What's the biggest tourist rip-off you know?

[Longfellow]

Value?

Hi Austrian Gull and 16bha - I read your posts with interest.

Cost and enjoyment are of course quite subjective but pleased to hear that apart from cost the Pont du Gard gets a thumbs up.

As for the Pont du Gard Austrian Gull was not impressed by the 18 Euro “parking” charge The car “parking” charge of 18.00 Euros (for up to five people) is their way of collecting the entrance fee to the whole site.

Just a bit more info for the good readers of NSC – the Pont D’Avignon is not free to visit, its 4.50 Euros per person and this is a fact as I visited it a couple of weeks ago – neither was it free when I went there several years ago. Has good audio visual displays.

I would agree that the Palais des Papes is spectacular and worth the entry charge of 10.50 Euros although this only gets you into a fraction of the place – much better value is to go on the occasional “secret visit” behind the scenes for 24.00 Euros in a limited size group and see much more than the general visit.

Check out the website links below and start making your plans to visit if you are in the area.

Site du Pont du Gard

Pont d'Avignon (Saint Bénezet) - Site Officiel de L'Office de Tourisme de la ville d'Avignon

The Popes' Palace - AVIGNON

My nominations for rip off pricing in London is:-

Madame Tussauds - £22.50 instead of £30.00 per person for online booking.

My Best Value nominations (apart from all the free things you can do - for instance the free RAF museum in Hendon):-

London - Combined ticket for The Monument and Tower Bridge is £9.00 and you get to go across the high level walkways of the bridge and visit the engine room that raises the bridge.

Brighton – Royal Pavilion £10 or if you are a Brighton resident or student then it is £5 with up to four children free.

 

[Normal Rob]

Wookey Hole. £44 to take your family into a cave.

 

[Bakero]

£20 entrance fees for various sites in Sri Lanka. Might not seem a lot but when you can have a beer, a meal and a hotel room for a fiver it's extortionate.

The biggest rip off is the £72.00 price for a UK passport

Mine cost £150 inc postage and took over a month. The worst part was the old one was still valid for 7 years but I'd run out of pages. Most other countries issue passports at a fraction of the cost and/or are able to add pages.

5 years ago I was able to get a new passport for £100 whilst abroad and it took 2 days.

 

[somerset]

Not true. There were loads of those types in all the Centerparcs. You get many types like that who come into a bit of money and think Centrparcs is the height of sophistication. I would say about 1 in 3 families were exactly as you have described above.

Not when I went to longleat

 

[Austrian Gull]

Hi Austrian Gull and 16bha - I read your posts with interest.

Cost and enjoyment are of course quite subjective but pleased to hear that apart from cost the Pont du Gard gets a thumbs up.

As for the Pont du Gard Austrian Gull was not impressed by the 18 Euro “parking” charge The car “parking” charge of 18.00 Euros (for up to five people) is their way of collecting the entrance fee to the whole site.
I have no gripe with them charging for parking but there was no alternative to the car - no train, no bus - so they've got the visitor over a barrel.

There's no way 18 euros can be justified in this case - maybe so if they used the money to provide a park and ride option from a nearby town.

Venice, on the other hand, can easily be visited by train at a reasonable price from several local towns.

 

[dejavuatbtn]

Cost to holidaymakers parking in Brighton.

 

[Nibble]

Totally agree with those saying CP is very expensive, but we didn't get sucked into socio-economic classifying the punters. The kids just had great fun there. (The chavs and ex-chavs must have hid there roots well, as rarely saw a football top, and not an ounce of trouble / belligerence).

Mate, if you have kids and a bit of cash to spend it's a top place. As you say, never any trouble there at all. I am a little jaded having spent 6 months working there. I developed quite a good thousand yard stare! The other guests there must have thought I was some really miserable Father or something as I spent every afternoon sitting in the bar drinking free beer!

 

[clapham_gull]

Hi Austrian Gull and 16bha - I read your posts with interest.

Cost and enjoyment are of course quite subjective but pleased to hear that apart from cost the Pont du Gard gets a thumbs up.

As for the Pont du Gard Austrian Gull was not impressed by the 18 Euro “parking” charge The car “parking” charge of 18.00 Euros (for up to five people) is their way of collecting the entrance fee to the whole site.

Just a bit more info for the good readers of NSC – the Pont D’Avignon is not free to visit, its 4.50 Euros per person and this is a fact as I visited it a couple of weeks ago – neither was it free when I went there several years ago. Has good audio visual displays.

I would agree that the Palais des Papes is spectacular and worth the entry charge of 10.50 Euros although this only gets you into a fraction of the place – much better value is to go on the occasional “secret visit” behind the scenes for 24.00 Euros in a limited size group and see much more than the general visit.

Check out the website links below and start making your plans to visit if you are in the area.

