest of your stay.

We’ve made a list of restaurants that offer food at reasonable prices. Some fastfood-restaurants are also included in this list.

Last update: January 26th, 2006