Optimising transportation and attraction costs in London

Hi fellow members,

I'll be flying to UK for honeymoon during early December and got to know about the 2FOR1 deal (http://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london)

To optimise transportation and attraction costs, my current plan:
1st/2nd day - Touchdown at Heathrow airport, buy oyster cards, travel and stay around London tube zone 1-2
3rd/4th day - Take sleeper train to Edinburgh on the night before, travel and stay around there.
4th day - Take Virgin East Coast train back to London. Start using 2FOR1 deal for attractions by utilising the train tickets.
5th to 11th day - Buy 7 day travelcards and travel to more attractions around London tube zone 1-2 + Hartfield (1 Day) + Windsor (1 Day) + Cambridge University (1 Day). Accommodation is a mixture of West Drayton (requires train ride) and tube zone 3 areas. Back to Heathrow airport on 11th day.

I have the following questions:

1. With the above itinerary, for 5th to 11th day, should I get the travelcards with tube zone 1-2 (and use oyster cards for zone 3 and beyond) or I should just get the travelcards with all 6 zones?

2. Understood that the oyster cards are widely used where you simply tap and board transports. If I use travelcard, how will the process looks like? (E.g., when boarding bus, just show the travelcard?)

3. The 2FOR1 deal requires buying attraction tickets on the spot. For popular attractions on December weekdays, will the queues be long (over an hour of waiting) ?

4. Is the Virgin East Coast train ticket eligible for the 2FOR1 deal? If it is not, any train ticket from Edinburgh to London that is eligible for the deal?

Thanks in advance :)

1. Well you could do all the calculations yourself using this chart to see if you would save money by getting a zone 1-2 travelcard +Oyster. But I suspect it would not be cheaper than just buying a zone 1-6 travelcard.

2. You can put a 7 day travelcard onto your Oyster card. If you buy a paper travelcard you just flash it to the bus driver, if you have to go through a barrier there is a slot to put it in, gates open, and you retrieve it from another slot.

3. Not sure what attractions you are interested in but I doubt any would have queues that long.

4. Any orange paper ticket is eligible (this includes your Virgin ticket). However you need to use it on the day of travel if it's a single, or the intervening time on a return trip. Since your return trip is to Edinburgh rather than London, you'll only be able to use this ticket for the day you get back from Edinburgh.

As an aside I'd question the wisdom of traveling all the way to Scotland for one day, especially in December when sunset is before 4 pm.

"You can put a 7 day travelcard onto your Oyster card. "
But that won't qualify for the 2 for 1 offers.

Why are you visiting Hartfield and staying in West Drayton?

Thanks banlieu_rouge :) The chart has been useful, I'll be taking the travelcard with zone 1-6. For Scotland, yep it's costly but just want to check it out.

Hi donsky, yep I was about to ask the same question and thanks for the answer.

Hi fwoggie, visiting Hartfield is to find the Pooh's Hundred Acre Wood. I try to stay at one place for accomodation so it's at West Drayton.

Virgin ticket might be an 'E-ticket' & not an orange paper card type.
No need to take a sleeper train from London to Edinburgh, as from both King's Cross & Euston, the trip can be done in around 5 hours.

Yeah, but West Drayton's not that nice and transport into and out of C London isn't ideal to say the least :)

Hi lennythelion, thanks for your reply :)

I think Virgin ticket should still be eligible for 2For1 deal: https://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/special-offers/at-my-destination/2for1-london. I'll be collecting the rail tickets on the spot instead of printing out, just to play safe.

We'll go with sleeper train to maximise waking hours (using sleeping hours to travel to Edinburgh and once we arrive there, start of day tour.

Hi Fwoggie,

Agreed, it's not ideal but striking a balance between accommodation cost and travelling time. From West Drayton to Central London, should be around 30+ mins?? and the train frequency seems good enough.

This topic has been automatically locked due to inactivity. Email community@lonelyplanet.com if you would like to add to this topic and we'll unlock it for you.