teach905

As some of you know we will be in London for a week staying in a flat near Waterloo station.

We will be taking day trips...Hampton court, Kew Gardens, Canterbury, Oxford, Cambridge, Windsor.

I'm not saying we will be doing all of these, but I do want to know what's the best card to get that will help us save some $$$. We will also be traveling around the city.

I know this sounds busy, but we will be slowing down after our week in London.

Thanks for all of your help.

lennyba

Do you mean which transportation card option will help save money? With Hampton Court and Kew on your list, you could get a paper 7 day travelcard to take advantage of the 2 for 1 entrance offer.

Cholmondley_Warner

A network South East Railcard will get you 33% off fares if you travel off peak and would cover all those destinations..

PalenQ

Or you can consider the LondonPlus railpass that allows you to hop on nearly any train anytime and also gives you a round trip transfer from either Gatwick, heathrow or Stansted airports outside the validity of the pass (or within it) - no bothering about peak or off peak.

taggie

A week in London with that many day trips?
You're not really going to be "in" London at all...

rogeruktm

In addition...Portsmouth, Wool, Salisbury. Brighton, Ely, and Chatham

PalenQ

If you've never been to London then of course one should spend much of their time in London and do perhaps 1 or 2 day trips to get the feel of other less touristed cities.

But i, after visiting London many times, do use London as a base for day trips - love coming back to the energy of London at night and theatre, etc. and using the trains to visit other cities/places during the day.

zeppole

Just as an aside, I don't know what time of year you will be in London, but I very much enjoyed taking a boat down the Thames to Kew (leaves from the north side of Westminster Bridge) and had I known how much I would enjoy it, I would have taken it all the way to Hampton Court instead. Even if it isn't included in all your discount passes, understanding the meaning of the Thames to London can deepen one's understanding of the city -- not to mention how enjoyable a river cruise can be on a nice day.

If you work the timing right, you can split a round-trip journey to Hampton/Kew and Central London between the train and the boat.

zeppole

http://www.wpsa.co.uk/

PalenQ

I walked from Kingston to Hampton Court along the Thames path and thru the Great park - also a good way to go there.

flanneruk

You need to do your sums carefully about this before you leave home, as making the wrong decision can be expensive

Both cards apply within a roughly 100 mile radius of London. Neither include Peterborough: the London Plus card covers Bath and Bristol, but the Network Card doesn't.

The London Plus card PalQ's always on about can't be bought in Britain, and costs betwen $145 per person(for 2 days plus 2 airport coupons) and $280 (for 7 days plus 2 airport coupons) It's valid anytime

The Network Card CW mentions costs £20, applies to a party of up to several, offers 33% off almost all fares but isn't valid before 0930ish on weekdays. A typical return fare to Brighton/Oxford/Cambridge is a bit over £20, coming down with the Network Card to around £14.

If you're here over a weekend and intend travelling into London from Heathrow on the tube, the London Plus card is close to being a ripoff. If you're flying to Stansted, and then plan intense midweek travelling out from London, the London Plus card might save you a great deal of money.

In either case, there's a currency consideration to bear in mind too.

It's worthwhile costing out both options, using the fare engine at www.nationalrail.co.uk

teach905

Whoa,

Now I understand why I was so confused about the costs of doing day trips. The reason we are spending the week in London was because we had free accommodations. If day trip travel costs are that expensive, we will have to re-think the amount of time in London.

Besides visiting friends and doing the War Room, Bevis Mark synagogue, and maybe seeing a play,that's all I really want to do in the city.

Back to the drawing board!!!

Thanks

PalenQ

As for the efficacy of the LondonPlus Pass with the precipitous fall of the British Pound in recent weeks the pass costs more vis-a-vis local transport

But, like many railpasses which declined about 15% two weeks ago i think the $ price of British railpasses will also go down in the near future. But when the pound was $2.10 not long ago the pass at the same price as now was a lot better deal than at $1.47 and still plummeting.