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London tourist pass: Is it worth it and how to buy it?
There are three main tourist passes for London, and none of them include public transport. Here's what each one actually covers, and whether it's worth it.
A London tourist pass is worth it if you’re planning three or more paid attractions a day. Fewer than that, and you’ll usually spend less paying at the door.
None of the passes include public transport. That catches a lot of visitors out, and it changed back in 2023, so older guides still get it wrong.
There are three main tourist passes for London: the London Pass, the London Explorer Pass, and Merlin’s Magical London Pass. Each covers different attractions, prices itself differently, and suits a different kind of trip.
We asked Mahnoor Bangush, a Content Writer at Holafly who lives in London, her thoughts on what’s worth paying for and what the city gives you for nothing.
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What tourist passes are available in London?
Three passes cover the main attractions, and one of them works nothing like the other two.
| Tourist card | Starts from | What’s included | Duration | Public transport |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| London Pass | £99 | Unlimited entry to 113 attractions, including 36 experiences no other pass covers | One to ten consecutive days | Not included, beyond a two-day bus tour and river cruise |
| Explorer Pass | £64 | Your pick of two to seven attractions from a list of 77 | 30 days from your first visit | Not included |
| Merlin’s Magical London Pass | Peak and off-peak rates, check provider | Five Merlin attractions, including the London Eye and Madame Tussauds | 90 days from your first booked attraction | Not included |
Discounts at restaurants and shops come with all three, though they’re rarely the reason to buy one.
Disclaimer: The data in this article is accurate as of August 12, 2026, and is subject to change.
London is a city full of beautiful places to see that brings together millions of travelers every year. To help you during your trip and make the most of your stay, many tourist cards offer a wide range of benefits, such as discounts on places of interest, unlimited public transport, and free entrance to museums and galleries. These cards are a great option for those who want to save money and time while exploring the city.
We recommend you check the information below, to learn more about some of the options you have available.
London Pass
The London Pass starts from £99 and covers unlimited entry to 113 attractions, including 36 experiences not available on any other pass. Buckingham Palace’s State Rooms is one of them.
You pick a set number of consecutive days, from one to ten, and fit in as many included attractions as you can each day. The Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Kensington Palace, and the London Eye are all covered.
Working out how many days in London you actually need comes before the pass decision does, since the day-based pricing only pays off once you know how long you’re staying.
A two-day hop-on hop-off bus tour and a Thames river cruise are included too. That’s the only transport-adjacent inclusion across any of these three passes.
London Explorer Pass
The Explorer Pass starts from £64 and prices by attraction rather than by day. You choose between two and seven attractions from a list of 77, then use them in any order.
The London Eye and Windsor Castle are both on this tier, alongside the same bus tour and river cruise the full pass offers.
Once activated, you have 30 days to use everything you picked. That suits a slower trip: if you’re staying a week or two and only want a handful of big sights, paying per attraction usually works out cheaper than paying per day.
Merlin’s London Attraction Pass
This is the family-focused option, and it replaced the older Merlin London Big Adventure pass in 2022. It covers five attractions run by Merlin Entertainments: the London Eye, Madame Tussauds London, the London Dungeon, Shrek’s Adventure! London, and SEA LIFE London Aquarium.
Pricing shifts between peak and off-peak dates and varies by where you book, so check merlinsmagicallondon.com for the current figure.
If your trip is built around those five, it’s the most direct way to book them together.
The eSIM card for London
This tourist card, but the eSIM or Virtual SIM card for London is a very necessary tool for travelers. It will let you avoid the expensive international roaming service or rent uncomfortable pocket WiFi in London and connect to the internet all the time for an incredible price. You will find more information about it at the end of this article.
Is a London tourist pass worth it?
It comes down to how many paid attractions you’ll visit each day. A pass earns its cost at roughly three to four a day.
| Paid attractions per day | What usually happens |
|---|---|
| One | Paying at the door costs less than any pass |
| Two | Close to break-even, depending which two |
| Three or four | The pass starts paying for itself |
| Five or more | A pass is comfortably the cheaper option |
The other half of the math is what you were never going to pay for anyway. The British Museum, the Natural History Museum, and the National Gallery all offer free general admission, and a pass adds nothing there.
Mahnoor Bangush let us know: Walking around London’s scenic parks, canals, and city farms is one of the best free things to do. There’s also a free outdoor cinema in King’s Cross every summer.
So if your itinerary leans toward parks, markets, and free museums, a pass costs more than it saves. If it’s stacked with paid attractions, the math works in the pass’s favor.
What attractions do tourist cards for London include?
Between them, the three passes cover most of the landmarks people come for: the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle, the London Eye, Madame Tussauds, and the Shard’s viewing platform among them.
What varies is depth. The London Pass is the only one with the 36 exclusive experiences, Buckingham Palace’s State Rooms included. The Explorer Pass draws from a shorter list of 77. Merlin’s covers five attractions and nothing else.
Mahnoor rates the National Gallery, Tate Britain, Tate Modern, and the V&A as the ones worth prioritizing, and all four are free to walk into, pass or no pass.
Terms differ by pass, so check what’s included against your actual shortlist rather than the headline attraction count.
How do I activate and use a London tourist card?
