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London Travel Card vs Oyster Card

Posted by (Phoenix, Arizona, United States) on

We are going to London for 8 days at the end of December. And I apologize if this has been addressed before - but I'm just beyond confused trying to decide between getting a London TravelCard or getting an Oystercard. We have decided to get the London Pass - and I see where you can add the Oystercard to your London Pass. But does it make more sense to just opt for the TravelCard instead? We will be arriving into Heathrow - but the remainder of our visit will be confined to Zones 1 and 2. I've read several blogs on this topic - and I still can't figure out the best option.

Any help would be appreciated - and Thanks in advance!!

Posted by
4684 posts

Look into whether the London Pass is worthwhile very carefully. Many of the best museums and art galleries in London are free entry, so make a list of the sites you want to visit, check if there is an admission fee online, and calculate whether the pass will save money.

Posted by
101 posts

Thanks, Philip!

Yeah - we did look into that - and it will save us some money.

Posted by
357 posts

If you don't want the 2 for 1 offers then t Heathrow, purchase a 7 day TravelCard (it will be on Oyster) plus £15 to cover 1 day of travel in z1-2 (£6.40) plus the cost to get back and forth to Heathrow by tube. Refund the remaining balance plus deposit before your departure.

Posted by
17563 posts

Which attractions are you planning on seeing? The cost of a 6-day London Pass with travel is a whopping £172 ( there is no 7-day pass). The cost of a 7-day Travelcard for Zones 1-2 is £32.10, and if you get a paper one at a railway station, you can take advantage of all the 2-4-1 offers. ( I suspect but cannot guarantee that the ones you will want to see are covered on the 2-4-1). You would have to cover a lot of attractions in those 6 days to justify the £280 extra for two London Passes. Even if you went to 2 things a day on the 2-4-1, I don't see how you could spend £280. And with the Travelcards, you would have 7 days of travel and access to sights, not 6.

But you would lose the "skip the line" advantage if you go for the 2-4-1 offers.

Posted by
5467 posts

The suggestion in that article that you should buy tickets that it describes as 'decoys', ie the cheapest ticket available between two close by stations in London such as Queenstown Road to Vauxhall seems out of date to me. The terms of the offer now state:

"All tickets should show that you have travelled to the attraction by train, whether that be ‘London Terminals’ for 2FOR1 London attractions, or the train station nearest to the attraction itself. Tickets that have a destination too far from the attractions location may be denied by attraction staff. " (my bolding)

This clause is fairly recent and probably comes from such abuse of the offer as recommended by TripAdvisor.

Of course there are fairly cheap tickets from close in stations to London Terminals that you may still 'get away' with.

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