Getting around London

Try using this website to plan your journey and see a map, maybe print out the map before you go.

https://tfl.gov.uk

One confusion I see when I tried the route from Piccadilly Tube Station to Dulwich Wood Park is that there are two choices at DWP, College Road and Kingswood Drive.

The number 3 starts from Trafalgar Square and winds its way over to Crystal Palace. Here’s the route map.

https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/bus-route-maps/westminster-a4-150717.pdf

https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/3/?Input=3+towards+Crystal+Palace&direction=outbound

It doesn’t stop near a Piccadilly line tube station.

Not bad for £1.50.

The 3 used to start from Oxford Circus instead of Trafalgar Square, but was cut back because of the current campaign to reduce the number of buses on Oxford Street. You can get several other bus routes from Piccadilly Circus (I assume) to Trafalgar Square.

You can also take a train between West Dulwich (on the map shown for the number 3, look for the crows feet symbol on the map) and London Victoria. It will be faster than the bus, runs around 4 times an hour, and if Victoria is near your destination or origin it can be a good choice.

Big Mike, I'm the same way with buses and which side of the street confusion. Sentences like "right outside the station" make me giddy with nerves--outside which entrance, which corner? I like as few changes as possible, and while I made extensive use of the Tube when in London last Sept, I also knew in advance that the weekend I was there most of the lines I might need would be closed for maintenance. Thus I sought help from the front desk at the hotel and took a bus from Portobello Rd area to Chalk Farm for the Camden Market, and while it took a good 40 minutes I was happy to rest a bit and see areas I wouldn't have seen otherwise on the way there. The next day I had a really early guided tour meet and felt a taxi was the best option as I did not need confusion at 6 am on a Sunday morning.

Thank you emma.

Mona and ramblin', yes, I'll be using those sites! Some trips they list four or more changes, which will be comical with me trying to keep up.

Christa, yeah, what is "right outside the station"?

Well, maybe a lesson here is to be careful with directions given by the hotel, VRBO owner, etc., as in my case those directions are no longer accurate.

If the "fastest route" has a lot of connections then I'll probably opt for the simpler way, unless we're talking a huge difference in time. As mentioned a taxi might be in order on occasion.

I know this is old school but I like to print out directions. Upon getting lost once--we always get lost at least once per trip--my wife told me to keep a sense of humor. I told her it wasn't all that funny at the moment.

Emma, the apartment is near the Dulwich Wood Park/College Road bus stop. No trains or tube appear to be very close by.

We're initially coming in from LHR. From what I can gather we will become well acquainted with the Number 3 bus getting to the Brixton tube and Victoria line, and then I "think" we're going to be OK figuring out where to go at that point.

Then again I'm the guy who not once, but twice went the wrong way for two stops on the Paris metro. Don't ask me how I managed to do this. Mary said the look on my face when it dawned on me was priceless.

Good point emma about street view or whatever I used on Google. I virtually walked about a dozen times from the metro to our Paris apartment. It was a relief to know where we were going in a jet-lagged and cranky mood, while Mary looks at me with her palms facing up and a look that says, "I though you had this figured out. Don't look at me."

As an alternative to Transport For London, Google Maps will plan routes for you. When in doubt, I compare the two results.

On my last couple of visits, I was glad to see how often maps and guides to neighbourhoods are being posted around Tube stations and main intersections.

Well I chose the apartment because it's a nice place and didn't seem that far from central London. It also fit our budget and we had grown tired of hotel rooms. Too late now.

Well, we will plan to store luggage at Victoria Station. When we leave each morning we won't return until the end of the day. Need to make the best of it. In for a penny, in for a pound. Appreciate the advice.

I see Gipsy Hill and Sydenham stations (sic) are less than a mile walk from our place.

The big one is arriving Euston Station in time for the May 27 0805 train to Liverpool. Tfl says if we leave from Dulwich \college by 0630 we'll be at Euston by 0720. Heck maybe we should get a taxi for that one. It is early on a bank holiday maybe not too much traffic. Keep hope alive.

Edit: the reviews of people staying there and touring London we're very favorable.

Mike, have you seen this TfL spider map of Gipsy Hill? http://content.tfl.gov.uk/bus-route-maps/gipsy-hill-a4-150717.pdf It shows your stop on the number 3 at College Road. The number 3 stops at stop "D" southbound and "E" northbound. There will be little letters on top of the bus stop sign with the letter of the stop - this applies throughout London - which matches the letter on the map. Two stops from College Road and a walk from the bus stop to the station - or as you suggest, you could walk the whole way.

The trains from Gipsy Hill are frequent (around 10 minutes apart or so) to Victoria station, you can also get to London Bridge via Crystal Palace or Tulse Hill, and there are also trains to West Croydon but I doubt you will go there unless you just want to ride the tram for fun. You can get live reports on the trains there at http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/GIP (where GIP is the code for that station) and there is a pretty good and useful Southern railways app with all that information and plenty more. Information about the station itself is at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/GIP/details.html?_ga=2.46807137.757719862.1548868539-229561644.1543173477

Thank you, Nigel. Googlemaps says it's .7 mile from the apartment to the Gipsy Hill station, although it seems the trains don't run very early in the mornings on weekends/bank holidays when we're on hard deadlines, although it should work fine for the daily into and out of London tourist stuff.

Yes, first trains on Sundays are a bit later because we like to sleep in on a Sunday. First train to London Bridge is at 7:07 (arr 7:33) and the first to Victoria is at 7:17 (arr 7:42). After that there is something every 15 or 20 minutes.

On Saturday they get going a bit earlier - first train to London Bridge is at 5:45 (arr 6:18) and Victoria at 5:58 (arr 6:24) and then frequent.

How early is the early time you have to be in town?

Oliver, sleeping is a sign of weakness. Kidding.
The 3 bus begins running around 0600 so on the May 27 bank holiday -- we should be ok for the 0805 train from Euston to Liverpool.