Oyster Vs 7day travelcard

If you'll be by yourself, I'd probably get the Oyster Card. If someone is accompanying you, definitely get the 7-day travelcard through National Rail so you can take advantage of their 2-for-1 vouchers for various attractions in the city, everything from the London Eye to the Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral.

A 7 day travelcard costs the same whether you get it on paper or load it on an Oyster. If you are travelling solo, just go with an Oyster card. An Oyster card can store a travelcard, pay-as-you-go money, or both. If it were me, for 8 days I would load a 7 day zone 1-2 travelcard (assuming you are staying in that area) along with some pay as you go money on the card to cover any trips outside of zone 2 or the 8th day. If you are travelling with another person, the paper travelcard issued by the National Rail allows you to use the 2 for 1 offers, so that could save you some money.

"...along with some pay as you go money on the card to cover any trips outside of zone 2 or the 8th day." What if you're taking a daytrip? Will the Oyster card get you to King's Cross or do you need PAYG for that? And what about the ride to Heathrow for the flight home? Do you need to buy a separate ticket for that? I have the same question and am in the same situation as Susan (8 days in London) so any advice is appreciated!

Kings Cross is in Zone 1, as are all the main central London stations, so a zone 1-2 Travelcard will cover that. Heathrow is more complicated. The Piccadilly Line tube station is in Zone 6, so if you have a Travelcard with fewer zones you will need to have enough PAYG money on your card. The Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect train services from Paddington, however, are not covered by the main London ticketing system at all, so you cannot use a Travelcard or Oyster PAYG, and need to get a specific ticket for them.

To answer Sarah's question ... Most tourist sights are in zone 1 or 2, so if you are also staying within one of those zones, a zone 1-2 travel card will cover most trips. You can load a weekly travelcard on Oyster. Simultaneously, you can load pay-as-you-go money. When you swipe your Oyster card, it automatically figures out what applies. Kings Cross station is in zone 1. Heathrow is in zone 6. So here is a hypothetical ... Suppose you were in London from August 1 to 8 and you loaded a zone 1-2 travelcard for Aug 1 to 7 plus 10 GBP of pay-as-you-go (PAYG) money. Your travelcard would cover all trips that you take within zone 1-2 between Aug 1 and Aug 7. Any trips that you take on August 8th would be deducted from the PAYG money. If you travel to somewhere in zone 3 or beyond between Aug 1 and 7, the extension fare (from the border of zone 2 to your destination) would be deducted from the PAYG money as your travelcard would cover the first 2 zones.

Thank you Philip and Laura. I don't know why this is so confusing. It sounds like I want an Oyster card with a 7-day Travelcard on it, plus some PAYG money. I'll be in London for 8 days, Sept. 22 - 30, and am staying in Bayswater. I want to take a daytrip to York on one of those days and on the 30th I'm returning to the States.

Sarah, Last-minute tickets from London to York and return are very expensive (around £100.00 each way). If you can commit now to a specific travel date and specific departure times, you can get discount fare tickets as low as £13.00 each way. Your tickets will only be good for the times you've selected. Book ASAP at www.eastcoast.co.uk.

I am an Oyster card user when I go to London (often) and just wanted to add an FYI... When you put a 7 day travelcard on your Oyster card, you get free city bus travel.. I believe it is in all zones... Just be sure to only tap in when you get on the bus and not tap again when you get off the bus. Get used to doing that so when you are on your 'Pay as you go money', you won't get dinged twice for the bus trip.. I had to get used to that since I was used to tapping in and out of the tube station. Another thing to think about if you plan on going out of zone and are not in a hurry (I am never in a hurry in London!) I am always a bit broke when in London and since I stay in zone 5 (cheaper hotel), I ride the bus to zone 2 (whatever station is just inside zone 2) then take the tube into central London so I don't have to pay additional for crossing from further zones with a 2 zone travelcard. Just something to consider if you don't mind a bit of extra time to see other locations and feel more like a local...Also the #74 bus takes you to a lot of the shopping and museum areas :) You can also register your oystercard online so in case it gets lost, you can get it replaced.