London Transport Tips: Managing the Madness

The bright lights and West End glamour of London has been attracting tourist for centuries. For many people, London is the ultimate city break and as anyone who has ever lived there will attest, there is an endless list of things to do.

However, it's also easy to feel a little overwhelmed in the British capital, a vast and bustling metropolis. As a city that virtually never sleeps, transport in London is always in demand and simply getting from A to B can be daunting.

With this in mind, we’ve prepared a helpful guide to London transport with tips from locals to make your travel through the city as smooth as possible.

Trains Planes and Automobiles

If you arrive in London by plane, the train is most likely your quickest route into the city centre. Heathrow Airport is served by the Piccadilly line of the London Underground (also known as the Tube), while Gatwick and Stansted airports both have commuter line trains into the city centre. The journey time from Heathrow to the city centre by Tube is under an hour and you shouldn't have to wait longer than ten minutes for a train, even off-peak. It may sound obvious but you should plan your journey before you get on the Tube. And if in doubt, ask a member of staff for help. Tube and train and bus maps are available in all stations and can be downloaded to your smartphone from the Transport for London website.

---

Tickets and Pricing

One of the most confusing things when you arrive in London is how to purchase a simple travel ticket. Unlike many other cities, Londoners don’t use single-journey tickets, instead purchasing pay-as-you-go travel credit on their Oyster cards or daily or weekly tickets. If you're planning on spending more than a few days in the city, an Oyster card is most definitely the best option. It’s quick, cheap and easy to use - once you know how. Oyster cards can be purchased and topped up from any ticket booth in a Tube station or at any self-service machine. With it, you can travel on the Tube, bus, London Overground, Docklands Light Railway and other rail services in the city.

If you are travelling as a family, it’s worth remembering that all children under the age of 10 travel for free, provided they are accompanied by an adult with a valid ticket. Any students who are planning longer stays should also apply to TFL for a student oyster card, which will save you 30% on all fares. Apply online and your card will be sent straight to your door.

---

Alternatives to the Tube

The bus is charged at a flat rate of £1.45 making it a considerably cheaper option, while travel by underground or train in the city is calculated by zone. It's also a brilliant way to see some of the famous sites of the city.

For shorter trips, the tube isn’t always the best option. A bus, or even a bike could be faster and cheaper too. If you are travelling around London’s Oxford Street or much of Zone 1, the so-called Boris Bikes (named after the Mayor of London Boris Johnson) will allow you to zip around the city with ease. It costs £2 to loan the bike, with the first half hour of cycling free. After that the price increases, but as you can dock your bike at a station, then pick up another, you can actually get around for almost nothing.

---

Zones Zones Zones

Where you live and how far you are going to be travelling will strongly affect your transport budget. While the majority of the tourist attractions, such as Buckingham Palace, the British Museum and Trafalgar Square (which incidentally does not have a Tube station, the closest is Charring Cross) are in Zone 1, some other destinations, such as the city’s many football stadiums may be further afield. If you are going to a match, be prepared for your journey to take a lot longer, in particular around Arsenal’s stadium on the Piccadilly line, where congestion is particularly bad.

Other tourist attractions such as the Olympic Park and Kew Gardens are located in Zones 3 and 4 respectively. If you're planning a journey to these locations, you can either top up an Oyster card using pay-as-you-go, or, if you already have a ticket priced by zone, you can add money to cover your costs. Off peak tube travel (on weekends and between 9.30am and 4pm and again after 7pm on a weekday) is also another way of saving cash if you have a long journey of commute.

---

Where to stay?

Lots of the main attractions are located in Zone 1, where accommodation prices are generally beyond the budget of many holiday makers. But don’t be put off by this. Almost no Londoners live in Zone 1 and at night or at during the weekend it’s hard to soak up any atmosphere in this part of the city. By the time you hit the hills of Islington in Zone 2 or the Asian fusion of London’s East End in Zones 2 and 3, you’ll have a much better sense of what life in London is really like for most of the locals. The main thing to bear in mind is what parts of the city you want to explore to look up in advance how to get there. Once you have your transport figured out, the city (no pun intended here) is your Oyster!

---

Looking for accommodation in London? Check out our homestays in the British capital.

---