I'm coming to London for three days. I'll be taking the underground from LHR to Aldgate East (and vice versa at the end of my stay). I'll also need to get around London while I'm there.
I'm not sure if I should get a Visitor card, a 7-day pass or pay-as-I-go? I know there are zone restrictions on the 7-day pass but I'm not familiar with the zones.
Suggestions?
TIA
If you're only in London for 3 days then a 7 day travelcard is unnecessary.
Simply buy an Oyster card when you arrive (just a normal Oyster card not a visitor Oyster) and add £20. Any un-used cash will be returned when you hand back the card.
Sounds good. Thanks.
If you have a contactless card, or Apple pay you can use that directly and not bother with an Oyster card at all.
Marco, what? Apple Pay works in place of an Oyster Card??
Tia, you can just buy a one-day pass for each day you are in London. Easier than getting the Oyster Card, and no deposit necessary. And unlimited use with the 1 day pass for 24 hours! For just a 3 day trip to London, this is the best option imho.
Apple Pay works, contactless cards work, Apple Watch works, B-Wristbands work, Samsung Pay will work (if they ever release it), Android Pay - they all work.
You are not restricted to Oyster anymore.
I only use my contactless card (from Amex) and got rid of all my Oyster Cards last year.
you can just buy a one-day pass for each day you are in London. Easier than getting the Oyster Card, and no deposit necessary.<<<
Didn't know that. Thanks. I assume one-day passes are available from the kiosks that sell the Oyster card?
That one day pass you are speaking about is called a One Day Travelcard.
They are much more expensive now than they used to be, and much more expensive than a Zone 1 and Zone 2 daily cap on an Oyster Card or contactless method.
That is because now it is not possible to get a paper One Day Travelcard for just Zones 1 and 2. The smallest one available is now the Zones 1 to 4 which is £12, much more than an Oyster maxing out at just over half of that.
If you are not familiar with the zones,have a look at an Underground map. It will show that all of London is in one of 6 zones, with virtually all the sightseeing places a first time or second time tourist will go to in Zone 1 and a few in Zone 2.
Thanks Nigel. My Amex is not contactless and I'm not an ApplePay user. I'll just get a pay-as-you-go Oyster Card from a kiosk. I think that'll be the easiest and best for my needs.
Thanks again for the continued feedback!
I was in London in July and purchased an Oyster card. It was super easy and I loaded a small amount to start with because I wasn't sure how much I would use it. I did use it to get to LHR and that worked great. I did need to add more money but I was able to just add 5 pounds the last day. I liked that it would tell me my balance every time I entered the tube. I will now hold onto it and use it for the next time I'm in London. I was also told that they are getting rid of the travel cards and instead want everyone to use the Oyster system. Daily travel cards range from 10-17 pounds depending on the zones. I don't think you would use that much on an oyster card plus with an oyster card you don't need to worry about the zones.
That answered my questions too, thanks!
