6 days in London

Hi Linda. We were in London for a few days a few years back and we took one of the double decker bus tours to begin with to familiarize ourselves with the city. I would do that again if I were going there. Also, some of those tours allow you to get off and on again so you can use it for transporation as well as familiarization. We rode around one time completely and then we did the on/off routine to provide us transporation. That was one day. The others we rode the tube with no problem and only bought tickets for it when we wanted to ride. London is very walker friendly and we walked many places.

Who did you book your tour to Stonehenge, Lacock, and Bath with? I would be interested in doing that too. Thanks

We booked our tour for Stonehenge with Premium Tours as I wanted to have the special access to Stonehenge. I'm sure other tours have this also but this one was recommended by Stonehenge so we went with it

Hi Linda,

How are you getting to/from Heathrow airport? There are a few different options, including taxi, underground, train, and bus. The underground is a good option and you can take it to the Victoria station by travelling from Heathrow out to South Kensington, and switching to the District or Circle lines for the two stops to Victoria.

I don't know for sure what the best pricing option is for your travels, as I am not sure how many consecutive days you will be in the UK. If you just want transportation for the one day, a one-day pass is 7 pounds/person in zones 1-2 but Heathrow is in zone 6, which means the day pass would cost 14.8 pounds/person, compared with a one-way ticket from Heathrow that would be 4 pounds/person.

If you are taking the underground, just buy the tickets at the airport station. The exception would be if you have some specialty pass like the Oyster pass, but I have heard they are not good value.

We will be arriving in London on Thursday and staying through Tuesday flying out of LHR on Wednesday. We will be going to Stonehenge on Sunday so most of our days are in London

Hi Linda. Transportation into London from LHR has been discussed on this forum numerous times. Use the search engine above and type in Oyster Card. You'll get the information you are seeking.

London's a great city. Enjoy your visit.

For your Tube ride from LHR to Victoria I recommend that you make your connection at Hammersmith rather than South Kensington. At Hammersmith the only walking you'll do is the few feet from one side of the platform to the other. Take the District line to Victoria.

The 2for1 offers are provided by National Rail. You print the vouchers at home and take them with you. To use them, you must have a train ticket or a PAPER travelcard with the National Rail logo on it which you can only buy from NATIONAL RAIL stations, not Tube stations. Here are two options:

1. Buy Oyster cards at LHR and load at least £30 on each of them. Use them as pay-as-you-go cards to get from LHR to Victoria, to get around in London on days you won't visit any places covered by the 2for1 offers, and to get back to LHR. The Oyster computer will automatically give you the best fare and you will never pay more than 50 pence less that the cost of a one-day travelcard for the zones in which you travel that day, no matter how many rides you take. Top up the cards as necessary. When you return to LHR you can get a refund on any unspent money plus the £5 deposit. Buy one-day, zone 1-2 National Rail PAPER travelcards for each day you plan to use 2for1 vouchers. Don't use your Oyster cards those days.

2. Buy single tickets (£4) for the Tube from LHR to Victoria. Buy seven-day, zone 1-2 National Rail PAPER travelcards (£25.80) when you first get to Victoria. Use them for your whole stay in London and for any rides within London on the day you leave. When you're ready to go to LHR, buy an extension ticket (£3.20) at the Victoria Tube station to get from the edge of zone 2 to the airport.

I would like to add that a good resource for walking in London is Frommer's London daybyday book. ($10.00).
Robin from this website suggested this to my husband and me and we found it very valuable. A map of London is in the front of the book as well as all the sites.
When you get lost just stop and look it up in the book. Presto, you know where you are and where you have to go. I also includes a larger fold out map in the back of the book.
You can also google the two for one coupons and can print some off at home before you go. The Visitor's Center also has pamphlets with the 2 for 1 coupons. There is one for the Tower of London. Wish I was going with you... The Oyster Card is GREAT! The Oyster card can be used on the slower train from Heathrow into downtown London. It can't be used on the faster train but the time difference is minimal.

Hi Linda,

A slight correction to Steve's post - a one day travel card zones 1-6 is 7.50BPS. We arrived in London on Feb. 28 of this year and purchased a one day travel card from the underground station at Terminal 3 and then traveled from Heathrow straight to our flat on the Picadilly line. We had many other errands to run on the day we arrived so the one day travel card was an excellent choice for us.

The 2for1 offers are a great way to save money and worth the extra effort to purchase your travel card from a National Rail station, Victoria Station is a National Rail station.

Another poster also mentioned the Hop on Hop off bus (2 companies are mentioned in RS Book) and the bus ticket also gives you a free River Cruise on the Thames - another good value.

Have a great trip!

You can also pick up booklets that contain 2 for 1 vouchers at the ticket/information points at London mainline stations.

I noticed people asking about Stonehenge 'special access'. Not many know but you can fix it yourself on the English Heritage website (below)but perhaps not at short notice. Otherwise there are a few small tour operators that have guides. There has been quite a lot of new work done in and around Stonehenge in the last year – so it’s worth reading up on the latest accounts and discoveries, I’m sure it will more than double the experience. Anyway here a two useful ‘Stonehenge’ links:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/server/show/nav.878
http://www.stonehenge.co.uk/

Have a great trip

Tony, Thanks for the excellent information!