Help requested with tourist travel in London

[notmyrealname]

Hi ticket experts, I hope you can help me please.

I'm trying to help some French friends who will be in London for five or six days in April, a couple with children of 11 and 16. They will arrive at Gatwick airport and then hope to stay in London, Zone 1 or Zone 2, accommodation not booked yet. The plan is to see the main sights, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, and the shops in Oxford Street and Regent Street, maybe places like Camden market. They haven't booked accommodation yet.

Being able to use buses as well as the tube would be helpful and I see that some Oyster cards cover the Gatwick Express.

Having looked online at what's available, the number of options make it quite confusing and I'm out of practice at all this. The last thing I want to do is get them into trouble with TfL (I read the disputes and prosecutions forum here).

Please let me know if there's more information you need and thank you in advance for any advice.

 

[ChilliSauce]

What might be worth remembering is if you go to a "Rail Station" ticket office and buy say a 1 day travel card .. that is your issued with an orange APTIS style ticket that has the national rail symbol on it a pair of those can via the rail 2 for 1 offer give in effect 50% discount into various tourist attractions . As example we recently went 2 for 1 into the Shard .. Paying £30 for 2 people rather than £30 each ..

 

[gazthomas]

More on the day about scheme can be found at this website

404 - Page not found

Sorry, we can’t find the page you want. The page you’re looking for might have been removed or renamed, or the link you’ve entered might be incorrect.

www.daysoutguide.co.uk

To my knowledge you need a rail ticket to London not necessary a travel card

 

[ChilliSauce]

More on the day about scheme can be found at this website

404 - Page not found

Sorry, we can’t find the page you want. The page you’re looking for might have been removed or renamed, or the link you’ve entered might be incorrect.

www.daysoutguide.co.uk

To my knowledge you need a rail ticket to London not necessary a travel card

Correct any APTIS style ticket is valid ... But as a tourist staying in London an APTIS style 1 day travel card may be the best option as it also gives unlimited tube and bus travel

 

[Watershed]

Hi ticket experts, I hope you can help me please.

I'm trying to help some French friends who will be in London for five or six days in April, a couple with children of 11 and 16. They will arrive at Gatwick airport and then hope to stay in London, Zone 1 or Zone 2, accommodation not booked yet. The plan is to see the main sights, Buckingham Palace, Piccadilly Circus, and the shops in Oxford Street and Regent Street, maybe places like Camden market. They haven't booked accommodation yet.

Being able to use buses as well as the tube would be helpful and I see that some Oyster cards cover the Gatwick Express.

Having looked online at what's available, the number of options make it quite confusing and I'm out of practice at all this. The last thing I want to do is get them into trouble with TfL (I read the disputes and prosecutions forum here).

Please let me know if there's more information you need and thank you in advance for any advice.

Undoubtedly the simplest option is just to use contactless PAYG - they will need one card per person - as that is valid on all public transport in London as well as to/from Gatwick. They may well hit a daily cap on some days, depending on the journeys they make.

However that is unlikely to be the cheapest option, so it's a question of how much hassle they're willing to accept to save a little bit.

For the children, one option would be for your friends to apply for Zip Oyster cards. The 11 year old would get an 11-15 Zip Oyster which gives free travel on buses and heavily discounted Underground & National Rail travel. The 16 year old would get a 16+ Zip Oyster.

These Zip Oyster cards cost £16 and £21 to apply for, respectively, and then get posted out - so you do need to apply in good time (especially to allow for international postage). Whether that's worthwhile would depend on the amount of travel your friends intend to undertake.

Another option is to buy a regular Oyster card for the 11yo and then get a temporary 50% Young Visitor discount. Unfortunately this discount can only be applied to the card in person, at Underground stations (and a few Elizabeth line ones) so the initial journey from Gatwick Airport wouldn't be discounted.

Your friends could also consider a Family & Friends Railcard. This normally costs £35 (though is available cheaper through some retailers) and gives 80% off the adult fare for the 11yo and 1/3 off the adult fare for the others.

The problem is that Underground/bus travel would only be discounted with that Railcard if they bought a Zones 1-6 Day Travelcard, which I imagine is more than they really need on most days. Even the public-rate contactless PAYG cap would work out cheaper if they're just travelling within Zones 1-2 for example. That being said, if they're planning to take advantage of the 2-for-1 offer described above, paying that extra may still be worthwhile.

My inclination would be to suggest buying a Family Travelcard for the journeys to/from Gatwick. The PAYG off-peak fare from Gatwick to an Underground station in Zone 1 is £13.50, so £54 if everyone uses PAYG. The Family Travelcard equivalent costs £57.80 for everyone, so only £3.80 extra to give unlimited travel in Zones 1-6. If they make even just one additional bus or Tube journey that day, it would pay for itself.

 

[notmyrealname]

Thank you Watershed, that's very comprehensive and food for thought. I can see your point on PAYG and the Family Travelcard for Gatwick. I suspect the parents won't want too much complexity.