How much is one day tube pass in London?

Lee_T.

I shall shortly be staying in Woking for a few days and would like to go from Woking to Kings Cross on a one day return train ticket.I shall be visiting the main sites, ie Leicester square, London Eye, Houses Of Parliament, etc,etc. Basically whatever is central that I can fit in, in one day.
I would like to travel on Tube and by foot. How much will a return train ticket cost me with tube day pass thrown in as well. I am aware of the zone system but don't understand it at all. As I said I shall be visiting central sites only. I shall be on my own so group discounts don't come into it.

Many thanks in advance.

kerby_crawler

Lee_T. wrote: »

I shall shortly be staying in Woking for a few days and would like to go from Woking to Kings Cross on a one day return train ticket.I shall be visiting the main sites, ie Leicester square, London Eye, Houses Of Parliament, etc,etc. Basically whatever is central that I can fit in, in one day.
I would like to travel on Tube and by foot. How much will a return train ticket cost me with tube day pass thrown in as well. I am aware of the zone system but don't understand it at all. As I said I shall be visiting central sites only. I shall be on my own so group discounts don't come into it.

Many thanks in advance.

I think a one-day travel card, when attached to a mainline rail ticket, costs less than a fiver, and it covers zones 1-6 which is far more than you will need.

But if you have only one day in town, then why waste a lot of it in the underground?

Unless you have mobility problems, central London is best appreciated from the pavement...

kerby_crawler

kerby_crawler wrote: »

I think a one-day travel card, when attached to a mainline rail ticket, costs less than a fiver, and it covers zones 1-6 which is far more than you will need.

But if you have only one day in town, then why waste a lot of it in the underground?

Unless you have mobility problems, central London is best appreciated from the pavement...

ps - Woking trains go to Waterloo, which is a much better place to start from than Kings Cross

alanrowell

Trains from Woking go to Waterloo not Kings Cross

As to the question - £21.20 off-peak with Travelcard, £16.20 without

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/timesandfares/WOK/London/tomorrow/0932/dep/tomorrow/1915/dep

Lee_T.

kerby_crawler wrote: »

ps - Woking trains go to Waterloo, which is a much better place to start from than Kings Cross

Brilliant, thanks for this information. I didn't realize that it was easy on foot. I have no experience of London at all, would it be easy for someone with no experience? Do you know of any reputable guided tours on foot?

Thanks again :beer:

kerby_crawler

Lee_T. wrote: »

Brilliant, thanks for this information. I didn't realize that it was easy on foot. I have no experience of London at all, would it be easy for someone with no experience? Do you know of any reputable guided tours on foot?

Thanks again :beer:

In a single day, it will be hard to do everything!

The open top buses will give you a whistle-stop tour at some cost, but walking tours I think take place mainly at weekends and evenings.

Personally, I would avoid the expensive tourist sites (except the London Eye, if the weather is clear and there is no queue), and simply wander the streets and soak up the story - it's best if you are not alone, but alone can also be good!

barbarawright

Waterloo station is about 5 minutes walk from the London Eye and just across the river from the Houses of Parliament /Westminster Abbey. Then a 20 minute walk up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square / National Gallery and Leicester Square

thelawnet

It does depend slightly.

From Woking you have three travel periods, peak, off-peak and super-off-peak.

The super-off-peak is to arrive Waterloo after noon, and all day on weekends.

This costs £12.80, or £16.80 with travelcard.

The off-peak is a weekday ticket, and essentially it's valid on the 9:41 and later trains, arriving Waterloo 10:08 or later.

It costs £16.20, or £21.20 with travelcard.

For a peak ticket, valid before 9:41 weekdays, you are looking at £19.40, or £27.30 with travelcard.

The travelcard fares are all a poor deal, since you can get a cheaper fare by buying two tickets from the ticket office, rather than one ticket from the machine.

The cheaper fares are:

Woking - Boundary Zone 4 return, priced at £7.20 super-off-peak, £8.90 off-peak, £11 anytime
Plus
Zone 1-4 London Travelcard, which is £8 after 9:30am (off-peak), and £11 anytime

so that gives a return fare with travelcard of:

£15.20 on weekends and arriving London after noon (using a super-off-peak boundary return plus off-peak travelcard)
£16.90 on the 09:41 weekdays and later (using an off-peak boundary return plus off-peak travelcard)
£22 before 09:41

This is a very anti-consumer pricing scheme, in that you have to exploit pricing discrepancies and buy two tickets, but that's just the way it is.

If you are going to be making further travel on the railways in the SE, it's possibly worth buying a Network Railcard, but this adds its own complexities and restrictions.

My recommendation would be to go for the Woking-Boundary Zone 4 off-peak return plus off-peak zone 1-4 travelcard and leave Woking on the 09:41 or later.

In terms of walks:

http://www.walks.com/

is certainly the place to go.

From Waterloo station you can have a walk along the South Bank, into Tate Modern and across to Westminster; I would note that the London Aquarium and London Eye are both tourist traps and certainly to be avoided on a day trip. Leicester Square is likewise a hideous tourist trap, Buckingham Palace isn't much too look at, if you must go make sure it's at Changing of the Guard time.

Depending on what your interests are, try the Museums, they are all excellent, albeit time-consuming if you really only plan one day trip (plus from Woking to South Ken you may want to get off at Clapham Junction instead), the Art Galleries likewise, St Pauls Cathedral, a walk through Soho, Tower of London (get there early). Trafalgar Square much better than Leicester Square, and the National Gallery is there, and free.

davidlizard

If you have the Travelcard, then this also gives you access to the buses. You get to see London without having to walk! And most routes in the centre there is a bus every 5-10 minutes.

You could do something along the lines of (similar to which I have subjected my daughter to...) - most things we only saw from outside.

Arrive at Waterloo (you pass Clapham Junction and Battersea Power Station on the way). Walk to ...
London Eye (do either now or later - you can book to avoid the worst of the queues - or see other alternatives)
Walk over Westminster Bridge (nice views of city) to the ...
Houses of Parliament and then on to ...
Westminster Abbey, then walk to ...
Buckingham Palace (changing of the guard is at 11am)
Walk up the Mall under Admiralty Arch to ...
Trafalgar Square
Nip in to the National Gallery (free - so limit yourself to just a couple of galleries so work out which ones beforehand!), and then over the back to ...
Leicester Square. Get the bus or tube to ...
St Pauls Cathedral. Get back on bus/tube to ...
Tower of London.
Cross Thames over Tower Bridge.
Hop on River Boat by HMS Belfast (Travel Card gives you discount) back to Waterloo.

If you are in Woking, you are not a million miles away from Hampton Court which is another excellent day out.

One thing I have not done, which you could do as an alternative to the Eye is the Shard. Its expensive, but seriously high! Its near the southern side of Tower Bridge.

opinions4u

barbarawright wrote: »

Waterloo station is about 5 minutes walk from the London Eye and just across the river from the Houses of Parliament /Westminster Abbey. Then a 20 minute walk up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square / National Gallery and Leicester Square

I did this walk in an hour with my lad a couple of years ago. It would have been easy enough to throw in Buck House, Green Park, The Ritz etc too, if a bit tiring on my ageing legs. The British Museum is 10 minutes from Leicester Square too.

Get hold of a street map and plan a route in advance.

thelawnet

Best bet IME is to walk out from Waterloo and then take the tube back.