Big Guide to LONDON: What to See, Visit, and Taste for an Unforgettable Experience! – part 3

The last part of my Big Guide to London! Practical information, maps and recommendations. Enjoy!

7. How to travel around London

Yes, it is a huge city and the public transport can be confusing. But only at the beginning! The moment you understand how to travel by metro and change the lines at the stations, how to pay for the tickets – that’s when you realise that it’s fine.

How to pay for the tickets and where to buy them

Debit or credit card

You can use any bank card that you use when paying abroad and it allows contactless payments. But be careful, if the card is issued in a different country, your bank can charge you fees for paying in different currencies. You can also pay contactless with your phone or watch.

My recommendation

Use virtual cards such as Revolut or Wise. They work exactly as classic debit cards, the only difference is that everything is online. These banks don’t have places where you walk in and talk to the person. Create a bank account online and get an online card. You can also have the physical card sent to you by post. You move your money to the bank account via transfer or you can pay with any card you have. The big advantage of these is that you can convert whatever currency you moved there to many world currencies and use it without any additional fees. 

Oyster card

If you are staying in London for a couple of days or you are planning to come back, an Oyster card is the smart solution. It is a plastic card, where you can add credit as you go and it works for most public transport in London. You can buy it in the information centres or train/underground stations from the automatic machines, too. You pay £5 extra for the card itself and you can charge credit to it when you buy it. When you are out of credit, you simply charge it through the app or using the machines at the stations. If you have some credit left when leaving London, you can get a refund – through the machine again.

Travelcard

Ticket for 24 hours for unlimited use of public transport. The price starts at £15.90, depending on the zones where you need to travel.

I have never used this option, as I was more walking the streets of London than using public transport.

Single tickets

You can buy single tickets for the transport, too. The easiest way is to buy it from the machines at the stations or from information centres. 

Prices of the tickets

• £1.70 for the bus
• the price for the metro starts at £2.80 if you travel through up to 2 zones and then rises when leaving the city centre

How to use the tickets and cards

When entering the underground or railway station, you need to tap the yellow card reader. You can tap it with an Oyster card or any contactless credit or debit card or phone with a contactless payment option. When leaving the station, use the same card to tap out. The system will automatically charge you for the journey you travelled. BUT! You have to use the same card when leaving. For example, if you use your phone to tap when entering in, the phone will be out of battery and if you use a different card when leaving, the system will charge you the maximum fare for that journey. As it doesn’t have any chance to recognize where you took off. 

The same system works for buses and trams (yes, there are trams in London as well, you can find them only in a small area from Wimbledon to Beckenham), just with a small change. You only tap in to the bus or tram, the card reader is inside of the bus/tram. You don’t have to tap when leaving as the price of the ticket is the same, doesn’t matter if you ride the whole line or just one stop.

Maps

Maps of the underground and the other ways of transport are here.

I usually use Google Maps when travelling around London. It can find you the underground and bus even with the instructions on which directions to walk out from the station.

Warning

Most of the airports are connected to the city centre by buses, underground or trains. Journey by bus or underground can take up to 1 hour, train takes up to 20 minutes. But! You have to buy the train tickets (for example Heathrow Express) online, from the personnel at the airport or from the machines, you can’t use an Oyster card.

8. Tourist traps or fair deals?

Hop-on hop-off buses, special combo tickets, discounted tickets… they will offer you these in many places. What is worth it and what is not?

Hop-on hop-off buses

Joey and Chandler in the series Friends took one like this in London. How does it all work?

You buy the ticket for 24/48 or even 72 hours. These buses are called hop-on hop-off because you can take it at any of their bus stops and then take off at any other. So you can ride around London all day.

Why are they different from the regular public transport buses?

Routes of these buses are passing the most significant attractions and tourist spots. Buses are usually double-deckers with open roofs, so you have a great view. They also offer audio guides in many languages, which are set the way that they will be talking to you about the places you are passing by at that moment. And a free wifi.

