Oyster card for visitors- help please!

building_with_lego

I have been reading TfL's website and still can't quite work out how best to do this.

I shall be travelling to London village in the Spring with my two children, aged 11 and 15. We need to make a return journey from Paddington to South Kensington.

The Oyster card prices are much cheaper than paper prices, BUT seeing as both children would need to have their own Oysters and you can top up a minimum of a fiver, I'd have to shell out (pun unintended, but rather pleasing) a lot for three returns. Is there any way in which I can take two children and get the Oyster prices, or is it better to just pay more up front for a paper ticket?

Thanks for any advice!

agrinnall

If you have 3 contactless cards you can use one each and get the cheapest price.

daveyjp

If you are to pay full fare you may as well use a taxi.

macman

Contactless card for you, the adult. Oyster cards loaded with the Young Person's Discount for both children who are 11-15. Under 11's travel free.
This avoids the need to get an Oyster ID Card, which is simply not worth it for one day's travel.
You may just find it easier to use contactless for all 3 of you and pay the full adult fare, but as mentioned above, you must each have a card, as you can't recycle it through the barriers one by one.

kinger101

(a) Download the Uber app. The fare is likely to be around £9-10 each way.
(b) Alternatively, it's only about 1.6 miles of walking, taking in Hyde Park en-route.