t325

Hello, we will be in London 7 days (Sunday thru Saturday), staying in a hotel in zone 2 and traveling within zones 1 and 2 (with the exception of to/from LHR). Which one is likely going to be a better deal, PAYG Oyster and topping up when necessary, or a 7 day travelcard in zone 1/2, and just paying the extra fare for the trips to and from LHR? Thanks

mtkeller

One thing you might want to consider is that if you get a paper travelcard at a National Rail station, it can be used for the 2for1 London offers for 2 for 1 admission to many attractions.

alanR

For more than 4 days a 7 days Travelcard will normally be the cheaper option. But as it's "we" then buying the Travelcard at a train station would be the better option for the offers on daysoutguide.com.

So where are you staying so you can be directed to a suitable station.

David-A

Worth checking, how many is 'we', and if children are involved, what are their ages?

t325

3 people, no children. I wasn't aware about the 2 for 1 deals. So the ideal thing to do would be to go to a train station and buy a travelcard?

stockmanjr

http://daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london
Just remember you have to buy it at a national rail station not a tube station. As someone asked earlier where are you staying so someone can direct you to the nearest station..
Cheers
Howie

mtkeller

I discovered today that some cashiers are a bit confused when you want to do a 2for1 and then a single (we also have a group of three). I immediately told him that I wouldn't mind if he did it as two transactions, and so he did it that way since he could wrap his head around it. This was the London Eye, and they didn't ask to see the Travelcards, just as a point of reference.

Road King

We will be arriving LGW on Friday June 3rd at 5:45PM. We are staying at The London Hilton Tower Bridge for 4 nights. Back to LGW around 9:00AM on the 7th. I'm assuming we will have need for some use of the tube and or buses. The 2 for 1 pass thing sounds interesting, but we sure could use some direction as to the best type of tickets to buy and when. Thanks in advance for your help!

Trav+

Road King, if you travel from Gatwick to London Bridge and back again with First Capital Connect and retain the outbound ticket (don't put it through the barrier as you leave the station) you may use those tickets (along with the required vouchers) for the two for one offers during your stay in London.

Since you will have rail tickets to use for the offers you'll have the choice to use one / seven day Travelcards or PAYG on Oyster for your stay in London.

Four days of using PAYG in zones 1 and 2 will cap at £6.60 each day for off peak travel for a total of £26.60. A seven day Travelcard (whether bought as a paper ticket at a rail station or loaded on Oyster) for zones 1 and 2 costs £27.60 and has no time constraints so you may start your journeys before 0930 on weekdays.

Buying a seven day Travelcard loaded on Oyster will give you one advantage in that you may travel outside the paid for zones; you may of course travel in as many zones as you wish if you use PAYG, with the daily cap following your journeys to calculate the lowest fare available.

Road King

Which site is the best to purchase from? Also, I'm assuming the best (cheapest) way to get the tickets is to pick them up at a self service machine once we get there. I really appreciate your help. I'd just like to get this out of the way and it's one less thing to worry about.

Trav+

Buy on the day fares will be the same as those bought in advance for the journey from LGW to London Bridge so you might as well wait until you arrive at Gatwick to do so.

But if you want to speed things up at the airport (and who doesn't like saving time? ) then book here and collect the tickets at a machine at LGW rail station.

boomerang-boy

We are leaving for London on Tuesday and will be there for 6 days. We are wondering if we can put a 7 day Travelcard (zone 1 & 2) on an Oyster card so we can also make a side trip outside zones 1 and 2. The plan is to take Heathrow Express to Paddington and buy our tickets there.

1.
How do I buy a Travelcard loaded on Oyster card, and how do they work together?

2.
How do we "top off" the Oyster cards, do we put money on the card when we purchase up-front, or do we do this when we make the side trip outside of zones 1 & 2?

Thanks so much for any comments and help in advance.

dddc

Check out the TFL site here for full details, but simply when you first get your oyster card, you can add a weekly travel card too it and have a pay as you go balance for travelling outside zones 1-2. As you exit the barrier of a zone 3 or greater station you'll see on the gate how much the journey has cost you and the balance on the card. You can can check the balance at any ticket machine at a station.

If you want to save money, take the Heathrow Connect if your timing is right. Takes about 30 mins as opposed to 15 and has about 6 stops on the way.

mtkeller

Worth noting that if you're travelling from Zone 1 to Zone 5 with a Zones 1-2 travelcard, the system will only deduct the Zones 3-5 fare from your pay as you go balance and use the travelcard from Zone 1 to the boundary between Zones 2 and 3. I kept thinking I'd been undercharged for certain journeys until I figured this out. This can make a peak journey from Zone 1 to an outlying zone much more palatable in price.