I've heard about London being expensive, but I need to put transportation costs at a minimum so I still have enough for the accommodation and sight seeing. Any suggestions on budget transportation in London? Thanks!

 

Bus, or on foot for free.

 

Public transport is inexpensive in London and surrounding areas so check out this website for the best tickets. It's also got a journey planner.

Other top tips:

* You don't need to take the 'Official Sightseeing' buses - they're a rip-off and most of what you want to see can be done by regular bus (route 15 is great) or tube. With the one or three day passes you also get discounts on river trips which give you a good view of the city
* Don't take black cabs any distance!
* To & from airports - check carefully for best deals. If it's Heathrow don't take Heathrow Express but check the express buses which stop at key points in London near hotels
* If you're planning to travel outside the capital, check train fares before you leave USA. They're better value for a pass for a number of days

Otherwise - enjoy

 

Walking is a good way to explore London - to give you an idea of scale, I regularly walk (at a leisurely pace) King's Cross station to Holborn station, and that takes half an hour. Naturally, the back streets are more pleasant (and interesting!) than the main roads.

Otherwise, buses are good, but try to avoid any that go along Oxford Street or Regent Street, as these are hopelessly slow (as are Shaftesbury Avenue and Piccadilly Circus at the moment, thanks to water main repairs). If you're using buses, get an Oyster card, as this will reduce the fare you have to pay.

Instead of going on a river cruise, try using one of the river bus services going from Waterloo to North Greenwich, from Thames Clippers.

A final option - and not for the faint-hearted - is to rent a bike. There's a number of places around the capital (including one which well rent folding bikes, so you can store them in a hotel). There are some lovely off-road paths around, and cut-throughs on back streets, but it's an aggressive environment in which to cycle, and the behaviour of cyclists, motorists and pedestrians towards each other reflects this. Despite all this, I wouldn't commute any other way these days - it just takes a bit of confidence, and a smile to laugh off the idiots out there, and it's a wonderful way to get about. Just - please - keep off the pavements and don't skip the lights, there's enough eejits out there doing that already.

 

There is at least one string here about the London Oyster Card. Apparently the best way to get a all-you-can-ride ticket there.

Romelle

 

We always use the Oyster Card http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tickets/oysteronline/2732.aspx while in London. If you have one, you can also get a lot of other 2 for 1 offers for dining, shows, sightseeing etc. We just got back from London and used the card for a couple of nights out as well as great seats at the Play "The 39 Steps" at the Criterion Theater on Piccadilly Circus. Great Show BTW.

Cheers

 

I remember when I went to London last year, my friend and I used one/three day tickets and we saved a ton that way. Well, it did help that she found a free 3-day pass in the machine Don't count on that happening though! Only buy zones 1-3 or 1-2 tix, depending on where your hotel is and what you want to see.

As for transportation from the airports, there are buses to the city. http://www.easybus.co.uk and http://www.nationalexpress.com/ are both good, but you might find other companies if you look around google. The trains are a ripoff!

 

I just got back from spending a week in london and the trip was a blast. I ended up getting a 6 day london pass with the travel pass and it was well worth it. Aside from all the savings on admission, the travel pass gives you unlimited travel on all Underground, Docklands Light Rail (DLR), city buses and even gives you one day of unlimited river cruise hop on/off. There wasn't anyplace I couldn't go with the travel pass.

 

You can consider another strategy. Most people when visiting a big city stay in one place and try to see the entire metro area from there. You might find it cheaper as well as more worthwhile to stay in different neighborhoods and only do local sightseeing as much as possible. Of course this does not work for a very short trip.

 

Thanks so much for your help, everyone! I think I'll go with the tube and check with the cards/tickets you have mentioned. I also came across a London Tube Map to help me navigate. I hope I don't get lost in London! Haha...

 

The 2-for-1 offers are much better if you get PAPER travelcards - 1 & 3 day travelcards can be obtained from all Tubes stations, 7 day PAPER travelcards can only be purchased from train station booking offices in London

 

Thanks for that, I never knew that these offers were valid on travelcards before, I thought they were just valid for regular rail tickets.

However, one point. I'd never count on staff at the attractions being clued up on the rules, so although in theory paper travelcards issued in tube stations will be valid they look entirely different to the same travel cards bought at National Rail stations, so my advice would be to get the ticket from the National Rail station to reduce the risk of problems.

Of course, if you don't want these 2 for 1 offers the Oyster card is better value (well depending on what you want to do, but it'll never be more expensive than the paper travelcard). It also saves the hassle of having to take out your paper ticket at every barrier.

 

Yeah Oyster card definitely the way to go. Works on all public transport.

Best bet is a zone 1-2 pass, most (like 99%) of things you'll want to see will be within zone 2. If you need to get to Heathrow the Piccadilly line runs out there (takes ~45 mins to central stations from memory), its not zones 1-2 so you'll need to put a couple of extra bob on the card to get there/back.

When you get into LHR, at the tube stations theres a manned ticket office so ask there and they'll sort you out.

 

Oyster cards can save you a fortune, but be sure to touch in and out properly - when you're getting on a bus, make sure your card registers when you wave it on the touch pad, for example - if you get caught out by an inspector and didn't 'touch in' properly, the charge is pretty steep.

 

Hope you're not speaking from personal experience

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