I need help trying to understand the best way to see London, from our arrival, to our departure. We come into LHR in the morning of 19 April and we’ll buy a ticket to go to our hotel at the Blackfriar Fleet Street. We have a week of sightseeing before I catch a flight out of LGW on the 26 April. Where should I buy a ticket for my transport to my hotel? Would this ticket be the railway ticket that would give me the 2-4-1 offers? Would I be allowed to use it to travel from London to LGW?
(I also took your advice and downsized to a 26” bag to take on Ryanair! Thank you!)
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34005 posts
You have a couple of "we" and many "I" and "me". The Days Out promotion is for even numbers, each pair sharing a voucher. How many adults and how many kids?
Your trip from Heathrow won't count. Heathrow Express isn't an accepted rail company, and neither is London Underground.
You could get a rail company issued paper Travelcard for the 6 zones, and if you had one of those it would count as long as it was valid both on the day of arrival and on the days of your visits to the covered attractions. BUT - there is no National Rail ticket office at the Heathrow Airport, and if you are in London for a week it is unlikely you will want to spring the extra money for more than a Zone 1-2. A Zone 1-6 would be a waste.
I don't know the hotel but if it is in Fleet Street near Blackfriars, you could take the Tube on arrival to the nearest Tube station using Oyster, then before you go to the first Days Out attraction you could buy your 7-Day rail Travelcard.
Posted by
Washington DC
28247 posts
I've been reading up on the 2-4-1 offers myself since this trip, for the first time in over 20 years, I will not be solo the entire time. That is by way of saying I haven't actually used a 2-4-1 offer yet.
For a few of the most popular sights (including the Churchill War Rooms), you have a choice to make: Stand in line, probably for a very long time, and without any guarantee as to what entry time you will be able to purchase, to save the money OR buy tickets in advance online, possibly at a discount of about 10%. Obviously, the 2-4-1 deal is cheaper, but it you're in line for 60 or 90 minutes, is it worth it?
There may be other 2-4-1 sights that are equally problematic; the War Rooms are the only on my personal target list I'm worried about.
Your trip straddles April and May. As of a day or two ago, I found no information on the Days Out Guide website about 2-4-1 offers in London after April 30, so you'll have to keep watching to see what, if anything, changes. Note that there are day/time restrictions at a few sights.
Buying a paper weekly travel card at a regular train station seems like a clear winner, given the length of your stay. Just get an Oyster Card and load a minimal amount of money on it for trips outside Zone 1/2. Do not load a travel card on the Oyster Card; that will not qualify you for the 2-4-1 offers.
Posted by
OP
Virginia
182 posts
Thank you for your replies.
We now have a trip planned for 10 October. We’ll arrive into Heathrow and take a train to Paddington Station. During the next 7 days, we’ll be taking day trips to Stonehenge, Bath, Cambridge, Oxford, by train. Will my train from Heathrow to London, and my day trips by train, be covered by any special pass or discounted ticket that I can buy online?
We plan to get the Oyster Card. Can we use that card for our entire 21 day stay, taking a bus or tub to Greenwich, Camden Town, Southwalk, etc? If we get the 2-4-1 deal, is that buy one, get one person in free? We see a 10 day discount pass for attractions, but can we use it over a three week period? If not, how can the two of us save money on the tourist entry fees? On 4 November, we leave London for Stratford-upon-Avon on the fastest, direct train we can find. Are there any discounts packages for the tours in this area? On 7 November, we want to take a train from Stratford upon Avon and somehow get to Windsor on the same day. On 10 November, we leave Windsor for Heathrow. What type of train pass do we need for non consecutive travel days? Thank you so much for your advice and suggestions.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
Chicksberry, your latest post is a bit old, but I'm answering it as nobody else has.
We plan to get the Oyster Card. Can we use that card for our entire 21 day stay, taking a bus or tub to Greenwich, Camden Town, Southwalk, etc?
An Oyster Card is valid for all transport in London (tube, bus and train), but only in London (and a very few places just outside):
Greenwich, Camden Town, Southwalk - Yes, all within London.
Stonehenge, Bath, Cambridge, Oxford - NO, they are all outside London.
Train from Heathrow to London, - Yes by tube, Yes by TFL train, Yes by Heathrow Express. But Heathrow Express costs more than the other two.
London to Stratford-upon-Avon - No, well outside London.
Windsor - No
Windsor to Heathrow - No. These are close, but there is no rail line. The rail lines from Heathrow all go into London. Your options are local bus or taxi.