London and beyond - transportation questions

Yes, the Oyster Card will get you from Heathrow into London. In fact, in Terminal 5, you can catch the tube and buy your Oyster Card at the ticket office there. They are very helpful and will help you calculate how much to put on the card if you tell them what you are planning to do. I heard it now costs 5 pounds to get one but you can get this refunded along with the balance on the card at the end of your trip.

The Oyster card itself is just a vehicle for storing your tickets. You can either store a travelcard (e.g. a 7 day zone 1-2 card) or pay-as-you-go money or both on the Oyster. You can buy this at the Heathrow tube station. Heathrow is located in zone 6. Most of the tourists sites are located in either zone 1 or zone 2. The fare for each trip depends on how many zones you travel through. All of the fare info can be found on the site tfl.gov.uk. If you are using an Oyster card with pay as you go money, you tap your card on the reader each time you enter and exit the tube station. If you take the bus, you tap on entry to the bus. The fare amount is automatically deducted from your balance. The daily fare caps so you will not pay more using pay-as-you-go on Oyster than you would for an equivalent 1-day travelcard. There is a also a type of travel card that is issued by the rail company and can only be purchased at major rail stations. This particular type of card cannot be put on Oyster; it is a paper card. There are somes tourist sights that offer 2 for 1 discounts if you have this flavor of travel card. You cannot buy this at Heathrow. You would need to go to Paddington or Victoria or another major rail station.

I'd like to chip in with answers here but I have to run to catch a train for work. I'll have a shot in about 10 hours.

The previous answers have been unclear about the Heathrow issue. It is possible to use Oyster cards or full six-zone Travelcards to get from Heathrow to central London on the Piccadilly Line underground, but you cannot use them on the suburban rail services to London Paddington, neither the non-stop top-price Heathrow Express or the cheaper, slower Heathrow Connect. Which is better for you depends on what part of London you are travelling to and when, as the Piccadilly Line becomes incredibly crowded during the rush hours. The fares are £2.70 single by Piccadilly Line with Oyster, (£4.50 peak time), or £15/£8 peak/off-peak for a Travelcard that will give you unlimited free travel for the rest of the day. The Heathrow Express is £18 single, and the Heathrow Connect £8.50. For the Oyster Card within the London area (bus, underground and suburban rail) "peak" is 0630-0930 and 1600-1900 on Monday to Friday. For Travelcards only the morning peak counts. Be warned that longer distance rail companies outside the Oyster/Travelcard area tend to define "peak" much more broadly and expensively.

The cars on the Piccadilly line (the Tube) at Heathrow are empty when you board. There are places near the doors for luggage. Crowding takes place further along the line if you are traveling during commute hours. The Oyster Card can be used for this trip. Look for "Underground" signs. I take the Tube (Piccadilly) from Heathrow when I am going to a hotel near St. Pancras. It is a direct, no changes, trip. There are numerous stops along the way; it takes about an hour from LHR to the St. Pancras/Kings Cross exit. If I want to go to the Paddington area, I take the Heathrow Connect train. Tickets can be purchased from vending machines or at a ticket booth.

Well now I'm home and see that Phillip and Swan have given great advice. "Return" does mean round-trip. I prefer to use National Rail website so don't know about the two panels at East Coast. Sorry.

I've always found pay-as-you-go Oyster card the easiest option. For 4 days I'd put 20 pounds on it. The Tube is fine for getting from Heathrow into the city, if the Piccadilly Line gets you within walking distances of your hotel or B&B. If not, you'll be paying cab fare or walking around London dragging luggage or changing Tube lines within a station (which also typically involves walking and dragging luggage: central London Tube stations are large and often complex) or some combination of all three. If it's convenient to buy an Oyster Card at Heathrow, I do. If not, I wait until the next morning and buy it at my first Tube station. Be aware that the Tube closes in the wee hours. It pays to have a backup plan if you're flight arrives really late in the evening. You'll need to figure on an hour or more to get off the aircraft, walk to passport control, and make your way through that queue. Peak and off-peak refers to high and low travel volume times. For the specifics about that, about station and Tube closing times, and for everything else you want to know about about getting around in London, consult the Transport for London site (they're the people who run it all). Google for "Transport for London" and it will be at the top of the list. Finally, be aware that two unions representing Tube employees have been engaging in 24-hour strikes for a few months now. The strikes close or severely restrict Tube lines, making travel very difficult. Queues for taxis grow very long. If the dispute isn't settled by May, you might want to keep on eye on the BBC news site just to see what's going on. If there is a strike while you're there, that's a good day for that trip out of London. (There was a strike while I was visiting in October. The nearest rail station to my hotel was a mile away. I walked and spent the day in Oxford.)

Thank you all for your replies and information. I'm beginning to make a study of all this. We'll be stopping at the Hammersmith Station on the way from Heathrow (arriving Saturday, May 28 ~8:00 AM) - our hotel is nearby and that will be our "base" for the 4 days. Then we take the Eurostar out of St. Pancras the morning of June 1. Hammersmith looks to be an easy straight shot from Heathrow, and the Picadilly line also goes to St Pancras directly. So we'll be taking an off-peak train on Saturday morning from Heathrow to Hammersmith... Maybe it's better to pay the single-trip fare, then buy the Oyster at Hammersmith? To avoid the fare increases resulting from a Zone 6 origin? Do you think there's an advantage in buying an Oyster for me and a Travelcard for my wife, to enjoy the various 2-for-1 discounts?

Lee, If you are going to use Oyster with Pay as you go, buy it at Heathrow. Saturday is "off peak" which means that you will pay no more than 8 GBP on your first day for unlimited tube and bus in zones 1 to 6. The rate for a single fare using Oyster is less than the rate of a single ticket purchase with cash. The cash fare from London Heathrow to Hammersmith is 5GBP. However, if you use your Oyster card on Saturday it is only 1.40 GBP. The system will deduct the fares from the balance on your Oyster card; once it hits the cap for the day (8GBP off peak), you will not be charged any further for that day.

You only need one voucher for two people, but both people need to have train tickets in order to use the vouchers. So buying one Oyster card and one travelcard won't work. You can, however, buy a Pay As You Go Travel card, and go to a rail station and purchase a one-day travelcard for those days you plan to use the 2 for 1 vouchers.

Here's a link that may help answer your questions about the 2 for 1 deals: http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/faq.aspx