Just want to add some more details about booking the free Sky Garden tickets, because I just went through it this summer.

Tickets are released on Monday morning at 10 AM (London time) for 3 weeks out. (For example, on Monday, June 2, 2025, tickets for the entire week, from Monday, June 23, to Sunday, June 29, were released.) Each day, the entrance time slots are spaced15 minutes apart, running from 10:00 to 16:45. Each time slot has about 200 tickets available.
https://skygarden.london/booking/

Therefore, make sure to visit the aforementioned booking website on a Monday (and three weeks out) to secure your preferred time slot before they disappear. The tickets do disappear in a few days.

The 9 year old needs nothing for free travel - just take him/her through the wide gates at the side with one of the adults.

The zip Oyster cards are not designed for visitors but for local kids who use tubes and buses to get to school etc. For 10-15 year olds you can just buy regular Oyster cards at Ł10 each and then ask an attendant to add the Young Visitor Discount which will give them half price travel. The discount applies for 14 days after which the Oysters revert to ordinary ones and can be reused.

the adults just need contactless cards or phone or smart watch pay - one card or device each.

You can order them on line and pick them up in any Tube or Elizabeth Line station or just wait and buy then in the station.

BTW -- it may not be necessary to get the zip oyster for the 17 yo. Since the card costs more to buy then the deposit for a regular adult Oyster the savings isn't all that much (or maybe no savings depending on how much/little s/he uses the Tube). So normal Oysters for the adults and 17 yo, zip Oysters for the 11,14, 15 yo's, and nothing foe the 9yo. I'd probably get wait and get all the Oysters and zip Oysters til I was in London. No real benefit to buying ahead of time.

Janis - the above is not correct. Firstly, the 17 year old is not eligible for the 16+ zip Oyster - you have to be a resident of a London borough and be in full time education.

Secondly it's pretty marginal whether it's worth going through the effort of applying for 11-15 zip Oysters. The only advantage of a zip rather than just getting a Young Visitor Discount on a standard Oyster is that the zip gives free rather than half price bus travel. But, against that, it costs Ł16, so Ł6 more and there is a more complex admin procedure to get it, including providing a suitable colour photograph. Do you really want to bother for what might be a marginal gain over 5 days and only if you take a number of bus rides?

Finally the adults only need regular Oyster cards if they cannot all provide a contactless card or phone or smart watch pay.

So if I want a ticket for Saturday, March 14 or Sunday, March 15, then I would need to go on the website on February 22nd for the sky Garden tickets.
Thank you for the clarification about the oyster tickets.

tidy - for the avoidance of doubt the Oyster is a plastic travel card, not a ticket as such. It costs a non-refundable Ł10 and then you have to put more money on it for fares. That's why it's better for the adults to use a contactless card if you can, as you save the Ł10pp and do not have the extra hassle of keeping the card topped up. For the 11-15 year olds it's worth getting Oysters and getting the Young Visitor Discount added as they then get half price travel and you should easily recoup that over 5/6 days. The 17 year old is essentially an adult and should use a contactless card if possible.

One further complication tidy, depending on how you plan to get from Heathrow into the City. You can get the Young Visitor Discount sorted at Heathrow if you use the Piccadilly line tube but not if you plan to use the Elizabeth line or Heathrow Express. It can be done at some Elizabeth line stations, including Paddington, but not at Heathrow. You can do it at any tube station.

The Monday of your intended visit day (Sat 3/14 or Sun 3/15) is March 9th, 2026. If you count back three weeks from March 9th, you arrive at February 16th, which is the date you should go online to book tickets.

By the way, during our three-generation trip to London this past summer, we gave each of our grandchildren a contactless credit card to pay for their tube rides. It made things simpler.

silly question, where do you get the contactless credit card

Your first course of action should be to call your existing debit or credit card providers (number on the back of the card ) to check whether they can replace your card with contactless. Do check that they offer fee free foreign transactions. Chase, Capital One, Wells Fargo etc all offer fee free contactless cards. FWIW I have a Chase contactless debit card which I pre load with cash for travel. It is not linked to my main bank account so if I should lose it or if it is stolen it is no big deal.

I use public transport just about every day in London and even I am getting confused by all the options mentioned! This link is from the horses, Transport for London mouth and may help clarify your options - https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-informatio...isitors-to-pay

I will just add one thing to the transport dialogue, and that is, if you use a contactless card for transport use the same one every time so that your daily fare will be capped if you reach the maximum amount. This is covered in the helpful link from catch23 but just make sure to always use the same card.

I like having an oyster card, so I do not have to get my phone or card out. The youngsters might like it as a souvenir and they can always use it again if they go back someday.

Your current credit cards may already be contactless- many are.
Look for this symbol:

Four curved lines

Contactless credit card has nothing to do with TFL per se. It is your regular card from your own bank. If the cards hev the little contactless symbol you already have them. Of all my credit cards about half are contactless. I personally would not use a credit card on the Tube (but then I do have an existing Oyster and just top it up when/as I need and do not have to pay a deposit to get one) As crazy busy many tube stations are I'm with rialtogirl -- I don't want to have my phone or credit card out. Can you lose an Oyster -- sure. But I'd rather that than dropping my phone or losing a credit card.

I sure as heck wouldn't be handing out credit cards to 4 kids under 16. Dunno -- maybe the 17 yo may already has a credit card??

Our last trip to London we ended up never getting British money. ATM at airport was not functioning and once we settled into our Convent Garden hotel we started going into places that actually said they didn’t take cash. So we used Apple Pay (it’s on my watch and phone) and credit cards. Europe has become increasingly cashless especially in big cities. I actually never use cash here except for a few stands at my local farmers market.

The use of Oyster cards has declined sharply in recent years. According to TFL, in 2022 over 70% of journeys were paid for by contactless or mobile devices. I imagine that figure is even higher now. I doubt it will be too much longer before Oyster is retired permanently...

Apple watch works well and you don’t need to take out your phone

Unnecessary

If any of your group likes Harry Potter, the studio tour is definitely worth it. Our whole group enjoyed it and I"m not a huge movie fan. You need to buy the tickets ASAP. We did the Tower of London tour on a Sunday morning of the school holidays late May and it was hot, and packed. I was so disappointed that it was so overwhelming. Your younger kids might really like the Princess Diana Playground but I just googled and it's closed for renovation. We also enjoyed wandering through Leicester Square and Covent Garden especially at night after dinner. We did the family tour of the mews and enjoyed it but I don't know about doing it for teenagers. Going back to London this summer and my son has requested seeing the HMS Belfast near the Tower of London. And I think we are going to do a day trip to Greenwich and see the Cutty Sark.

they are not Harry Potter fans. They play a lot of sports but unfortunately no games then. I thought about m possibly visiting Craven Cottage, has any of you done that? Also, I wondered about the brass rubbing activity, I think the girls in particular might like that. I have had friends that have done that, but it has been years ago. Any thoughts on that?

Tidy - there will be some Premier League football games on 15th March. There are 5 London based teams at home that weekend so the odds are high that at least 1 will be moved to Sunday when selections are made for live TV coverage, probably in the New Year. It’s difficult to get hold of tickets and the only guaranteed route is to buy a hospitality package for big money but it can be done if that’s important.