London's fare system is unusually forgiving: it works out the cheapest price for you automatically, provided you tap correctly. The genuine decisions are which airport you fly into and whether you understand the capping.
Contactless, and why nothing else is needed
Tap a contactless bank card or a phone on entry and exit. That is the whole system.
It costs the same per journey as an Oyster card but caps automatically — daily and weekly — with no top-ups and no deposit. There is no reason for a visitor to buy an Oyster or a paper Travelcard any more.
| Cap | Approx |
|---|---|
| Daily, zones 1–2 | ~£8.90 |
| Weekly, zones 1–2 | ~£44.70 |
| Daily, bus only | ~£5.25 |
Two rules that cost money if broken:
Tap out on rail. On the Tube, Elizabeth line, Overground and DLR you must tap both ends. Failing to tap out charges the maximum fare for that journey.
Use the same card all week. Weekly capping only works if every journey is on one card or device. Alternating between a phone and a physical card splits the total across two accounts and neither caps.
Buses are tap-in only, flat fare, and cap separately and lower — which makes them the cheap option for a day of short hops.
The airports, honestly
| Airport | To central | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Heathrow | 30–50 min | £3–12 (Tube / Elizabeth) |
| Gatwick | 30 min | £12–20 train |
| City | 25 min | DLR, standard fare |
| Stansted | 50 min+ | £12–20 express |
| Luton | 50 min+ | £15–22 plus shuttle |
| Southend | 55 min+ | £17+ |
Heathrow is the convenient one: it is on the Piccadilly line and the Elizabeth line, both of which use ordinary contactless fares and count toward your cap. The Heathrow Express is faster and much more expensive, and rarely worth it.
Gatwick is further out but has a genuinely fast train to Victoria and London Bridge.
Stansted and Luton are budget-airline airports 50 to 60 km away. A £20 fare into Stansted becomes £35–40 once the express is added, and Luton requires a shuttle from the station to the terminal on top. Price the whole journey before choosing the cheap flight.
Where to stay for the transport
Anywhere in zones 1–2 with a Tube station is fine. South Bank and Southwark are walkable to the main sights; Bloomsbury suits the museums; King's Cross is best if you are doing day trips, with fast lines north and to the Eurostar.
Avoid accommodation marketed as "near London" in zones 5–6. The nightly saving is erased by the commute and by fares outside the zone 1–2 cap.
What is free
An unusual amount for a city this expensive. The British Museum, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Science Museum, V&A, Tate Britain and Tate Modern all have free general admission. Several ask for a free timed booking online, which is worth doing for the British Museum and the Natural History Museum.
What genuinely costs: the Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's, the London Eye, and theatre. Those are the four or five things to book ahead.
The London Pass question
It only pays off at three or more paid attractions a day, every day. Since the flagship museums are free, the pass mostly covers sights many visitors would skip. For a typical trip with two or three paid sites in total, individual tickets are cheaper.