Once you get there you could find even outrageous the price you need to pay to move around London by public transport. A single tube ticket is in fact worth a staggering £4, but you can (or rather, are suggested to) consider a couple of other available options.
If you are just going to London for a one-off trip, then you are strongly suggested to buy a Travel card, you can check in the Transport for London website for details about the different fares www.tfl.gov.uk.
Be aware that fares depend on the zones you are travelling through and that London is divided into 6 different travel zones.
If, instead, you are thinking and planning to go to London from time to time, even now and then, you could consider buying an “Oyster Card”. This card, which can be bought rather everywhere in London, will allow you to pay “just” £1.80 for each journey and you can top-up it in every tube station and online.
The choice between the Oyster card and the Travel card very much depends on the number of journey you are likely to have during each day of your stay. If you are likely to move back and forth and high and low through London the Travel card is definitely the best option, if you are just riding a very limited number of journeys per day, then the Oyster card could reveal to be more appropriate.
If you are just travelling within zone 1, a daily travel card off-peak price is £5.60, whilst a daily any-time travel card will cost you £7.20.
Peak single fares apply from 06:30 to 09:30 and from 16:00 to 19:00, Monday to Friday. At all other times and bank holidays, the Off-Peak single fare applies.Nonetheless, take note that if you should buy an Oyster card you’ll never spend, on any given day, considering the different zones within you are moving, more than you will be spending if buying a travel card. In other words, Oyster card daily expense is capped to a daily maximum, which is fixed to the same amount you’d have spent to buy a daily travel card. So that, in case you are using the Oyster card on a pay as you go single fares mode and you should use it for a large number of times, the maximum amount which will be detracted to your total credit won’t be higher than the cost of a daily travel card, considering, of course, the zones you are travelling to and from.
One think you need to know about the London Underground system is that if you are using an Oyster card you have to touch in and out, in fact you card will be charged only when you actually touch out. The amount that will be detracted from your Oyster card will depend, in fact, on the stations of entry and exit, this is particularly relevant if you are travelling across different zones, but if, for any reasons, you should forget to touch out you’ll be automatically charged the maximum daily amount (that is the cost of a daily travel card).
Bus costs £1.20 each journey and you just need to touch in.
London with its 12 underground lines, DLR, over ground lines and buses really boasts an amazing transportation system. Really no need to rent a car, on the contrary, should you do that, you will immediately realise that is will just be a useless and expensive burden, congestion charge and parking in Central London are, in fact, really expensive and you won’t have any convenience at all on going around London by car.
