My husband & I will be in London in May for 6 nights and are planning on purchasing Oyster cards for our travel needs. Just wondering what would you think would be a good amount to start with for 6 nights? We are staying in an apartment hear Holborn tube station. Our itinerary is pretty full for those days with a one day trip to Bath planned as well. I was thinking starting with 20 pounds on each card...does that sound reasonable? Thanks!
Posted by
Southern California
377 posts
Diana,
That sounds reasonable to me. Within Zone 1, trips are £2.20, with a daily cap of £8.40, so depending on how many Tube trips are in your itinerary you should be good for several days. Many sites are within walking distance of each other, and the view is better above ground, so you may not need to use the Tube as often as you think. You can find out more about individual fares at www.tfl.gov.uk.
Posted by
Omaha, NE USA
67 posts
Just so I'm clear too...
A 7-day Zones 1 and 2 travelcard is 31.40 pounds as of this typing.
If the daily cap is 8 pounds, it would mean that once you met the daily cap for four days (4X8=32), you would be saving money from that point on, correct?
Plus, the travlecard would give a 33% discount on a Clipper trip to Greenwich?
Posted by
Southern California
377 posts
Yes, but you would have to take 4 journeys each of those 4 days before that's true, and if you're traveling at off-peak hours, you hit the cap at 7 pounds, so your break-even point would be sometime on day 5. Plus if you travel beyond zone 2, you need some pay as you go money on the card also to cover the extra zones. Not saying it's not a good idea, just something to be aware of.
It's been almost 10 years since we used the Thames Clipper discount, so I'm not up to date on that information. Last trip we went "old school" and bought the 7-day paper pass at a rail station so we could take advantage of the 2 for 1 discounts. www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london. in case you're interested.
Posted by
Elk Grove, CA, USA
6898 posts
Diana, on our last trip to London, we were there for 6 days. We chose the 7-day travel card and it worked out quite well. We were on the tube or bus an average of 6 times a day. We were staying on the other side of the Thames and the only way out was by bus or tube. Or, we could walk about a mile and over the London bridge which was quite nice.