You can purchase a 7 day travelcard for zones 1 and 2 and load it onto an oyster card. In fact, the £3 oyster card deposit is waived when a 7 day travelcard is purchased (£3 refundable deposit is payable on new cards which hold pay as you go credit only.).

Keep your receipt and you can use the oyster (with 7 day travelcard) for your 2 for 1 admissions.

&quot;<i>Keep your receipt and you can use the oyster (with 7 day travelcard) for your 2 for 1 admissions.</i>&quot; - Unfortunately, that is no longer the case. One must have an actual paper ticket to get the 2 for 1's.

janisj, is the mentioned &quot;actual paper ticket&quot; the receipt for the purchase of the Travel Card? Also what 2 for 1's should I be looking out for?

In the &quot;old days&quot; - like last year - all you needed was a paper ticket OR a 7-day travel card loaded on an oyster w/ the receipt.

But the rules have changed so now one needs an actual rail (paper) ticket. The 2 for 1 offers cover all sorts of sites/events. From the Tower of London to festivals. . . . . .

Sigh. My reply originally began with the following words &quot;Unless things have changed recently,...&quot; But then I double checked the current oyster info and removed that phrase - little did I suspect that the 2-for-1 part <i>had</i> changed! Sorry for the misleading info.

Bookmarking - love it!

Has anyone eaten at the restaurant on top of the National Portrait Gallery? My boyfriend is coming into town to visit and I thought it might be fun to book brunch their for a weekend in May.

InMiami--
We'll be in London in late July and I've been educating myself, both here and on websites, as much as I can about transportation and such. Here's what current info seems like to me and what we're planning on doing for tube, 2for1, etc (check out the tfl site for clarification--although it's not exactly always clear!)--
1. When we arrive at Heathrow, we will purchase an Oyster card---with say 20-25 pounds loaded on it. This will be what we use immediately for tube travel into the city.
2. We will also buy one or 2 One-Day Peak cards (according to the tfl site, there ARE such things.) During our visit, we will want to get to a couple sites before they open, so we will be traveling at Peak times so will need the Peak travel cards on the days we go to sites which take the 2for1 vouchers. On other days we will use our Oyster card.
3. These paper tickets will be what we have in hand when we get in line with our 2for1 vouchers.
4. Just google 2for1 or daysout and you will see the website for the 2for1 vouchers--then you just print them out and carry them with you, along with the paper ticket (from either 1 day peak or off peak or 3 day peak or off peak--or maybe a 7 day paper ticket--I can't remember if a 7 day ticket will work for 2 for 1 because for us, an Oyster card for most of our travel makes more sense than a 7 day card. For us the savings on just 3 or 4 sites with the 2for1 vouchers offsets any tiny amount that a day travel card might cost over the same travel charges on an Oyster card)
5. Having 2for1 vouchers means I can't pre-order and so will have to stand in a line to purchase tickets--but the savings are significant (and in our case we have some flexibility so if weather interferes, I'm not locked into a pre-purchased ticket time)

So--that's my story and I'm stickin' to it! Ha! If I'm mistaken about any of this, please advise.--A in Texas

lizziea06, we ate at the Portraits restaurant for a pre-theatre meal and really enjoyed it. The food was good and the view nice. We couldn't reserve a table near the window, and we did not get the window table but it was still a pretty setting. http://www.npg.org.uk/live/portrest.asp

For breakfast food I'd recommend Inn the Park, in St. James park. Their menu is scrumptious and the setting is really beautiful. http://www.innthepark.com/

Another nice breakfast/brunch choice is the Wolseley:
http://www.thewolseley.com/

texasbookworm: Your strategy seems just about perfect. The best compromise between the cheapest travel and still getting the 2 for 1's.

lizzie06: I've eaten at the Portrait Restaurant a couple of times. The food was good view over the rooftops is interesting w/ Ben Ben down Whitehall.

Other restaurants you might consider: the Restaurant in the Globe theatre - across the courtyard from the theatre with wonderful views of the river.

The upstairs restaurant at Tate Modern -- a bit more expensive but <u>amazing</u> views, http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/eatanddrink/

the Court Restaurant upstairs in the Great Court at the British Museum. http://www.londononline.co.uk/restaurant/1140/

All are good restaurants w/ unique settings/views.