The last time we were in London, there was no such thing as "Oyster Card" or "paper tickets", so I'm more than a bit confused when I read the posts about both. I have no idea what to get, and hope you can give me some advice.

We will be 3 adults arriving in London on Feb. 26 for 6 nights. We fly into Heathrow and will be staying near Paddington Station, so I'm hoping to take the Heathrow Connect train, not the Express, to save some money.
We plan to see the typical sights in London, see some theater, possibly see Windsor, but have no plans to travel far from London itself. We may do the Ho/Ho bus 1 day, but will mostly use the tube.
Any suggestions as to what we should buy and where to purchase?
Thanks so much!

I should add that two of us are seniors, and one is a college student, in case there are any discounts.
Thanks

The easiest thing to do is go to the walk-up ticket purchase kiosk and speak to the employee who will advise you.

You could take the tube from the airport instead of the train.

An Oyster card is basically a plastic card that you can load up with either travelcard, or pay-as-you go fares (kind of works like a gift card that you'd buy for a present and get whatever amount you want on it). You pay a small deposit to have it and you can turn it in when you leave and get the deposit back.

It's easy to use - there are touchpads at the turnstiles and you just touch the card to them, it gets read, and the gate lets you through.... as opposed to using the paper travelcard which you insert into the reader at the turnstyle. The buses also take them.

For 6 nights' stay, your best bet is probably to get the 7-day Travelcard - I'm going to be there for 5 nights and the 7-day travelcard is still the best deal, as opposed to pay-as-you-go.
You can get the travelcard loaded onto the Oyster card. Or you can get the "paper tickets" (paper travelcards) at certain stations that also have rail stations. Most sights are in Zones 1 & 2 so you probably just need that level of travelcard, and then you can get the additional bump-up fares as needed. Windsor will need a rail ticket so the travelcard won't apply there.

I hope I have this correct - I'm sure others will chime in.

Also, here is the website for Transport for London, where you can read up on Oyster, fares, routes, etc.

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/home.aspx

I'm a little confused too.

I don't understand what the difference is between the Travel Card and the Pay-As-You-Go option with Oyster.

Can someone clarify?
Thanks

An actual travelcard (eg, 1 day travelcard) is a paper ticket. You buy a 1-day paper travelcard specific for a number of zones. For the casual tourist, zones 1-2 cover most of the sights.

Oyster PAYG deduct money from you stored value plastic Oyster card, each time you travel. If you only take 1 tube ride all day, all that's deducted is the oyster fare for that ride, which is £1.60. If you ride many, many rides within zones 1-2 on one day, the TOTAL amount deducted from your Oyster card will be 50 pence LESS than the cost of a one-day paper travelcard.

So, the only advantage for getting a one day paper travelcard, is to use it to qualify for the 2-for-1 admissions in London.

For the OP, your best bet would be to get a 7-day, zones 1-2, PAPER travel card for each person. It will come out cheaper than getting a daily travelcard for 6 days, and you can use the 7-day paper travel card as your 2-for-1 qualifier.

Taggie, thanks for all the info.
I thought it would be much easier and quicker for us to take the Heathrow Connection to Paddington, as our hotel is just 2 blocks from the station. The Express is just too expensive. Wouldn't the tube from Heathrow be out of the way for us? I believe we're near both the Paddington and Lancaster Gate tubes.

YK, thanks for the clarification.

Please correct me if I'm wrong---the TravelCard will allow for unlimited use for the zones purchased in a single 24-hr period, while the Oyster will charge per ride, with a price-cap that will not be more than the cost of a single-day TravelCard. The advantage of the TravelCard is it offers some 2-for-1 deals. The Oyster PAYG option is a better option if traveling alone.

I'm curious---is this confusing to the local commuters too?

Oyster cards are not just pay as you go - you can get a travelcard loaded onto them.

This is from the tfl site:
Travelcards are generally issued on Oyster cards except when bought from most National Rail stations

The travelcards bought from the rail stations are the paper ones.

Kaneohe-

You wrote
<i>while the Oyster will charge per ride, with a price-cap that will not be more than the cost of a single-day TravelCard. </i>

Almost. The Oyster PAYG daily price-capping will always be 50 pence cheaper than the Travelcard price.

So yes, for a single person traveling alone for a short few days, Oyster PAYG is the best option.

HOWEVER, if a single person is in London for 6-7 days (and perhaps even 5 days), a 7-day travelcard probably is cheaper than Oyster PAYG, because the 7-day travelcard is far cheaper when you divide the total cost by 7 days.

Hagan, the Lancaster Gate tube stop is on the Central Line and the Paddington tube stop is on a few lines.

The line that comes from Heathrow is Piccadilly.

You would have to make a minimum of one transfer to get to either stop (for Paddington you could transfer at Hammersmith, to the Hammersmith &amp; City line, which takes you to Paddington. Lancaster Gate is a bit more involved - either go all the way to Holburn and come back west along the Central Line, or make a couple of transfers as an alternative).

You can look at the routes on the tfl site, and you can also use the journey planner to plug in your trip and it will tell you what to do.

If you did have the Oyster with a travelcard for Zones 1 &amp; 2, you'd have to pay a little extra to come from Heathrow since it's in Zone 6.
I always take the tube in from Heathrow but it might just be easier for you to take the train if this is all confusing.

Hagan, just to add to your confusion, note that the 2-for-1 tourism deals are only good if you have a PAPER travel card, not the one that's loaded onto the Oyster.

&quot;I'm curious---is this confusing to the local commuters too?&quot;

No.

None of us have any interest in visiting &quot;attractions&quot;, so all this 2 for 1 palaver is irrelevant to us. Whenever we move house or change our lives we invest five minutes in working out what's the best way of travelling now, and then stick to it till the next big change.

BUT, there are 10 million of us, and no two of us are the same. TfL offers a wide range of alternative plans because we all want different things. Doubtless some visitors are more comfortable with the inflexible systems their socialist cities impose. Just as, no doubt, they're happy at home to wear exactly the same clothes as all their neighbours.

PS. There are no age-related discounts for non-residents over 18.

If time is most important...find a copy of bus information that lists bus numbers serving specific destinations. I think busses are better for travel than the Underground.

You can get from Heathrow to Paddington by tube without having to negotiate any stairs at intermediate stations: take the Piccadilly Line to Hammersmith, cross to the other side of the same platform to get a District Line train, then change at Earl's Court (again from the same platform) to get a District Line train to Paddington (look for the destination Edgware Road).
This will be even cheaper than the Heathrow Connect train. It will take longer, but trains run every five minutes or so, whereas the Connect train is every half hour.