Heathrow to London City Airport (or nearby). What's my cheapest / best option?

londoninvestor

tehone wrote: »

*****PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL NEED A CONTACTLESS CARD OR AN OYSTERCARD TO GET ON A BUS*****

Buses in London do not take cash at all, it is still possible to pay for the Tube part with cash, but please note that cash fares are more money than Oyster/contactless fares.

Just to clarify my suggestion would be to take the first tube train of the day (Piccadilly line) towards London change at Green Park onto the Jubilee Line and then change at Canning Town (DLR) to City Airport.

And remember to tap your card on the way out at City Airport DLR station - you can physically leave the station without doing so, but it will cost you a £12 or so maximum fare.

Doshwaster

tehone wrote: »

*****PLEASE NOTE THAT YOU WILL NEED A CONTACTLESS CARD OR AN OYSTERCARD TO GET ON A BUS*****

Not quite true - you can also use Apple Pay/Google Pay using your mobile or several other smart device systems

https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/how-to-pay-and-where-to-buy-tickets-and-oyster/pay-as-you-go/contactless-and-mobile-pay-as-you-go#on-this-page-1

maman

I know what I'd do but it's more about convenience than the cost, although I think it's probably best value especially as OP isn't familiar with TfL.

If you Google Heathrow or London City Airport and choose Maps it'll give you the option to get Directions. Put in the day and time you want and the journey plan will come up. If you go for a route that's all trains (tube and DLR) then you can use contactless.

Alternatively you could get the DLR to Royal Albert and go to the Travelodge for an excellent breakfast and then walk across to the airport, like I did a couple of weeks ago.

Tunstallstoven

Thanks one and all you've been so helpful. I'm just gonna get to LCY on the suggested tube route and read while I wait. I don't read nearly enough nowadays so it's a good time to get my head into a book.

Now please forgive the novice question, but what do I need to put into / do at the ticket machine to get the right tickets?

Thanks again

martindow

Seagull27 wrote: »

Now please forgive the novice question, but what do I need to put into / do at the ticket machine to get the right tickets?

Thanks again

If you use a contactless card as has been suggested you don't go to ticket machines or get paper tickets at all. Touch your card against the yellow circle on the ticket barriers and they will open to let you in. Remember to tap out at the end with the same card and the correct fare will be taken.

If you're not sure there will be staff at the gate lines to help but possibly not at your final DLR station.

force_ten

Seagull27 wrote: »

Now please forgive the novice question, but what do I need to put into / do at the ticket machine to get the right tickets?

Thanks again

for you doing one journey then a single ticket wll be fine it has been a while since l bought a single paper ticket in London but we will give it a go

at the ticket machine you may have to tap next customer or start this should take you to the next screen that has squares with different ticket options

you want single or return tickets by destination

you will have off peak single or peak single depending on time of travel

you will then have a keyboard appear to type your destination. London City Airport DLR Station.

it should be quite easy to get the right ticket

Tunstallstoven

All went well and smoothly, so many thanks for all the help and advice in this thread.

And I really liked LCY so will definitely keep it in mind for future travels.

Cheers

Ballard

If you have a smartphone then there’s a terrific app for London (and 39 other cities worldwide) called Citymapper which will give detailed journey information and will alert you when to change if you’re overground at the time. It includes all public transport and is free.

I don’t work for them (!) but use it regularly.