London - 3 Day Plan
Nov 16, 2009, 7:16 am
#31
Suspended
Join Date: Nov 1999
Posts: 24,153
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.
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.
Do you if theres a place to get a Zone 1-6 at LHR which will qualify for the 2-1? This way we can hit Tower of London on day 1 and also get a 1-6 TC which we want anyway and will need for Day 1
Nov 16, 2009, 12:37 pm
#32
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: YVR but often E1
Programs: BA Silver, FI, AC
Posts: 1,243
There isn't a National Rail station at Heathrow, so you'll not be able to buy the necessary paper Travelcard there.
Although I rarely encourage cash single fares as they're usuriously expensive in my view, you may wish to buy singles from LHR to Victoria. Make your way upstairs to the rail station ticket office - or you could use a ticket machine in the concourse - and buy one day Travelcards for zones 1 and 2, which you could then use for a visit to the Tower.
Alternately, if you don't want to use paper Travelcards for each day's stay in London, you may buy an Oyster card at Heathrow (the 3 deposit for the card is refundable) and use it to Pay As You Go for the days you don't wish to use the offers; for the visit to Hampton Court buy a one day zones 1 - 6 card but otherwise use PAYG on Oyster plus the one day card on the day you wish to visit the Tower.
PAYG on Oyster caps at 50p less than an equivalent one day Travelcard, so off peak use in zones 1 and 2 caps at 5.10. The journey from LHR to Victoria will cost 4 cash with the PAYG fare 3.80 if you travel before 0930 on a weekday or 2.20 if you travel after 0930 on a weekday or any time at the weekend.
You can obtain a refund of unused PAYG money and the deposit when you return the card to an Underground station at the end of your stay or you can keep the card to give to a friend to use; PAYG money stays 'live' on the card as long as it's used once every 24 months.
Although I rarely encourage cash single fares as they're usuriously expensive in my view, you may wish to buy singles from LHR to Victoria. Make your way upstairs to the rail station ticket office - or you could use a ticket machine in the concourse - and buy one day Travelcards for zones 1 and 2, which you could then use for a visit to the Tower.
Alternately, if you don't want to use paper Travelcards for each day's stay in London, you may buy an Oyster card at Heathrow (the 3 deposit for the card is refundable) and use it to Pay As You Go for the days you don't wish to use the offers; for the visit to Hampton Court buy a one day zones 1 - 6 card but otherwise use PAYG on Oyster plus the one day card on the day you wish to visit the Tower.
PAYG on Oyster caps at 50p less than an equivalent one day Travelcard, so off peak use in zones 1 and 2 caps at 5.10. The journey from LHR to Victoria will cost 4 cash with the PAYG fare 3.80 if you travel before 0930 on a weekday or 2.20 if you travel after 0930 on a weekday or any time at the weekend.
You can obtain a refund of unused PAYG money and the deposit when you return the card to an Underground station at the end of your stay or you can keep the card to give to a friend to use; PAYG money stays 'live' on the card as long as it's used once every 24 months.