Help Needed!! devon - london car + train???

lucasmum

Hi,

We are traveling up to london fro devon on 31st july to the Natural History Museum and I am completely lost as the best way up. To avoid congestion charges and crazy parking fees my idea was to park out of london and make a short train journey into london.

But, I have completely baffled myself with oyster cards family and friends cards and whatever else!

Its me, OH a 6yr old and 2yr old and we are only going to be traveling around london for the day as we have a 3 night legoland trip booked for the weekend!

Does anyone have any advice on cheap all day parking, maybe at a train station and the best way to book in advance.

Thanks,Becky

Contessa

A few years ago we went up from Devon to the Earls Court Boat Show. 4 adults travelled by car. We parked close to Hounslow East tube station and took the Picadilly Line straight there. We parked in a multistorey car park-can't remember the price but it was reasonable for the day. However, we were almost caught out as it closed earlier than we thought, despite looking for signs. If we'd been a bit later our car would have been locked in. Returned same day. A great day out but very long and tiring. Enjoy your trip!

dzug1

lucasmum wrote: »

Hi,

.

But, I have completely baffled myself with oyster cards family and friends cards and whatever else!

Its me, OH a 6yr old and 2yr old and we are only going to be traveling around london for the day as we have a 3 night legoland trip booked for the weekend!

Does anyone have any advice on cheap all day parking, maybe at a train station and the best way to book in advance.

Thanks,Becky

Your kids travel free on buses and tubes in London - but only the younger on trains

An adult one day travelcard is £7.50 a head (zones 1-6)

If you can be bothered to get an Oyster (£3 deposit) and turn it in at the end of the day this will net out at £7. Not sure it's worth it for a one-off visit. Buy it at the tube station.

Ignore family and friends - only for frequent travellers by rail

Don't book in advance - no advantage.

lucasmum

Guys, thanks for the info this is great. I will now try and work out the journey to the tube station!

Idiophreak

For future reference, I've always been discouraged from driving to london because of the parking cost, the congestion charge etc...That said, I went the other weekend and was pleasantly surprised - no congestion charge at the weekend and I parked for £6 for the day at the barbican, which I was quite impressed with, certainly a lot cheaper than parking for the day round my way.

Of course, the constant speed cameras, dumb road layouts and idiotic drivers still make it an "interesting" place to drive, but it still works out a bunch cheaper than getting the train in.

lucasmum

The train for a long journey can be really expensive can't it!! My 1st thought was to park at woking as this is where our hotel for the weekend is and catch a train into london but I was quoted nearly £50 for the 4 of us!!

I have just been looking at zones and daily cards and I see Hounslow east is in zone 4 so will we be able to buy a zone 1-4 travel card which is £6.30 as we won't be going as far out as 5 or 6?

Contessa can you remember what time the car park closed because it would be nice to grab something to eat in london then get the train back after, but I don't want to get my car locked in!!!

Idiophreak

lucasmum wrote: »

The train for a long journey can be really expensive can't it!! My 1st thought was to park at woking as this is where our hotel for the weekend is and catch a train into london but I was quoted nearly £50 for the 4 of us!!

Yeah, it's shocking. 4 of us drove from Oxford to Wembley to see Take That at the weekend - cost around £15 in fuel, the same in parking at the stadium.

Train fares would have been £25 each, plus £3 in bus fares to the station, plus about £3 each for a taxi back - so saved around £94 by driving - aren't the government supposed to be encouraging us to use public transport??

Admittedly, getting out of the carpark after the gig was a nightmare, but getting there was a dream, so probably averaged out at around the same time it would have taken on the train...(and, really, if someone offered me £94 to sit in a carpark listening to music in the car for an hour, I'd probably do it )