London,first visit

jobbingmusician

Oh dear, typical LT - introduce a useful thing and then withdraw it. :mad:

Sorry, OP!

isasmurf

Sorry I was in a rush earlier, but I don't think I could add much to places to visit, but I do have a bee in my bonnet about always seeing tourists paying too much for their travel.

Most, if not all, of the places you'll see will be in Zone 1, possibly zone 2. So only get a Zone 1-2 travelcard. Too often I see tourists with an all zone travelcard when they probably never travel outside Zone 1. Be careful with day travelcards, there are 2 versions a Peak one and an off-peak one (for travel after 9.30 and all day weekends). A travelcard is valid for journies started until 4.30am the following morning.

UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU PAY CASH FOR TRAVELLING ON TUBES OR BUSES IN LONDON. Paying by cash is the most expensive way to travel in London. This will be especially true when the new fares come in in January. You should ensure you buy a travelcard, or alternatively you can get an Oyster card from any Tube station. You will need to pay a £3 refundable deposit for an Oyster card, but it is cheaper to use then by cash.

What is an Oyster card? This is a smart card ticket. Most tourists will use the pre-pay (to be called pay as you go from January). You top it up with money and each time you use public transport you place it on top of the yellow pad on ticket gates or on the bus. It will register your starting point and finishing point and deduct the correct fare from your card. PAYING BY OYSTER IS CHEAPER THEN PAYING BY CASH. The system has an added bonus, with a feature known as 'Capping'. This is the clever bit. Each time you place your card on the reader when using public transport it will look at all the journeys you have made during that day and if by adding this fare will mean that you will have spent more then a travelcard for the method of transport and zones you have covered it will charge you no more then the cost of the appropriate travelcard - in some cases it caps you at less then the cost of a travelcard. I said it was cheaper with Oyster then with cash, heres a couple of examples: The normal cash bus fare is £1.20, pay with Oyster after 9.30am and any time at weekends at the fare is 80p. A Zone 1 tube fare by cash is £2, with Oyster pre-pay it is £1.70.
This differences are much, much greater from January 2nd (£1.50 saving on a Zone 1 tube fare) but I think that warrants a separate post.

One final thing to say about Oyster is that it has limited availability on National Rail services in London, so it is only recommended if you are to use Tube and Buses. If you plan to use National Rail, then a paper travelcard would be the better option.

ka7e wrote:

Another great bus route centred on Victoria Bus/Underground Station is the No 11. Goes past all the central big tourist attractions! If you get a travel card you can hop on and off as many times as you like :T



Route: 11

[...snip...]

Westminster Cathedral (London Eye visible across the river on the South Bank...cross Westminster Bridge for IMAX, Royal Festival Hall, National Theatre,London TV Centre, BBC etc)

Westminster City Hall

New Scotland Yard (well, it's the back of.....solitary armed policeman on patrol...looks lonely)

Westminster Abbey

Parliament Square

You don't want to get of Westminster Cathedral if you want any of those places, not unless you want a long walk. You need to get off at Westminster Abbey/Parliament Sq.

Another bus route to consider is the No. 15. It takes you from Tower Hill (for the Tower of London/Tower Bridge), St Pauls, Aldwych (for Somerset House), Strand (a short walk from Covent Garden), Trafalgar Sq, Piccadilly, Regent Street, Oxford Circus, Oxford Street, Marble Arch and onto Paddington. If you want a trip on a Routemaster (the old London Buses), these have all been withdrawn from the usual routes, but they have been re-introduced with 2 "heritage" routes. One of these heritage routes is the 15, but the Routemasters only operate between Tower and Trafalgar Sq. They operate every 15 minutes between 9.30am and 6.30pm. The other heritage route is the No 9 between Aldwych and Royal Albert Hall.

Enjoy your trip!

trafalgar_2

wow thank you for that isasmurf ,very useful indeed:T

black-saturn

With a name like Trafalgar I thought you were a London local

You could try London Duck Tours. Its an amphibious vehicle which goes around the streets and then wades into the water and does a trip up the Thames. It's not cheap but it really is worth the money: London Duck Tours

You could also do The London Eye and also London Aquarium which next to the Eye.

richardw

I suggest getting off bus route nr 15 at Trafalgar square and getting on a nr 11 going west to Sloane Square. This goes down whitehall, past Downing St, past Houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, the Catholic Cathedral on Victoria St (be quick though) and to Victoria Station.