Site du Pont du Gard

Pont d'Avignon (Saint Bénezet) - Site Officiel de L'Office de Tourisme de la ville d'Avignon

The Popes' Palace - AVIGNON

My nominations for rip off pricing in London is:-

Madame Tussauds - £22.50 instead of £30.00 per person for online booking.

My Best Value nominations (apart from all the free things you can do - for instance the free RAF museum in Hendon):-

London - Combined ticket for The Monument and Tower Bridge is £9.00 and you get to go across the high level walkways of the bridge and visit the engine room that raises the bridge.

Brighton – Royal Pavilion £10 or if you are a Brighton resident or student then it is £5 with up to four children free.

Madame Tussards would be a rip off if they paid you to enter.

 

[Nibble]

Not when I went to longleat

That's the only one i didn't work at but by all accounts it's the best one in the UK. The other actors did complain about the hills there though.

 

[Beach Hut]

I spent every afternoon sitting in the bar drinking free beer!

Tough bit of acting

 

[clapham_gull]

The Clink prison museum in Clink road London
Very expensive for what it was , about 4/5 rooms( no bigger than your average living room) with a torture chair & old wooden stocks plus various other entrapment devices and loads of pictures on the Walls, as we (2adults & 2 kids ) walked into the 5th room we saw the exit signs and thought nooOooo is that it, i said to the kids you can bloody well walk round it again to get our moneys worth after that we got outside and all fell about the floor laughing how crap it was until I looked into my wallet and realised it had cost me £50 which soon wiped the smile off my face

Ever need some advice on doing something free in London give me a PM. The south bank is always a good shout in the summer. The children appear to love it, magicians, jugglers just doing their stuff for nothing. Mostly gearing their act towards children.

Packed in the summer with families in the summer for the obvious reason. It's free.

Like every capital city there are tourist traps. Crap and expensive because you would never bother to visit/use it again.

Madam Tausards
London Dungeon
Leicester Square (please don't even think of eating there)
Clink Prison
Gatwick Express
Probably controversially, Camden Market

Or...

The wonderful London Parks, Battersea my favourite.
The South Bank
The mostly free museums.
Borough Market as long as you just note down what's there and buy it cheaper elsewhere.
Clapham Common, love it in the summer.

Etc...

 

[Northstandite]

could this not possibly be due to the fact you maybe got shafted with your change etc. Burger king at Geneva Airport is a must stop off for us every time we fly out of there and a regular haunt also for my traveling relatives(sad i know but the alternatives are shocking) and all have never felt it was a rip off,slightly more expensive than a BK in a city center i agree and never any offers........now if you want rip off in Geneva go for a Chinese it brings a whole knew meaning to getting shafted!

No, these are the prices there.

Travelling back through Geneva last week, the Burger King there really does charge these levels whether you are paying by card/cash in Swiss Francs or Euros.

Over £40 for us too, all through debit card.

It's a combination of the usual: captive and hungry audience, and a 'wealthy' country.

Shocking prices.

 

[Nibble]

Tough bit of acting

Mate, for a corporate job it was a doddle. We did 15 mins a day. A well known supermarket brand were re-training their entire workforce. We had to go into the conference hall, we had testimonials from their staff on an ipod and an ear piece. Their words were piped into our lugholes and we had to recite them verbatim. They used actors because they wanted the staff testimonials to be anonymous. We said our piece and fecked off, leaving them to discuss what they had heard. We then got the enire day from 9.30 am to ourselves. All meals in the restaurants and beers paid for. Cannot complain. I have to say after about 3 months I started to get a bit sick of the places but we could go out into the Lake District during the day which was good. Had a few good trips plus some of the activities in the parks were good. Good bunch pf people too. But I have to say, you have to be well off to pay for stuff there. It's debatable if it's a rip off because if you enjoy yourself then it's money well spent and it is a great place for the kiddywinks.

 

[Northstandite]

Many tourists in London still seem unaware of the Oyster Card system. The genius simplicity of the Tube map unfortunately masks the fact that it often quicker to walk.

So my vote goes for a cash single from Leicester Square to Covent Garden.

At £4.50 for 250 metres, I understand it is officially the most expensive train journey on earth.

I've just worked that out at £29 a mile.

If Richard Branson got away with that a ticket to Manchester from London would come in at around £6,000.

What about a single bus trip in Brighton, going say just 2 stops along Western Road, using Roger French's fabulously profitable buses?

I think that would give a high £ per mile.

 

[wunt be druv]

Anywhere in France/Italy when they find out you are English.Oh and Egypt,they were money grabbing bastards too.

 

[clapham_gull]

What about a single bus trip in Brighton, going say just 2 stops along Western Road, using Roger French's fabulously profitable buses?

I think that would give a high £ per mile.

I have no idea, but Brighton does seem expensive the very very few times I visit the city. Hotels and Cabs, London prices.

