A visit to London can suck the money out of your wallet quicker than an industrial vacuum-cleaner. As a friend from Yorkshire once observed after a weekend in the capital: “Flippin’ ’eck, you can’t burp for less than a fiver down ’ere.” I hesitated to tell him that the going rate was more like a tenner.

London is vibrant, addictive and thrilling, whether you are bringing the kids to gawp in Hamleys or coming for a girls’ weekend, leaving hubbies at home to survive on ready-meals and Sky Sports. Roughly speaking, you have two choices: window shop, drink tap water and eat packed lunches, or plunge in head first, slap the whole lot on the old plastic fantastic and face the day of reckoning when the envelope hits the mat a month later.

The latter is more fun, of course, but even a splurge-ette doesn’t have to be as painful as you think. Here are our top money-saving ideas.

SLEEP

If you’re a foursome, including two children under 16, you can get into a family room at Travelodge (0871 9846333, www.travelodge.co.uk) – surprisingly spacious, with double bed, and sofabed that converts to two singles – so no need for two rooms. The Covent Garden branch couldn’t be more central, but the new City Road hotel is good for Hoxton trendies who want to hang out in the bars and clubs around Old Street. An all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast is £7.50, free for under16s. Room prices operate on an airline-style “better deals if you book early” system – expect to pay from £29 up to £85 for a room.

During university holidays (December 15, 2007-January 5, 2008, March 15-April 26, July 5-September 27), the London School of Economics (020-7955 7575, www.lsevacations.co.uk) lets out students’ rooms in various locations; singles from £30. Saving: £178, Travelodge vs Comfort Inn Notting Hill (room for four) over a weekend in January.

EAT

If you want posh nosh, make lunch your main meal of the day. Eat downstairs at the Jamie Oliver-inspired Fifteen (15 Westland Place, N1 7LP; 0871 3301515, www.fifteen.net) Monday-Friday and you can get a three-course set menu at lunch for £25 – go in the evening and the tasting menu is £60 a head. It’s the same story (£30 lunch, £80 tasting menu) at Gordon Ramsay’s Pétrus (Berkeley Hotel, Wilton Place, SW1X 7RL; 020-7235 1200, www.gordonramsay.com/petrus).

For a pretheatre option around Covent Garden, you could grab haddock and chips for £6.50 take-away, £9 sit-down, at Rock and Sole Plaice (47 Endell St, WC2H 9AJ, 020-7836 3785) or a curry (from £6.95) at Masala Zone (48 Floral Street, WC2E 9DA; 020-7379 0101, www.masala-zone.com) and also in Soho, Islington and Earl’s Court). If you find yourself in Kensington, the Churchill Arms pub (119 Kensington Church Street, W8 7LN; 020-7727 4242) serves up Thai curries for £6.

Sign up for reductions at www.top table.co.uk, which offers restaurant discounts by reserving via its website. You can get 50 per cent off the food bill at Malaysian restaurant Awana (85 Sloane Avenue, SW3 3DX), two courses and a glass of prosecco for £15.95 at Ooze Risotto Bar (62 Goodge St, W1T 4NE) and two-for-one on main dishes at the Italian Kitchen (42 New Oxford Street, WC1A 1BH). Saving: £35.

OUT AND ABOUT

What’s on
Get a copy of Time Out (£2.80). The listings magazine comes out every Tuesday and lists many free events. A coupon in the Nightlife section provides club entry discounts. Saving: Up to £10.

Theatre
Get discounted theatre tickets (up to half price) from the TKTS booth in Leicester Square and see www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk for online offers. Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (Bankside, SE1 9DT; 020-7401 9919, www.shakespeares-globe.org) has 700 £5 standing tickets for every performance during its summer run. Saving: Up to 50 per cent.

Drinking
Join a swanky members’ club without actually paying a joining fee. Any old Joe can call ahead to the seductive Milk and Honey bar (61 Poland Street, W1F 7NU; 0700 0655469, www.mlkhny.com) to reserve a two-hour slot on weeknights before 11pm. It does some fabulous cocktails in an intimate setting – definitely a spot to impress the other half, so dress up. Saving: £300, Milk and Honey’s annual subscription.

E-mailing
Check e-mails free at the Apple Store (235 Regent Street, W1B 2EL; 020-7153 9000, www.apple.com/uk). Saving: £1 an hour.

Caffeine high
Grab London’s best double macchiato for £1 at the Monmouth Coffee Company (27 Monmouth St, WC2H 9EU; 020-7379 3516, www.monmouthcoffee.com), which also employs the most knowledgeable staff, then sit on the bench outside to watch the world go by in this trendiest of trendy streets. Saving: £1 (all adds up!).

Afternoon tea
Afternoon tea at The Ritz is an institution, but one for which most people would balk at paying £36 a head. Try the Portrait Café on the third floor of the National Portrait Gallery (St Martin’s Place, WC2H 0HE; 020-7306 0055, www.npg.org.uk) instead, with a fascinating view over Trafalgar Square’s roofs. A selection of sandwiches, cake, scones with clotted cream and jam and tea, is £11.95pp, or splash out and go for the champagne tea (£16.95 each). Saving: £24.

Shop till you drop
If you want to kit yourself out in the latest Paul Smith gear, head to the flagship store on Floral Street in Covent Garden. But if you can make do with last season’s styles then go to the Paul Smith Sale Shop (23 Avery Row, W1X 9HB; 020-7493 1287), where most goods are marked down at least a third and some are half price. Saving: Up to 50 per cent.

Museums
Nobody can moan about London’s museums, one of the city’s great attractions. Most Central London museums are free, including the Natural History Museum and British Museum; see www.visitlondon.com. My pick of the bunch is Sir John Soane's Museum (13 Lincoln’s Inn Fields, WC2A 3BP; 020-7440 4263, www.soane.org) which has a candlelit evening opening from 6pm-9pm on the first Tuesday of the month. Saving: £8 per adult (compared with London Transport Museum).

GETTING AROUND

Walk
Arm yourself with a decent A-Z map and you’ll see how close many London attractions are to each other. You’ll also avoid the nightmare that is the Tube in rush hour. Saving: £4 compared with single cash fare on the Tube.

Tube and bus
Don’t pay cash, ever. Tube cash fares have been set at £4 and bus fares at £2 to get people to use Oyster (0845 3309876, www.tfl.gov.uk/oyster), a prepayment card (£3 refundable deposit). Load it using a credit card or cash; the card is then debited each time you travel (£1.50 for a Tube journey in the centre, 90p on the bus). If you start after 9.30am, you can travel all day for £4.60 in zones 1 and 2 on the Tube, buses, and overground trains. Under11s go free on the Tube, buses and Docklands Light Railway. Saving: £15.40, based on five Tube journeys paying cash on each, v Oyster card.

Bus tours
There’s no denying that an open-top bus tour, with commentary from a Cockney cheeky chappie, is good fun, but at £19 per adult it’s also fairly pricey. Use your Oyster card to board a No 15 Routemaster bus from Tower Hill to Trafalgar Square (passing the Tower of London and St Paul’s Cathedral). Another tourist-friendly double-decker route (though not by Routemaster) is the No 11 between Liverpool Street and Fulham, through the City, past St Paul’s, Trafalgar Square, Whitehall, Sloane Square and down the King’s Road. Saving: £17.

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