I will be in London from 4 days. Getting in from Paris via the Eurostar and leaving London from Gatwick. I plan to visit several areas - museums, sights, neighborhoods, and anything else that I can fit in in 4 days. Should I buy a travel pass/card for those 4 days or will it be cheaper to buy individual tube tickets? Can I buy tickets to the Gatwick Express that day? Or will I have to buy in advance?

Assuming you are coming from out of the UK on your visit, I would reccomend purchasing a Visitor Travel Card before you leave home. Check out: <BR><BR>http://www.londontransport.co.uk/ftt_visitor.shtml<BR><BR>We bought one before we left the US and used it many times a day. Just make sure you don't misplace it while you are traveling on the tube, or you can pay a hefty fine.

I was unable to determine the price of a visitors travel card, using the web site posted by Jim, so it's impossible to answer your question. Also, you didn't specify whether you'll be there on a weekend or just weekdays. But last summer, when we went, we decided to buy our cards after we got there, to save money and hassle. <BR><BR>Here are some figures to help you decide for yourself.<BR><BR>The regular travel cards that are sold at every tube station come in one-day and seven-day versions. A one-day pass costs &pound;5.30, or &pound;4.10 for the type that's good after 9:30 AM on weekdays (all day on wekeends). There's also a weekend pass for &pound;6.10. So if your 4 days were, say Thursday through Monday, you could buy two daily passes for &pound;4.10 and a weekend pass for &pound;6.10, total &pound;14.30.<BR><BR>Or if you're going to be there on weekdays, you might want to just get a regular 7-day travel card, which costs &pound;19.30 and has no time restrictions. For this card, you'll need to bring a passport-sized photo, which is used in the card holder (re-usable).<BR><BR>All of the above prices are for all-day passes for zones 1 and 2, which includes almost all the things that visitors do. You can buy an extension if you're taking a longer outing one day.<BR><BR>Gatwick Express tickets -- not only do you not need to buy in advance, you don't even need to buy before boarding, you can purchase enroute!

I just returned from London and bought my 7 day tube pass at the tourist office at Heathrow. I had brought along a picture for the pass but was told pictures were no longer needed. My pass looked like a regular tube ticket but with a seven day date printed on it. Saved a lot of money this way!

Does the 19,20 weekly pass include access to Heathrow?

No, the 7-day pass that costs &pound;19.30 is only for zones 1 and 2, and Heathrow is (I believe) Zone 6. But you could purchase a one-time "extension" for the pass, for a trip to or from Heathrow. No need to buy a pass for Zones 1 through 6 is you're only using that distance twice.<BR><BR>For example, if you were arriving at Heathrow for a week-long trip, you could go to the tube ticket booth and tell the seller that you want a 7-day pass for zones 1 and 2, with a single extension for your upcoming trip into the city. Then when you're leaving London, BEFORE you board the tube for the ride to Heathrow, you buy another extension. <BR><BR>Kris, that's good news about no photo needed any more!

How much is a single trip on the tube within zones 1 and 2? trying to figure if its worth it at all if I only make one or two trips a day.

What are you people so darn lazy? Or are you stupid? Jim has provided the address of the london transport web site. Why can't you go look up for yourself what a pass, or a one-trip ticket, or whatever, costs??!! Maybe you should just take a cab.

Just returned from London last week. Yes, Heathrow is in zone 6. You can link to the info on various travelcards through the British Tourist Authority (www.visitbritain.org) or through the London Tourist Board (www.londontouristboard.co.uk)...I can tell you that if your 4 days spans a weekend as mine did, then the best deal is one weekend pass for Sat/Sun and two one-day passes for the two weekdays. The tourist travelcard that must be purchased in advance prior to your entry to the UK is priced in dollars so you must assume a conversion rate (approx. 1.5 pounds to the dollar) to compare. Also, we arrived Heathrow on a Saturday and wanted to use the tube (Piccadilly line) to come into London and found that the zone 1-6 weekend card was cheaper than buying a zone 1,2 card plus paying the 3.6 pound fare from Heathrow to central London.<BR><BR>A one-way fare within zones 1 and 2 (where all the major tourist sights are) is 1.60 pounds so we figured that if we took three or more tube rides per day, which we did, the cards would be better than individual tickets and I must say, much less hassle. Note: you can buy a carnet which is a book of ten tube tickets for a discount also.

Yes, I guess I'm stupid. I could take the time to go to the website and then check through it for this information. Actually I did go to the link mentioned, but it did not give me this information and I couldn't back up, so after about ten minutes I decided to come here. It would take a person reading this question about 5 seconds to tell me how much a single trip costs, and I assumed that many people reading this would know and someone could easily answer. If that is too much effort, then I am sorry xxx3.

And by the way, Leslie, thank you for taking the time to answer. I really do appreciate it.

Thanks for responding to my questions. I will be in London Saturday till Tuesday.

London Transport has done a fine job of redesigning their site. If you spent 10 minutes and couldn't figure out the single-ride fare, then, yes, you're too stupid to travel on your own.