Numerous companies are offering these buses. Nice selection and also option to buy tickets online is offered on the website Get Your Guide. I used this website many times already, I booked tickets to attractions and trips through it. You will find these buses under the category Hop-on hop-off tour.

Combined tickets and discounts for tourists

1. The first thing you need to know – these websites with discounted tickets are confusing, even for me and I have seen so many of them already. That’s their goal! If you want clear information, you will need to go from one page to another until you give up and buy it anyway…

2. Check the list of attractions, which are included in the ticket. Do you want to go to London Zoo? Or walk on the glass floor of the Tower Bridge even if you are scared of heights? No? So it isn’t worth buying it.

3. You checked the list of attractions and you want to visit all of them. Great! Now go to the attraction’s website and check if you need to book your entry in advance. It can happen (not only in London) that some places are fully booked weeks ahead. So you would have a ticket but you aren’t able to enter.

My recommendations

3 combined tickets, which I think are a fair deal and I would consider buying them if I were coming to London for the first time:

• London Pass – 1 or up to 10 days ticket. Each day you will get several credits, which you will use to enter attractions of your choice. It is cheaper, it works like buying a discounted entry ticket. And they have a handy app, too.
• 2 for 1 – 2 tickets for the price of 1. If you are travelling to London by train or you buy the Travel Card at the train station. It has to be issued by British Railways if you buy it at any other place, the offer won’t be valid. It applies to the tickets for the train from Stansted and Gatwick Airport, but not the Heathrow Express (interesting).
• London Eye multi-attraction ticket – this offer is simple, you buy an entry ticket to London Eye and one or two other attractions for a discounted price. No lists credits or restrictions. There aren’t many attractions to choose from, but if there are any which you would like to visit, buy the ticket with the London Eye ticket.

9. Special days and weeks to be aware of

Christmas

Christmas decorations are insane. Tall Christmas trees and Belem is on the Trafalgar Square. The prettiest decorations are on Regent Street – from Picadilly Circus to Oxford Street and also on Carnaby Street and in Covent Garden. Hotel Ritz next to Green Park near Picadilly is decorated like in the movies.

Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park – one of the best Christmas markets in the world, which is open from November until the beginning of January. You can rent skates and skate on the ice rink, there are games, rides, and Christmas decorations. Tiny shops sell winter socks, handmade products and food – mulled wine, sausages, and food from all world, but also options for vegans. A lot of live music and performances. The atmosphere is indescribable.

Leicester Square has nice small Christmas markets as well as many other places in London.

Protests

Usually take place on Trafalgar Squares and on Parliament Street – the street connecting Trafalgar Square and Westminster Palace, as there is Downing Street nearby – the residence of the prime minister.

Other special occasions

Special occasions such as royal birthdays or anniversaries, various sports events and similar are days when London is even more crowded. For example, Taylor Swift will have a couple of concerts in London in June and August. It is peak season already, plus thousands of people will travel and stay in London to see her show. The prices are going to be higher, flight tickets and accommodation as well.

My recommendation

My recommendation is to check if anything special is going on before you book everything. On the other hand, if you would like to experience something extraordinary, London is a great place for it.

10. Useful websites

Visit London – Official website for tourists in London, information not only about attractions but also about special events, maps and so on.

Transport For London – Simple information about traffic in London. You can see if the metro lines are without disruptions or if any of the stations are closed.

Bonus: Google Maps – ready to use

I created a list of places to see in London on my Google Maps, which you can save to your maps using this link. 

These 3 articles (part 1 and part 2) don’t cover the places which are visited by thousands of tourists every day. This is the list of my favourite places in London. I will be happy to see the comments with your favourite spots.

How is it possible that I have been in London so many times?

I was flying there as a cabin crew – route Dubai-London used to be covered by 7 daily flights, and there may be even more of them nowadays. And I can confirm that most of them have been full. Insane.