London visit

how many is "us"? Any children? How do you want to use the transport? When you be here?

If you want to use the 2-4-1 offers onnmajor attractions, the 7-day paper Travelcard is the way to go.

We're not interested much in the 2 for 1 things. There are 4 of us. We'll be using the tube and public transportation exclusively. Which is cheaper and easier? Thanks for answering.

A Travelcard is a fixed price and allows you unlimited travel in specific zones. A Zone 1-2 is cheapest, it is possible to get Zones 1-4 and 1-6, as well as other special ones. You cannot use a Travelcard in a zone in which it is not valid unless you buy an extra fare. If you only take one or two rides - or none - on a particular day it still costs the same which makes it very expensive unless you are using it a lot every day. The are easy to get and when they are finished you have a nice bookmark.

An Oyster Card (or other contactless) is a stored payment method which you load with money and as you travel that deposit goes down. If you don't use the card one day (or for months or even years) any money stored on it are not changed, and you always get the cheapest fare for any journey. As it is a contactless card you have to tap in on a reader and tap out on a reader when you leave the tube (just once on a bus) and it calculates the fare for you and deducts it. There is a daily cap (which varies by zone and different if bus only or including the tube) applied which is always less than a comparable Travelcard so on those days you use it extensively you won't pay more than the cap. An Oyster card does need to be bought before it is loaded which costs £5. When you leave London if you don't want to keep the Oyster Card (as a souvenir or for a future trip or to give to a friend for their trip) you can cash it in and get back your deposit and any money left on the Oyster. Oysters are not restricted to any zones and all travel is calculated at the time.

So it all boils down to how you will travel, when you will travel, how often you will travel, how comfortable you are with modern technology versus a paper ticket and where you will travel.

So it is impossible to say which will be cheaper for you in your circumstances without knowing the detail of your circumstances.

Generally, many people do better with Oyster once they get over the initial hurdles and remember to take the time and effort at the end of their last journey to get their deposit back.

Or if your contactless debit or credit card doesn't overcharge you for foreign exchange you can use a suitable contactless card instead with the same rules as Oyster.

Oyster not only has a daily cap but it also has a weekly cap.

At the end of the day you are talking about an infinitesimally small part of your whole vacation budget, and the differences to your wallet will be small whichever ticketing method you choose.

Enjoy your trip....

Oyster not only has a daily cap but it also has a weekly cap.

Only contactless cards at present have the weekly cap, working on a Monday-Sunday basis. Oyster won't have it until the 'next generation' cards expected to be issued from some time in 2018.

If the OP has contactless cards (or Apple/Android pay), and a reasonable foreign exchange charge (ie not a fixed fee) then the simplest thing is just to use them as said above - at least if they work as not all seem to from the USA. If not buy Oysters, stick as much on as they think they might use and get a refund at the end.

More precise advice depends on knowing the travel plans, which the OP has decided not to say anything about. A previous post suggested a base in Wapping, which is Zone 2.