Short break in London help

mackin01 · 15 October 2016 at 7:59PM

Hi, we are going to visit London for a few days next month,we are flying into Gatwick& then staying at a travelodge in Bethnal Green.
I was looking for advise on best way to get into central London as heard of Gatwick express but this seems very expensive & also am I best to get an oyster card for travel once in London as I take it most attractions would be in the zones one & two, which I think Bethnal green comes under.
many thanks in advance

boliston · 15 October 2016 at 8:10PM

http://www.gatwickairport.com/to-and-from/gatwick-to-london/

I'd imagine gatwick express is good if you are in a hurry but i would look at other slower train services (as i HATE busses lol)

barbarawright · 15 October 2016 at 8:25PM

There's the Gatwick express and there's the other trains from Gatwick to London which stop a few times and are much cheaper. Get the slower train to Victoria and then get the Victoria line to Oxford Circus and change to the Central line to Bethnal Green. And you can get an Oyster or if you have contactless payment cards you can use those - there's no difference in price

Jackieboy · 15 October 2016 at 8:27PM

mackin01 wrote: »

Hi, we are going to visit London for a few days next month,we are flying into Gatwick& then staying at a travelodge in Bethnal Green.
I was looking for advise on best way to get into central London as heard of Gatwick express but this seems very expensive & also am I best to get an oyster card for travel once in London as I take it most attractions would be in the zones one & two, which I think Bethnal green comes under.
many thanks in advance

I wouldn't bother getting an Oyster card, contactless payments are far simpler. You'll probably find Easybus to be the cheapest way into Town.

http://www.easybus.com/en/

mackin01 · 15 October 2016 at 9:01PM

Thanks for your replies.
For the slower trains is there websites that you could direct me to that I can get tickets for?
I thought the oyster card seemed good as there is a cap of £6.50 on how much they would charge in a day but would I struggle to spend that much on daily travel in London if going from bethnal green and then around central London?

benjus · 15 October 2016 at 9:07PM

It may be slightly faster to get a train to London Bridge instead of Victoria, then you can go Northern Line/Central Line (change at Bank) to get to Bethnal Green. The train to London Bridge takes about the same length of time as the (non-express) services to Victoria.

Gatwick is now included in the Contactless/Oyster system so you can use Contactless or Oyster for the whole journey.

Jackieboy · 15 October 2016 at 9:31PM

mackin01 wrote: »

Thanks for your replies.
For the slower trains is there websites that you could direct me to that I can get tickets for?
I thought the oyster card seemed good as there is a cap of £6.50 on how much they would charge in a day but would I struggle to spend that much on daily travel in London if going from bethnal green and then around central London?

There's a cap on contactless payments as well.

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares-and-payments/contactless/what-is-capping

It's difficult to tell how much you'll spend on transport because everybody does different things.

stockton_2 · 15 October 2016 at 11:41PM

HI

I use an Oyster card myself, which I have had for several years. There is an initial outlay of £5, or used to be, and then you top up the card. I top my oyster card automatically through my bank, £20 at a time, but that is not a good idea if you don't go to London a lot as you sometimes have a fair bit of unspent credit left on the card if it has topped up on your last day or so. I think there are other ways of topping up that might be more appropriate.

Short break in London help

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