JS801

My husband and I will be flying into London Heathrow in June and plan to head straight to Oxford from the airport. We will then be returning from Oxford to London Luton. I have been reading about the Oyster Card and it looks like a great tool for public transport in London. I have also been looking at transport from London airports to and from Oxford, and it is pretty pricey! Does anyone know if/how I could use the Oyster card to my advantage when traveling between Oxford and the London airports? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

janisj

You will have no use for an Oystercard. It is for transport in London. Not for trips to Oxford, and certainly not for trips from Oxford to Luton. (Luton is not in London but miles north).

"<i>. . . transport from London airports to and from Oxford, and it is pretty pricey!</i>"

No at all. You get on the Coach at LHR and get off in central Oxford. £23.

Alec

You can't use Oyster Card at all for going from Heathrow to Oxford, or from Oxford to Luton Airport.
http://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/main.php?page_id=24 has frequent services from Heathrow to Oxford, £23 one-way.
Not too many services to Luton Airport, but the best I can find is a direct bus Green Line 737:
http://www.transportforbucks.net/Uploads/Files/737.pdf
Alternatives would be train via London, with tricky intra-terminal transfer. Or car service but costs from £96 - http://www.oxicars.com/taxifares.htm It's around 48 miles and takes just over an hour depending on traffic.

janisj

oops - that should have read >>No<B>t</B> at all.<<

JS801

Thanks for your replies. I was hoping there may be some way to make that work...The Luton trip is killing me! Thanks for the feedback and links!

janisj

Maybe we can make other suggestions. Is Oxford the reason you are going to the UK, or is it just a place you'd like to visit? Because Luton is a nearly 70 mile/90+ minute drive and is not convenient to Oxford. (there are much shorter routes, like via Aylesbury, but they would take longer)

alanRow

<i>Not too many services to Luton Airport</i>

The 737 National Express service is infrequent so OP may have no option but to go via central London.

But back to the OP - WHY do you *have* to go to Luton? As has been pointed out it's nowhere near Oxford and unless you have a VERY good fare flying from Heathrow could save money overall. So where are you going and when?

alanRow

Oh - and do you intend to spend any time in London as "we" does give options that can save oodles of cash.

flanneruk

Heathrow, Birmingham, Southampton and Gatwick airports are all quicker to get to by public transport from Oxford than Luton and have much more frequent direct buses (Heathrow and Gatwick) or trains (Birmingham, Southampton and, though it means changing, Gatwick).

Between them, they're almost certain to offer low cost flights to any destination Luton offers, at pretty much the same price - but in practice with a much faster journey time.

I frequently use all these airports: I've not used Luton for over quarter of a century.

Incidentally the £23 rack price for the LHR-Oxford bus falls massively if you're over 59 or buying a return. It falls still further if you're over 59 and/or returning to Heathrow by midnight the following day (http://www.oxfordbus.co.uk/main.php?page_id=26).

di2315

We took the bus from Heathrow to Oxford - it was an excellent service.
Much better value than the train, luggage was placed in the bus locker for us, and the scenery was more enjoyable than travelling through railway cuttings or looking into the backyards of houses . . . I thoroughly recommend it! Di

JS801

Thanks again for all the replies!

Yes, Oxford is the reason we will be in the UK. We are flying London to Zurich from Luton (tickets are already purchased... I know, not ideal but it was by far the best option for what we needed!) so we will need to get over there unfortunately.

AlanRow, we will be returning to London eventually and will be spending some time there at that time. What were you considering?

Thanks for your feedback and suggestions!

JS801

It looks like I will be using the above suggestions for the Heathrow to Oxford route (that's what I was planning on for this leg of the trip - thanks for confirming that it was a good choice!) and the National Express for the return trip to Luton. The service times available look like they will be fine for our trip. Let me know if there are any strong objections or reasons I should look into something different.

alanRow

<i> What were you considering? </i>

The train companies (except the Heathrow Express, Heathrow Connect & Eurostar) operate a 2-4-1 scheme whereby for many attractions you get two entry tickets for the price of one. It covers places like the Tower of London (£20.90 per person) and so represents some massive savings.

Normally you'd need a train ticket to London to claim the offers on the day of travel or that plus a train ticket from London to claim the offers between the dates of travel BUT there's a massive loophole in the system that allows the use of London Travelcards but only if they are bought from as National Rail ticket office. For most people that means a major station like St Pancras, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, Charing Cross, Waterloo, Victoria, Paddington or Marylebone but there are many other such stations in London - but not all train stations are National Rail stations so you have to be careful.

Put the name of a station into http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations_destinations/ and you'll get a page on it including a map which can be clicked on and which provides interactive information (ie photos) of points within the station

http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/faq