Ilford to the London Sightseeing areas

You have booked yourself into a rather inconvenient area for transport to central London in Zone 4, roughly equidistant from the Central Line and the main line station in Ilford.

The route from Kings Cross would be circle/Hammersmith & City/metropolitan to Liverpool Street, Great Anglia train to Ilford, then the 364 bus. This would take around an hour. It would be similar travelling back into Central London although you could transfer to the central or jubilee lines at Stratford rather than going to Liverpool Street.

That's a bit far out.

Use the Travel Planner in the upper left corner of http://www.tfl.gov.uk/ which is the Transport for London home page.

It will take 2 trains and some walking to get to Ilford station, beyond there I don't know. 40 minutes to get to the station, then you need to be more specific.

Have you asked your hotel?

There is a bus that goes from Oxford street but it will take all day.

Ask your hotel.

Ilford is in Zone 4 so be sure your ticket goes that far.

The 25 bus takes nearly two hours to get to Oxford Circus. A safari on its own.

Thanks everyone for your advice!

Hi.

I actually live in Ilford and work in the city, and I have a different perspective from the other posters who have answered you. Ilford is, in fact very well located for travelling to central London if you were looking to strike a balance between accommodation cost and convenience. Ilford (actually in Essex) is a late 19th century suburb, with many large (by London standards) houses although many are now divided into flats. It has many large shops and is very multicultural - so it's not a chi-chi suburb! It also houses many commuters. I can't vouch for your particular hotel in Coventry Rd, as to my knowledge there are none of the big chains there, but it is close to Ilford Station. Note though that it is a long road by local standards, so if your hotel is at one end it is only 4 minutes walk to Ilford Station - it will be almost 15 mins from the far end.
By train (direct from Ilford to London Liverpool St Stn) it is only about 20-30 mins max, and £7.60 return in the rush hour. From Liverpool St you can walk round the City of London from the door - the Thames and Tower of London are a scenic city 15 minute walk. Also from Liverpool St you can catch Underground services - central line in to the West End; Metropolitan line or Circle Line to areas like Kings Cross, Regents Park, Baker St and clockwise round to Embankment and Victoria - all of these places are about 15 to 25 mins additional travel time. Put another way, you can access anywhere in central London in an hour from Ilford.

To get from St. Pancras to Ilford, follow the signs for the Circle line (underground) at St. Pancras. Get on an eastbound train and get off at Liverpool St. Go up to the main surface level terminus, and to find the Ilford trains walk towards Platform 16 or 17 - look at destination boards (at the platform gates) for trains to 'Shenfield', checking that the particular train stops at Ilford (most do but not all). Its only 4 stops on the Circle Line to Liverpool St, and only 5 stops rom Liverpool St to Ilford. Don't foget to ensure you get a ticket at St Pancras/Kings Cross that allows you through to Ilford - Ilford has ticket barriers. Enjoy!

Interesting to me in that I think you believed you were disagreeing with what I was saying earlier, when actually I think we are much in agreement even down to the rough hour it would take to get to many places in central London.

As the OP did not post the details of his/her hotel it is impossible to know which end of Coventry Road it is. If it is right towards the station end, it is indeed a reasonably short walk.

However when it comes to London it can be difficult (or impossible) to find anywhere that is a short travelling time from everywhere you might want to go.

I don't think that I answered much different, either. As I originally said - the hotel would know how far from the station - we certainly don't.

Thanks, all.