I am going to London in September but for only a few days. The rest of my time will be in Bath and the Cotswolds. My question, for the 3 days that I will be in London, should I purchase an Oyster card or is there a better alternative? I haven't yet been to London, so any advice will be extremely helpful! Thank you!
Posted by
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
2779 posts
Buy an Oyster card when you are there. Don't pay extra for having it shipped to you, there is no added value to it. You can't go wrong with an Oyster card as the maximum daily charge to it equals the ticket price of a day ticket. With an Oyster card busses are a flat GBP 1 per ride no matter how far and long. So especially for longer distances use busses instead of the underground. a) you're gonna see much more of the city and b) it's cheaper.
Posted by
Port Neches, Texas, USA
14 posts
We just got back from our first trip to London, and yes, the Oyster card is the way to go. You'll have to purchase your card from a manned "teller" because U.S. credit cards don't work in the machines, but this is no problem as the transit workers are very helpful and friendly, and even the smaller tube stations we saw had at least one manned window to help you. It's really easy to check your balance, just by tapping your card on the yellow disk on one of the automated machines. If it appears your card is getting low, just drop a few pound coins in and you're good to go again. To ride the tubes, you tap your card on the yellow disk both when entering and when leaving, but on buses, you only tap when you enter the bus via the doors next to the driver (BTW, you're not supposed to exit via the door next to the driver, it's supposed to be only for entrance). We loved the buses, especially the double-deckers. The tubes are clean and fast, but the cars tended to be hot and stuffy inside. The buses were clean as well, and I was quite impressed at how well the bus drivers negotiated the heavy London traffic. Have fun!
Cal
Posted by
Napa, CA
3580 posts
Check to see if there is still a 3-day pass (paper) for London transit. That would probably save money if it is still available.
Posted by
London, UK
286 posts
There are no three day passes. Most everything is Oyster, cash or paper tickets.
It all depends on where you are planning to stay in London and what you want to do when you get here and how you get here.
The queues at some of the larger stations are enough to make me want to pay full fares instead of waiting.