stut

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Depends when you're going, though. The three-day travelcards are going to be withdrawn at the end of the year.

aanswer

I'll be there in November, so that should be OK.

Thanks!

treznor

Another +1 for the Courtauld. I enjoyed it much more than the Tate Modern (though if you have the time I'd definitely try and see it as well) and haven't made it to the Tate Britain. Maybe one of these days. Mondays are free entrance from 1000 to 1400 I believe and the weekend day I was there a month or so ago was free for some reason but I'm not certain why.

You've just missed One & Other at Trafalgar (where they had a different person on the Fourth Plinth every hour), but Trafalgar should still be seen. Trafalgar is basically in the middle between British Museum and the Westminster Abbey area, so it could easily be walked to from either one. I've walked from the Westminster Abbey area to the British Museum area a number of times, but possibly not something you want to do if you have limited time and don't know the area 100% (though thoroughly enjoyable).

Also keep in mind that if you want to actually see Tower Bridge that you shouldn't be crossing it... so you'd need to cross London Bridge in order to take a picture of Tower Bridge.

Depending on whether you want to go in to a number of the sites on your list or just see them from the outside (like Buckingham, St. Stephen's Tower, i.e. Big Ben, House of Lords, etc) the list you have is very doable in three full days, though possibly a bit tiring. As was stated up-thread, a couple of the sites are closed for the year anyway.

One thing I will say is that since most of the things you've listed are closed at night anyway, do make sure to get a show (or 2 or 3) in while you are here. Of the shows here now, Avenue Q is hilarious; Blood Brothers is possibly my favorite that I've seen in the past 3 months (out of about 6-7 shows), more so because I hadn't heard of it before I got to London; The 39 Steps is good fun; Les Mis is, well, Les Mis; and Shawshank Redemption should be missed. There's alot more out there though. TKTS is in Leicester Square if you want to play that game (which I do and heartily endorse especially if you don't have your heard set on seeing a particular show).

treznor

One thing to consider about Oxford St is that they just turned on the Christmas lights tonight so you may want to consider visiting Oxford St and Regent St at night. Nothing earth-shattering, but kind of cool.

aanswer

treznor -- thanks for the suggestions. I'm an amateur photographer, so some of these tips are definitely helpful.

Thanks!

flyingfkb

I will be in London in February. Will there be something equal available or do I need to get an Oyster Card?

Another question to the London experts? How frequent does the tube go on sundays?

stut

I think you'll just have to get an Oyster card, I'm afraid. On the plus side, the daily cap on it does make life a lot easier, and the number of rail routes covered by it has now increased.

treznor

Often enough that you don't really have to worry about it

You can check out the Journey Planner at www.tfl.co.uk/tube if you really want to get the timings down, but I don't think I've waited more than 10 minutes for a train, regardless of the day and time. Once you get outside of central London and some trains stop before your stop and you have to worry about branch lines and the sort it could take a bit longer, but that's not something the typical tourist has to worry about normally.

Trav+

How long will you be in London? If there for four clear days plus two travel days on either end you might find it easier to use a seven day Travelcard. Five days of off peak PAYG on Oyster at current fares for zones 1 and 2 means �5.10 x 5 = �25.50. A seven day card costs (again, fares are due to rise in January) �25.80 and has no time constraints on it.

I tend to the path of least resistance, and find that using a Travelcard means one purchase. There is no worry about fares until that card (or those cards as I may buy two consecutive cards, depending on time spent in the capital) expires. I always keep a bit of PAYG money on my Oyster card in case I want to travel outside the paid for zones so ultimately am happy to keep queueing at Tube stations to a minimum.

If you're going to be in London for two or three days then PAYG on Oyster may be the one to beat.

Sunday Underground service isn't massively different from weekday service except in first and last train times; trains usually start running later and stop running earlier than from Mondays - Saturdays. Have a look here up to four weeks in advance to check for planned works on Underground lines that may limit services. TfL also have .pdf files at the website showing track and station closures six months in advance but those works are always subject to change.

Jack Napier

A London pass could be interesting?!

I did not check which sights it actually covers and how crowded they will be, but it gives you free admission to some as well as free travel. The interesting part is you have some priority access, so you can jump potential lines and save some time.

I used it some years ago and it did pay out that time, but you'll have to calculate...

flyingfkb

There are some threads on the pros and cons of the London Pass in this forum. I will be in London only over the weekend for the President's Day DO and so the London Pass isn't a good deal for me. The places I want to see are not covered and I don't want spending the weekend running from one attraction to the next just to justtify the expanse of the London Pass.

