MHolloway

We are taking our first trip to Europe in September and have heard mixed reviews about the Oyster Card. Is this something you would recommend? What does it provide? What are the alternatives? We are staying at the West End of Central London at the Hyatt Regency - The Churchill and plan to do as much sightseeing as possible while we are there for 6 days. Thank you!

jamikins

For 6 days dont get an oyster (which is really just the name of the card that you load your transit pass on) go to national Rail station and get a 1 week paper travel card. It will give you unltd travel on buses, tubes and trains in the zones you buy (zone 1-2 is where 95% of the sites are that you will want to see). They are identical to the transit pass you could load onto an oyster but give you the benefit of 2for1 at a lot of the top sites in London = read www.daysoutguide.co.uk for details.

Remember you cant buy these at tube stations you need to go to the train stations (Victoria, London Bridge, Waterloo, etc) some stations have both, but you need to go to the train ticket counter to get this paper card. It should be orange with a National Rail symbol on it (you can also tell the national rail stations on the tube map because it will also have the national rail station logo beside them) If you go to www.nationalrail.co.uk look in the left hand top corner you will see the symbol.

jamikins

The current price is £29.20 each for the zone 1-2.

You can use www.tfl.co.uk to see maps etc of the underground network.

janisj

"<i>have heard mixed reviews about the Oyster Card. </i>"

OK -- I'll bite. What 'mixed reviews' have you heard?? An Oyster card is just a tube/bus ticket - like the public transport pass offered in just about every transit system. The main benefits are convenience and savings over buying individual tickets.

A paper travelcard as described by jamikins does exactly the same things as an Oyster but gets you some discounts. Look over the list of attractions on the Days Out site and figure out how many you plan on visiting. Remember - most museums and galleries in London are free. If you are only going to a few of the Days Out sites, you still might want to get an Oyster Card pay-as-you-go, and only buy a one-day paper travelcard on the day(s) you'll need it.

MHolloway

Thanks for the advice! Sorry, what I meant by "mixed reviews" is just advice on if it's more beneficial to get the Oyster Card or the one week travel card mentioned above. Didn't mean that I had heard bad things about the Oyster.

Thanks! I will look into the Days Out site.

PatrickLondon

The key point is that you should NEVER pay cash per ride on public transport: cash fares are deliberately set higher to discourage it: it's so much cheaper for everyone not to have to handle all the accounting for small change.

janisj

Just to clarify . . . a 1-week travelcard is one of the options you can load on an Oyster. Pay-as-you-go (PAYG) is another option. Some see the 'card' bit and assume it only means the paper travelcard from a train station.

An Oyster is just a plastic 'debit' card that stores type of ticket(s) you choose to load on it. PAYG, 1-week, season pass, whatever.

MHolloway

So is the "1 week paper travel card" that jamikins mentions above something you would load on the Oyster Card or something totally different? Thanks for the clarification!

jamikins

No - you can buy a travel card and either get a paper one from the national rail, or go to the tube station and have them put it on the oyster card - same thing, same price - 2 vehicles.

HG001London

yep exactly, well there are two choices- you can either

1) buy a one week travel card in the form of a paper ticket at a main line rail station
2) OR you can pay a deposit for an oyster card (maybe £3-£5 ish- im not sure exactly how much these days) and then purchase the exact same one week travel pass as in (1) but have them load it on to your hard oyster card.

(The oyster card is good as it is physically hard like a bank card where as a paper one can get damaged easier)

jamikins

Meant to add - if you load it on an oyster at a tube stop you cant get the days out 2for1 deals. So go to the rail station and get a paper ticket.

MHolloway

Makes sense now! Thank you! I am looking at the Days Out Guide now and looks like the 2for1 is a great additive!

Next question - if we do get the one week travel pass in the paper ticket form at the main line rail station, how do you redeem the 2for1 deals? Do you have to chose them in advance or do you use the paper ticket when you arrive at the attractions that it covers?

jamikins

You need to choose them in advance and print out the coupon. There is no limit, so you may want to print them out for several days so you have flexibility. You can also get coupons at train stations and fill them in there, but sometimes they are all out and its a pain. So just print out any of the ones that interest you for several days and you just take them and present them with your train tickets to the ticket office at the attraction you want to see.

almcd

In case you are unaware of the fact, all museuns and galleries are free.Depending on what you intend to do in 6 days, the Oyster card might be the better buy

jamikins

The travel card on oyster card and the paper travel card cost the same - if you are in London more than 5 days you may as well just get the 7 day travel card instead of pay as you go on Oyster. Even if you just plan to go to the Tower (which every visitor should go to) you will save ££

alanRow

Here's the savings you can make using the 2-4-1 offers - £9 per person on the Tower of London alone. With a week long pass you will save enough to pay for the Travelcard

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTop...n_England.html

<i>In case you are unaware of the fact, all museuns and galleries are free.</i>

Not true, public museums and galleries are free, private ones aren't. In addition public museums & galleries may have paying exhibitions

opus

I would have to lend my strong yeah to the list—just as in NYC being able to swipe a card to gain entrance and exit is just easy. Keep the card and use it whenever you are visiting.

texasbookworm

You sorta have 3 choices
1. 7 day travel card purchased at a train station (and then used in conjunction with vouchers for 2for1 discounts)
2. Oyster loaded with 7 day travel card (which cannot be used for 2for1 discounts)
3. Oyster card loaded with some suggested amount (and perhaps combine this with 1 day paper travel card/s bought only for day/s you go to 2for1 discounted sites)

How are you traveling in from airport? If using the Tube, you will need, I think, an Oyster card anyway.

One bad thing about the 7daytravel card is that you pay up front and even if you don't use the card that day much or at all, that day is paid for. And if you have 6 days, you are paying already for a day you won't use.

The Oyster card PAYG has a daily cap. I THINK if you reach this every day for 7 days, you will pay a little more than a 7 day card. But if you aren't traveling 7 days, you are "wasting" a day anyway.

Theoretically (I've read there are some issues with this lately) you can turn in Oysters upon leaving and get refund for any unused amount left plus deposit.

So....what we did was we bought the Oyster cards upon arrival at LHR, loaded them with a suggested amount after talking to agent, used them for our travel via Tube into the city, and then used them for our London travel. The day before we wanted to use the 2for1 vouchers, we made a detour to a RAIL station (Victoria in our case) and bought 1 day paper tickets and used them the next day to go with our vouchers. We had several days in our 14 that we only rode the tube twice or not at all and so we did not reach the PAYG cap. Upon leaving we got unused amounts left on cards refunded. We saved a bit of money this way--using a PAYG card except for 1 day.

And each traveler needs his/her own card, whether Oyster or paper.

The 2for1 vouchers are certainly worth looking into and you will save enough to make it worth any bit of effort you have to go to to get a paper ticket and to print out the vouchers. On the other hand, don't let this list of places set your itinerary for you.

MHolloway

Thanks for the advice! That is definitely something we will consider. We have not decided how we will get from the airport into London. Would you suggest the tube? I guess we will need to lock down a few details first - how many actual days we will travel within London and which attractions we are for sure going to see to figure out if the 2for1 is worth it. Thanks again!

PatrickLondon

>>We have not decided how we will get from the airport into London. Would you suggest the tube?<<

It depends on where you want to get to, and how many of you there are, with how much luggage and your tolerance to stairs and escalators. For self-reliant people with common sense, a smallish case and a daybag each, the tube will be fine. For someone with mobility problems, or two or more with lots of luggage, a car service might be worth the extra expense. For someone staying around Paddington/Bayswater/Lancaster Gate, the Heathrow Express might be worth the extra expense.