transport and tours
PHOTOS: © RICHARD TAYLOR/4 CORNERS IMAGES/STUART KELLY/ALAMY
This image: The Emirates Air Line cable car links travels above the Thames Below: Oyster cards can be used to pay for most modes of public transport in London
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LONDON 2022
If you’re in London for at least five days, it’s worth getting a seven-day Travelcard loaded onto your Oyster card, so you can hop on and off public transport as many times as you like. A seven-day Travelcard covering zones 1 and 2 costs £37. Visitor Oyster Cards can be bought in advance and posted to your home address. They cost £5 (plus postage) to activate, plus however much credit you’d like to top up by. You can reclaim any unused credit at the end of your trip, or (since they don’t expire) save the card for your next visit. If you are in a rush or simply want to travel in a bit more luxury (and don’t mind being held up in traffic), then hail a black cab, which can be spotted on all main roads and often line up outside train stations. Taxis are run on meters and cost more than the Tube (about £15-20 for a journey of 10-20 minutes) but can be a nice way of
seeing the city, plus most of them now accept credit and debit cards. Uber and Bolt are the cheaper options. www.tfl.gov.uk TOURS The choice of sightseeing tours is seemingly endless. If you’re short of time and want to cover a wide area, ticking off the big sights as you go, a hop-on-hop-off bus tour can be a good bet. Try Big Bus London, which offers four different routes on one-, twoor three-day tours, including a one-way river cruise. Tickets cost from £31.20 online for a one-day pass (£39 on board). Alternatively, walking tours provide a more in-depth perspective. Blue Badge Tourist Guides are reliable and experienced and offer tours on everything from royal London to Harry Potter (see also p51). www.bigbustours.com; britainsbestguides.org
PHOTOS: © VISITLONDON.COM/JON REID/STUART KELLY/ALAMY
help you navigate the different lines. When it comes to buying tickets, though single fares are still available, by far the most economical way to travel is to use a tap-andgo Oyster card. This smartcard is a quick and easy way to pay once you’re in the city, reduces the cost of fares and can be used on Tubes, buses, trams, the DLR, most train services, Thames Clipper River Bus services and the Emirates Air Line.
