£20, £30, £50 for my visitor oyster card?

Be aware that a Visitor Oyster cannot be just turned in at the end of your stay and you walk away with the balance in cash - which is the case with a normal Oyster. With a Visitor one you have to return it by post and any balance will posted to you in the form of cheque in Pounds Sterling sometime after you return home. What will you do with a cheque in Pounds?

You can always top up the card in any Underground station when you run low.

I'd suggest keeping just enough on it to do what you are sure you will do.

If you remain in zones 1 and 2 where almost all tourist attractions are found, the daily cap is £8.40, only £7.00 if you only travel after 9:30 M-F, no time restrictions on weekends or bank holidays.

If using Gatwick, Oyster is not valid for most of the journey, if using Heathrow - which is in zone 6 - the Oyster card can be used on the Tube to Heathrow (Piccadilly Line) but not on the Heathrow Express.

You may want to consider waiting and getting a regular Oyster card when you arrive. With a regular Oyster card you can load a 7 day zone 1-2 travelcard on the Oyster. The 7 day card is 31.40 which works out to just a little over 6 GBP for each of your 5 days. This includes peak travel too. If you plan to travel beyond zone 2 you can also add a little pay as you go money.

We usually buy a 7-day travelcard...if you're there for 5 full days it will save you money and time. You won't have to top anything up most likely unless you venture out of Zone 1 & 2. It's nice not to be worrying about whether or not you'll run out of money on the card...just tap and go!

rickobinger,

One thing to consider is - if (when) you return, can you use it at a later date/time?

I keep mine since ive been returning after every trip to Europe. Even if i dont, it will be a souvenir.

happy trails.

Awesome! Thanks for the feedback!

I'm going to go with the 7-day, zone 1-2 travel card. Can I just buy that when I roll in to St. Pancras station?

yes you can.

How are you leaving London at the end of the 5 days? With the Britrail?

TfL intends later this year to extend direct payments from contactless credit/debit cards onto the underground; this is already available on buses. Capping is to operate on a daily and weekly basis, so anyone with an EMV card won't need to get Oystercards any more. Exactly when this would happen, and how reliable with non UK issued cards is another matter.

When I leave London I will be taking a EuroStar train to Brussels. Which reminds me, I need to purchase my Eurarail ticket as well.

Also, Laura had mentioned transferring the 7-day pass to an Oyster card. Is that necessary? Or is that a way to insure my paper ticket does not get completely mangled during my 5 days in London?

There are two flavors of travelcards. One is issued by Transport for London (buy in tube stations) and one is issued by National Rail (buy in rail stations).
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If you buy a 7-day travelcard from a tube station, the only option is to store it on Oyster. An Oyster card is simply a vehicle for storing your tickets. You can load a travelcard, pay-as-you-go (PAYG) money, or both on an Oyster card. The tube stations only issue 1-day cards on paper. The benefit of having both travelcard and some PAYG money on Oyster is that if you travel beyond zone 2, Oyster will deduct travel beyond zone 2 from your PAYG money.
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If you buy a 7-day travelcard from a rail station, it will be issued on paper. You must bring a photo with you which will be used for a photocard (or use one of the photo booths in the station to buy a photo).
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The travelcards issued by the rail can be used for 2-for-1 offers. The travelcards issued by TFL cannot be used for these offers.
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If you are traveling solo, I'd just get Oyster. If you are traveling with someone else, you might want to get the card from the rail so you can take advantage of the 2-for-1 discounts on certain attractions.

"When I leave London I will be taking a EuroStar train to Brussels. Which reminds me, I need to purchase my Eurarail ticket as well. "

If you are taking Eurostar from London to Brussels, be sure to purchase ASAP!! (as in yesterday). These tickets start out reasonably priced, but quickly go up as the trains fill up and certain fares sell out. If you wait too long, it can cost hundreds more.

Laura (and everyone else for that matter),

Thanks for your thoughts! I'm going to go with the Oyster Card. What am I looking for when I go in to a tube stop? Is it a kiosk, vending machine, visitors center...?

Harold,

Already bought it. $68 and avoided the $7 surcharge by using my debit card...BOOM!

I cannot wait to hit the road and experience all the weird and wonderful the world has to offer!

What am I looking for when I go in to a tube stop? Is it a kiosk, vending machine, visitors center...?

Depends on which station. And when.

At the moment almost all tube stations have a booking hall with a window or two with a human behind it who can help you - St Pancras has something like 10 windows - and a bank of (or 1 or 2) machines which can vend and top-up Oyster Cards and install a weekly Travelcard thereto.

There is a nefarious plan afoot to "improve customer service" by shutting every single booking office and allow all passengers, locals and visitors alike, to deal with the machines with no help. When that may happen I know not, but there are now occasional strikes to try to stop the abomination.

In the short term there should be little impact on traveling guests.