Thanks Trav+ for the explenation of the Travelcard and Oystercard. I have to see if the Tracelcard will be still available next year. Has someone a link or further information about the phasing out of the Travelcard?

Trav+

caspritz, you're welcome. Travelcards have been in existence since the early 1980s, and I cannot see their demise any time soon. The three day card is going to be discontinued but the others will stay in place.

There used to be two permutations of the things: Travelcards and Capitalcards. The former allowed use on Underground and buses with Capitalcards allowing use on National Rail services as well. Capitalcards became obsolete in 1989 when Travelcard use was enhanced to National Rail services as well.

Now that TfL sell all seven day and longer Travelcards loaded on Oyster - one and three day cards are sold as paper tickets although the three day card's days are numbered - the visual link isn't quite the same as when one had a photocard and paper ticket, but the card's use is still there, even if it's electronically loaded on an Oyster card. With PAYG on Oyster still not accepted on many National Rail services Travelcards will carry on until further notice.

The Londonpass may be of value if one is willing to run like the wind from sight to sight - BA have given them away in the past so I've used the two day passes on offer but wouldn't buy one. I found it a matter of zip from sight to sight, have a quick look then head off to the next place on my list. There are other options available to those travelling with a companion to save money and time at London sights.

And the travel option with the Londonpass is a bad bargain, period. Few visitors need Travelcards for zones 1 - 6, which I think is just a cash grab on the part of the Londonpass to offer

treznor

One thing I forgot to mention about Sunday service (and Saturday as well really), make sure to check the website for planned outages. Every weekend some line or another, or at least parts of them, are out of service. Alot of work is being done to get ready for the 2012 Olympics and so there are planned outages every weekend.

I still prefer the PAYG Oysters over the Travelcards in most cases. Even though the PAYG Oyster is capped at �5.10, I'm not certain I've ever hit the cap. For off-peak, that would require 4 Tube rides at �1.60 to hit the cap. If you think you'll be riding the Tube that much then definitely take the Travelcard, I'm just not certain how common that really is. Central London is very walkable and alot of the tourist stuff is bunched together. Would definitely depend on how you plan on using the Tube (I usually won't take the Tube unless I'm going 3 stations or more away, in Zone 1 anyway).

I wouldn't fault anyone for just getting the Travalcard just so you don't have to think about it, but at around $40 a pop for the 7-day, it might be worth a though of saving a bit of coin possibly to look at the PAYG Oyster.

craz

I checked a couple of these via National Express and a rail company. What am I missing they seem to want me to fill out a form indicating where Id be coming from outside of London

Basically Im coming with a friend from NY and was hoping to find a tkt that woudl allow the 2-1. I imaginea Zone 1-6 travel day acrd is only obtainable at an Underground station and wont allow the 2-1


The only places wed use it is Tower of London and Hampton Court Palace, but thats 27 GBP savings

any ideas how to get around filling out the form would be Appreciated, I thought maybe all 1 had to do is show the train or bus tkt, if you find them

Trav+

In order to use the two for one offers you must have a paper Travelcard purchased from a rail station ticket office.

Although all Travelcards allow use on National Rail services in the paid for zones, only paper cards with the NR double arrow logo - see the exemplar here - are accepted for the offers. Since the offers are sponsored in part by Atoc it's a bit of a their house their rules deal, so you and your friend must seek out a rail station for Travelcard purchase if you wish to use the offers.

Hampton Court is in zone 6 so you may buy a one day Travelcard for the day you wish to visit the palace; use it for the train journey from London Waterloo and for the two for one entry. Unless you want to travel outside zones 1 and 2 you need not buy cards for use beyond those zones.

You'll find leaflets at some rail stations, each of which have pre-printed vouchers inside. All you need do is complete the vouchers nominating any station you like and hand in the vouchers at the attraction. At Victoria you'll find leaflets at each ticket window and in a rack near window 13; at King's Cross the leaflets are in a rack near windows 7 and 8; at Waterloo the leaflets are in a rack in the main concourse and at London Bridge they're in a rack on the wall in the ticket office - all of these were in place when I called at these stations a couple of weeks ago.

If you want to print two vouchers at home for the Tower and Hampton Court then select a mainline station, say Victoria or King's Cross, and that should be fine. I don't know anyone who's had their nominated station questioned when visiting a sight.