There does appear to be a cheap hotel revolution in London. Travel Lodges popping up everywhere.

There is one just built down the road from me in Balham. I know it's the gateway to the south, but Balham ?

People obviously getting wise to capital city rip offs and the market is responding. So if anyone wants to stay in London for the weekend, Balham and Clapham Junction now have chain budget but perfectly comfortable hotels.

If you choose the Balham option I will take you for beer as long as you aren't weird and on my ignore list.

 

[Norman Potting]

Ever need some advice on doing something free in London give me a PM. The south bank is always a good shout in the summer. The children appear to love it, magicians, jugglers just doing their stuff for nothing. Mostly gearing their act towards children.

Packed in the summer with families in the summer for the obvious reason. It's free.

Like every capital city there are tourist traps. Crap and expensive because you would never bother to visit/use it again.

Madam Tausards
London Dungeon
Leicester Square (please don't even think of eating there)
Clink Prison
Gatwick Express
Probably controversially, Camden Market

Or...

The wonderful London Parks, Battersea my favourite.
The South Bank
The mostly free museums.
Borough Market as long as you just note down what's there and buy it cheaper elsewhere.
Clapham Common, love it in the summer.

Etc...

Museum of London is worth a look. Free
National Maritime Museum Greenwich. Free
The Golden Hinde (near Borough Market) Family guided tour £20 - but was really good and we all found it fascinating.
Further out - Hampton Court, not free but easy to spend a day there - if the kids are starting to do the Tudor thing the re enactments were fun and informative.

With a lot of the "paid for" places it is the food that makes it the most expensive, if you can get reasonable weather, take stuff to eat and make sure you get a full day in places like Drusilla's, Knockhatch, etc are ok. However I would echo comments about the Wookey Hole "experience" being a rip off.

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

A couple of years ago I spent the summer doing a corporate acting job there, training staff of a company that had hired the conference centres and accomodation. Was a good summer, any meal in any restaurant all day long, free coffees etc anythiung we wanted for free, free accomodation in the cabins that have pool table, X-box, sauna etc, free access to gym, a few free activities and vouchers to spend how we wished plus paid work which lasted for about 15 mins a day. Great gig for a whole summer. Then I learned how much pkeople pay to go there!!!!!!!!!! Unbelievable! Absolute con. The sort of holiday unimaginative people with more money than sense go on. It is unbelieavbly expensive. I spent a lot of time in the Lake District one and couldn't help think how could anyone pay through the nose to go to this sterile, over-priced, overblown campsite when there is the Lake District, THE f***ing LAKE DISTRICT, on your doorstep!! If you sign up for one of these 21st century Butlins you deserve to get ripped off. You have NO imagination.


Although I will say the swimming pool and waterpark is f***ing amazing and the staff are amazingly helpful. But £45 for a 45 minute guided walk around the site?

Can I point out here that I did not have a holiday at CP. We visited for a day while relatives were on holiday at Longleat. I would not even consider it. Pool complex was brilliant though.
Thanks Nibble, I now know why my supermarket shopping is so expensive

 

[Peever]

Many tourists in London still seem unaware of the Oyster Card system. The genius simplicity of the Tube map unfortunately masks the fact that it often quicker to walk.

So my vote goes for a cash single from Leicester Square to Covent Garden.

At £4.50 for 250 metres, I understand it is officially the most expensive train journey on earth.

I've just worked that out at £29 a mile.

If Richard Branson got away with that a ticket to Manchester from London would come in at around £6,000.

Are you saying we are unaware that its a rip off? Your right it can be quicker to walk (and I often do) but your right its simple to use and takes the thinking out of getting around London. Granted I dont often get on at one station and get off at the next because as you say....less of a hassle to walk.

Cant speak for those in Europe but for many coming from this side of the pond getting around England can be very confusing if you don't know where your going. We are used to the grid system where its simple to get around (in our eyes) So when you get to London and walk out the train/tube station and the roads go in every which direction...

 

[clapham_gull]

Are you saying we are unaware that its a rip off? Your right it can be quicker to walk (and I often do) but your right its simple to use and takes the thinking out of getting around London. Granted I dont often get on at one station and get off at the next because as you say....less of a hassle to walk.

Cant speak for those in Europe but for many coming from this side of the pond getting around England can be very confusing if you don't know where your going. We are used to the grid system where its simple to get around (in our eyes) So when you get to London and walk out the train/tube station and the roads go in every which direction...

There are rip off and rip offs. I sure most tourists aren't aware that per mile NASA probably spent less to get to the moon than you pay to go from Leicester (watch the pronunciation now) Square to Covent Garden.

We nearly had a grid system in London after the fire but after having another look at it we frankly couldn't be arsed. The plans were later used to construct Milton Keynes.