Best (cheapest, fastest) way to get from Heathrow to Liverpool

Hi Mary,

How about this: Buy either a Visitor Oyster card online (http://content.tfl.gov.uk/english-visitor-oyster-card-leaflet-jan2016.pdf) or a regular Oyster after you arrive in Heathrow. You can then take the Underground "Tube" to London Euston. This will be nice because the lines to buy tickets at the train stations in London can be very long.

Then also ahead of time, buy a return ticket ahead of time for the roundtrip from London Euston to Liverpool. You can do this on the Virgin Trains website: virgintrains.co.uk. This way you take advantage of cheaper fares. I'd give yourself 1hr for immigration, 1:30 to tube to London Euston, 1hr for lunch, and another hour or two just to be safe. Somewhere between 4.5 and 5.5 hours.

On the day you leave, head to Victoria station well ahead of time and visit the Travel Information Center to get a refund for the fee you paid for the Oyster card and any unused balance. If you buy the visitor Oyster, you don't get that fee back.

I bought the regular Oyster and got a refund on my way to Eurostar in London last fall. It worked really well. Oyster cards have daily and weekly caps, so even if you do end up riding a lot of trains while you're in London, it will max out at a similar price to a travelcard. Also, I preferred riding the double-decker buses anyway. They're cheaper and have a great view from the upper deck.

Good luck!
Nordheim

Mary, If you are coming from Dublin, why don't you just fly direct from Dublin to Liverpool? Liverpool is nearer to Dublin than London is, and there are plenty of flights. Going via London you are doubling back on yourself.

• There are no customs between Ireland and the UK because both countries are part of the EU. However if you have stayed "Airside" at Dublin and not gone through immigration and customs there, you will need to go through immigration (aka passport control, 30-60 minutes), pick up your bags and then go through customs (zero time, walk through "nothing to declare") when you land in London.
• As the other posters said, an Oyster card is only valid on public transport in London, definitely not on Inter-City trains to Liverpool.
• "I will be taking the train back to London (Victoria Station)" - no you won't. Trains from Liverpool to London arrive at Euston station, NOT Victoria station!
• No such thing as a "7 day tourist Oyster card". An Oyster card is a smart card which you either load up with cash to buy pay-as-you go tickets automatically every time you go through a ticket barrier, or you pre-buy a 7-day or longer ticket and this is stored on your Oyster card, If you are only in London Friday to Monday, then pay-as-you is the best option.

Finally, have you looked where Dublin, Liverpool, and London are on a map? What will you be doing from Monday to Friday in Liverpool?

I'm a little confused.

Sometimes people use abbreviations when they mean something different in reality.

The previous answers assume that when you ask about Liverpool that you mean the northern city where the Beatles were from but because you ask about using your Oyster card I think there is a fair chance that you may mean Liverpool Street Station, with possibly a train from there or an AirBnB or something in that area.

You said that you are originating in Cleveland. Is that Cleveland, England, in the north, or Cleveland, Ohio?

Nigel, since she talks about getting the train "back to London" I think she probably is travelling to the city of Liverpool and confused about what Oyster is for.

I agree that your absolute best move, if possible, would be to cancel your flight from Dublin to London and instead fly from Dublin to Liverpool. Liverpool has a strong traditional Irish community so there are direct flights.

Flights from Dublin to Liverpool are shortly being discontinued on Aer Lingus, leaving Ryanair as the only airline on this route. Manchester Airport is also a decent alternative.

Aer Lingus offers Cleveland-Boston-Dublin-Liverpool flight connections at what looks like a very low price in the spring. Avoiding Heathrow is valuable in itself.

Thanks for all the great responses. I did indeed change my inbound flight from Cleveland, Ohio to Liverpool, the city. I'll be attending a conference there Tuesday - Thursday. I will take the train to London, Euston station on Friday and then go from there. My hotel is near Victoria Station. Thanks again! What a helpful group of people!