3-day Visitor Travelcard or daily Travelcard?
 

Hi everyone,

Before my trip to London, am intending to buy the 3-day Visitor Travelcard (central zones) and was just wondering what is the difference if I was to purchase the daily Travelcard at the station itself for 3 days. By my calculations its only a 50p difference, right?

The 3-day Zone 1/2 travelcard is £13.40. If you bought 3 individual 1-day Zone 1/2 travelcards in London it would cost you £15.90.

You would save £2.50 by ordering it ahead of time. Plus, you will get a discount voucher with the pre-ordered travelcard. It offers a discount on some of the London attractions and restuarants. It may save you a few £'s.

Thanks Kayb... =)
Looks like my calculations were off...

You likely will only be traveling in zone 1 (unless you go to the zoo and Greenwich) and you might not use the tube every single day. For instance, if you only use buses the travel cards cost less, or if you travel after 9:30 a.m the daily cards are less.

The cost difference is very small - so whether you buy ahead of time is really up to you.

Your calculations aren't really off. Kay quoted the cost of the peak travel cards. Non peak (travel after 9:30) are £4.30 per day. Question is how much peak travel you would do. I seldom do, but when I do it is usually because I am doing a trip out of London, for which day I don't need a travel card at all.

As Janis says, the cost difference is small. I always just use day travel cards or individual tickets. About 10 years, I twice went to the trouble of comparing, after the fact,whetether I would have saved money by buying one of the longer period cards. In one case, I saved less than a £, the other I overspent by less than a £. I haven't bothered doing the calculation since.

Before you buy, notice it you will be there over a weekend as the weekend card is by far the best deal, if you are.

We purchased the 3-day Visitor Travelcard on our first trip but used the Tube only once. We loved the buses! A one day bus pass is £2.50 and covers all zones.

I'm going to be arriving by Eurostar on a Sun afternoon and then taking a bus down to Brighton on the Wed morning.

You're right that its just a small difference between the 2 cards. That's why I was wondering if I missed something. I mean, typically, the "buy-in-advance" cards have pretty substantial savings. I doubt that I would use the discounts though cos I'm only targetting the major sights (unless I want to see the Tower Bridge which they have a discount on, if I'm not wrong)

Tube vs Busses. The last time I was in London, which was ages ago, I don't recall ever using the busses. I commuted by tube. Have this impression that it's easier to move around as it's harder to get lost with the stations fixed and all.

An additional consideration is that if you're there on the weekend the "weekend travel card" has substantial savings over either the 3-day or 3- one-day TC's. 6.40gbp for all day Sat. and Sun in zones 1&2.

Ho Tiger Lily, My sister and I, both around 60, spent 6 full days in London last May. Our hotel was Royal Horseguards very near the Embankment station. We walked almost everywhere, including a very long London Walks and south of the Thames. We bought a one day card for the last day of our visit as we were a bit walked-out and were visiting Tower of London and Brit Museum in Bloomsbury. Other than that, we did receive a day pass on the tube included with our little package from Globus. We only used that because it was included in the middle of the week on a day we wanted to wander the neighborhoods of Notting Hill and Kensington.

All in all, you may not need to buy a pass at all or maybe just one day if you wear yourself out.

<i>&quot;Tube vs Busses. The last time I was in London, which was ages ago, I don't recall ever using the busses. I commuted by tube. Have this impression that it's easier to move around as it's harder to get lost with the stations fixed and all.&quot;</i>

Being true suburbanites ourselves, we were so intimidated by the buses on our first <i>several</i> visits. We only used the tube and walked. We finally mustered up the courage to try the buses and now we prefer them to the tube. You will see so much more of London and you will generally get closer to your destination.

To get over our initial fear, we got a bus map and located our flat on the map. Then followed some of the lines we could take from just outside our doorstep.

Here's a great bus map: http://www.transportforlondon.gov.uk...cs/tourist.pdf

Your feet will thank you. :D

Got kids?

Compare the prices of Family Travelcards with the alternatives. With 1 or 2 adults, kids up to 15 can travel all day for <b>&pound;0.80 for all zones!</b> (Only drawback is that they're not valid until 09:30.)

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/fares-tick...s-family.shtml

With buses, you can't get *too* lost or indeed lost at all. For one thing, there will always be buses going in other directions with clearly marked destinations. For another thing, you will always be near a tube station so can reorient yourself at any time. Obviously it's easier to experiment if you have a bit of time and aren't on a fixed schedule.