Travelers on budget warm up to wintry London

LONDON — London has a Cold War feel about it these days.

If the furor over the recent poisoning of a former Russian spy isn't enough to make you feel like you're in a John le Carre novel, there are the omnipresent CCTV cameras. This year they've sprouted up in just about every public place, it seems, nabbing on film muggers, speeders and ill-doers that included a pair of grandmothers rifling through purloined backpacks. In some ways that watchful eye is comforting; in others it seems downright Orwellian.

The demise of the U.S. dollar is almost enough to keep you at home. Prices in pounds sterling look like the same prices you'd pay in a U.S. city. But figure in the exchange rate, and you're paying double for everything. (Case in point: The two pies I took to a friends' dinner party cost — I am not kidding — a total of $88.)

Don't be deterred. Despite the high prices and predictably dreary weather, London sometimes seems at its finest in winter. Airfare is reasonable (under $600 round trip including the whopping taxes), hotels are affordable (under $125 for a room in a good hotel, with tony choices like the Ritz offering a fourth night free), and travel packages can combine the two into a bargain. (At Go-Today.com, $779 per person buys airfare plus six nights' hotel if you travel before Feb. 22.)

With air and hotel covered, you can keep your costs to a minimum by taking buses and the Underground (a seven-day central-city Travelcard costs about $44 and includes discounts to some attractions), hanging in the many free museums and getting your theater tickets from the half-price booth in Leicester Square.

It's dining that can do in your budget. Dodge the best restaurants, and you should be fine.

Here are suggestions for reasonably priced eats and not-to-be missed freebies. If you visit our favorite travelers' bookstores, use fiscal restraint.

Eat well, do good