All three activate on your first attraction visit, not on the day you buy. That means you can book well ahead without burning days.
| Tourist pass | Activates on | Then valid for | Cancellation |
|---|---|---|---|
| The London Pass | Your first attraction visit | The number of consecutive days you chose | Full refund within 90 days of purchase on any unactivated pass |
| The London Explorer Pass | Your first attraction visit | 30 days | Full refund within 90 days of purchase on any unactivated pass |
| Merlin’s Magical London Pass | Your first booked attraction | 90 days | Check the provider’s terms at the time of booking |
Both London Pass tiers stay bookable for a full year after purchase, and the 90 day cancellation window comes with no conditions attached.
For Merlin’s, which attraction counts as first depends on where you bought the pass. Booking through the London Eye makes the London Eye your starting point, so check your confirmation email rather than assuming.
Which tourist card is better for kids?
Merlin’s Magical London Pass is built for families. All five attractions are ones children tend to want: the London Eye, Madame Tussauds, the London Dungeon, Shrek’s Adventure!, and SEA LIFE London Aquarium.
The London Pass works better for mixed-age groups. London Zoo, the Natural History Museum, and the Tower of London sit alongside the adult-leaning experiences, and it comes with a children’s activity map.
Tip: Merlin’s pass gives you standard entry, not skip-the-line. Queues can run over an hour on weekends and during school holidays unless you pay separately for a Priority or Ultimate ticket at Madame Tussauds.
With younger children, two or three attractions a day is usually the realistic ceiling, which pushes the value back toward paying per attraction.
Do tourist cards for London include public transport?
No. None of the three include Tube, bus, or rail travel. The London Pass dropped its transport inclusion in 2023, and the only thing left is the two-day bus tour and river cruise.
So you’ll need a separate way to pay for getting around, and that’s contactless or an Oyster card for almost everyone.
Mahnoor Bangush noted: You can get an Oyster card at any tube station, but you’ll have to put funds on it before use. Ask for the ‘young visitor’ discount for any teenagers, which will make their travel half price.
Most people skip the card entirely and tap a bank card or Apple Pay at the gate. Either way, daily and weekly caps apply automatically, so you’re never charged more than the cap no matter how many journeys you make.
| Zones one and two cap | Current amount |
|---|---|
| Daily cap | £8.90 |
| Weekly cap, Monday to Sunday | £44.70 |
Both are frozen until at least March 2027.
Sorting London public transport is a separate decision from any attraction pass, and worth doing before your first morning in the city.
How much is a seven-day pass in London?
A seven-day London Pass sits toward the top of its range, well above the £99 starting price for shorter durations. The exact figure moves with the season and with whether you book direct or through a reseller, so check londonpass.com for the current one.
For a week in London, the Explorer Pass is often the better buy. Rather than paying for seven consecutive days, you pay for however many attractions you’ll realistically visit, and you get 30 days to use them.
Seven days is also long enough that free museums, parks, and markets will fill some of it, which pulls the per-day math further away from the London Pass.
How to pick the best tourist card for London
Three things decide it: how long you’re staying, how many paid attractions you actually want, and how much of your list is free anyway.
| Choose | If |
|---|---|
| The London Pass | You’re visiting on consecutive days and want to fit in as many attractions as possible |
| The London Explorer Pass | Your trip is longer or slower paced, and you’d rather pay per attraction than per day |
| Merlin’s Magical London Pass | Your trip centers on the London Eye, Madame Tussauds, or SEA LIFE London |
| No pass at all | Your plans lean toward free museums, parks, and markets |
Whichever you pick, budget for transport separately. That’s the one cost no pass covers.
Which London tourist pass should you choose?
For a first visit packing a lot of sightseeing into a few days, the London Pass tends to give the best balance of convenience and value.
For a longer, slower trip built around a handful of specific attractions, the Explorer Pass usually wins. For families set on the Merlin attractions, Merlin’s pass is the simplest way to book them.
Whatever you choose, planning to visit London starts well before you land. Sorting your Oyster card, your data, and your attraction bookings ahead of time means less to work out once you’re there.
Getting an eSIM for London
Holafly’s travel eSIMs cover a single trip with unlimited data, 5G speeds, and 24/7 customer support, so you’re not hunting for WiFi between attractions or queuing for a London SIM card when you land.
If London is one stop of several, Holafly Plans keeps the same connection running across more than one destination, month to month.
Every eSIM for London also includes Always On: 1 GB of monthly backup data, at no added cost.
Setup is a QR code scan, so there’s no card to collect and nothing to hand back, which is the practical difference between an eSIM and renting pocket WiFi in London.
Unlimited data. Peace of mind.
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FAQ about London tourist passes
No. The London Pass includes a two-day hop-on hop-off bus tour and a Thames river cruise, but not Tube, bus, or rail travel. You’ll need contactless or an Oyster card for getting around.
The London Pass covers unlimited entry to 113 attractions across a set number of consecutive days. The Explorer Pass covers two to seven attractions of your choice, used flexibly over 30 days.
It’s worth it at roughly three to four paid attractions a day. If your trip leans toward free museums and parks, you’ll spend less paying at the door.
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I am a Liverpool-based SEO content specialist with years of experience crafting content that connects. I combine my love for clear communication with a passion for travel and languages (currently diving into Japanese!). At Holafly, I'm here to help you understand everything about staying connected abroad, turning technical jargon into straightforward advice you can actually use.
