Alexandra Palace / London Help

[RavenLG]

Hi All,

Myself and DP got tickets last minute to a gig at Alexandra Palace tomorrow. Found cheap coach tickets, sorted. I do not know London at all, and have no clue about the buses and tubes. So after a bit of help please.

Coach drops us off at Golders Green. I understand we can get 2 tubes to Wood Green then walk to AP (or get the W3 bus). Way there is fine, loads of time to mooch there and get lost. Coach back home departs Golders Green at 00.30. So we have one and a half hours to get from AP to GG (if the gig finishes at 11.00pm, can't find stage times anywhere).

I emailed and tweeted AP but no reply so wondering if London savvy MNetters can help me with some questions?

If myself and DP we're to get tube from Golders Green to Wood Green, how much would this cost? We don't have oyster cards so do we need to get a ticket? And can we get a 'day ticket' of such to get a return? Can we buy a pass that lets us use the W3 bus? Or can we pay the bus with just a contactless card? Or can we just pay everywhere contactless? And will it be impossible to get on the bus on the way back? We we're thinking of just getting an uber but not sure how crazy it will be?

Any info would be grand while I spend several hours trawling the internet for info.

You can use a contactless card on buses and tube.

If you have contactless bank card use that in both tube and bus

As per Pp use contactless. Also - not sure what gig it is, but I wouldn’t be wandering around WG late at night. Definitely not. You may want to consider getting the overground from AP (on way to WG) or the bus to WG. An Uber would probably be around £20 ish if the traffic on the north circ isn’t bad.

Don't bother with tube, get 102 bus from Muswell Hill to Golders Green tube station. Muswelll Hill is about 10 minutes walk from Alexandra Palace, its nearer than Wood Green. The bus will take about 20 minutes, will be quicker than getting the tube, more direct, and much cheaper.

If you take the 102 bus from Golders green into Muswell Hill, Ally Pally is about a 15 minute walk from there. Get off the bus at Muswell Hill Broadway then by the big bus roundabout (you'll know what I mean when you see it) walk right to the bottom of dukes avenue and it's there.

Also, gigs at Ally Pally rarely finish that late, you'll probably be out by 10.30

There is a pub called the Startin g Gate by Ally Pally train station. Nice enough, does food,

Seconding the bus and not wandering around Wood Green.

GG is only about 20 mins by car from Ally Pally, wait till the crowds have disbursed and an Uber should be about £12. I wouldn’t hang around Wood Green tbh. You have lots of time to kill.

Fabulous. Thank you all for the help. Will look into the other routes and try to plan it a bit more.

I know this sounds daft (I have massive anxiety please don't judge me for this next question lol) but do you have to ask the bus driver to go to a certain stop? I read that all buses are one fare so do you just get on and tap the contactless and that's it? (and thank the driver obviously lol).

A way of mitigating my anxiety is to have a plan, new places and things set me off so less anticipation and 'getting things wrong' the better I'll be lol.

Northern line to Euston, Victoria line from there to Finsbury Park, then national rail train to ally pally - in total should take max 40mins allow and hour for delays etc defs avoid Wood Green at night

If you do get a bus no you don’t tell them you just tap your card to get on and then ring the bell as you approach your stop. But I’d recommend the tube/train route as it’s much easier.

There’s plenty of late night eateries in GG, it’s a well know Jewish area so some great food choices.

Most London buses have a display screen which says what the next stop is. If someone wants to get off at that stop they press the bell button. These are all over the bus. When the bell is pressed the next stop sign gets a written addition under it, saying something like “bus stopping”.

Do not walk to AP from Wood Green! It's a long way and most of it is up a bloody steep hill through the park. The first time I went I made the mistake of walking (and that was only from AP train station at the bottom of the hill) because you can't tell it's a hill just by looking at a map.

As for paying, yes use contactless whether it's for buses, Tubes or trains (or combination of). As long as you consistently use the same card there's a daily price cap so you won't pay more than the cost of a 1-day travelcard.

According to this page there's a shuttle bus for concerts (£1) that goes to Wood Green and AP stations:

www.alexandrapalace.com/faqs/#1563790662489-52d3420c-5b0d

"For our concerts, we operate a shuttle bus that calls at Wood Green and Alexandra Palace Station. It costs £1 to ride to the venue, free for the return trip."

Ooh, DS is going to the same gig tomorrow, I shall pass on the tip about WG.

NEVER go to Wood Green!

Great planning tool here
tfl.gov.uk/

Wood Green is ok in the day, you have to watch your bag etc. It’s s no go area in the evening.
Amazing views over London from Ally Pally if it’s a clear evening.
They usually have food trucks on site if there’s a gig. Plus there’s a pub on site. And an I’ve rink if you fancy a skate.

Thank you for all the advice about WG, I didn't realise it was a bad area. London absolutely bamboozles me!

www.alexandrapalace.com/food-drink/phoenix-bar-kitchen/

It’s the bit round the cinema you need to watch out for in Wood Green. There’s a pub that does food called The Phoenix actually at Ally Pally. Food is ok in there.

Guys, way too much fuss over Wood Green,- the route from AP to WG will be really busy, well lit and not at all unsafe.
But its much easier to get 102 to Muswell Hill from Golders Green and back again.I live near Ally Pally, and I wouldn't consider getting trains or tubes for that journey.
It is one fare on the bus, you don't need to talk to the driver at all if you don't want to. There are also loads of places to eat and drink at Ally Pally.

I've only been to/from WG during the day, so have no idea what it's like late at night.

However the bus stop for the W3 and shuttle bus is very close to WG tube station and there will be other concert-goers heading in the same direction. If you look on the map, the entrance to WG tube station is on the corner of a crossroads. Cross over to the diagonally opposite corner and walk a little way up the smaller road (Station Road) and the bus stop is just there. The bus stop for the return journey is even closer to the tube station and you only need to cross one road. It takes about 2 minutes to get from the bus stop to WG tube station, and that includes waiting at the pedestrian crossing for the lights to change.

www.google.com/maps/place/Wood+Green,+London/@51.5970858,-0.1105445,18.25z/data=!4m5!3m4!1s0x48761be26aa77cdd:0x2ad321cd28893700!8m2!3d51.5971722!4d-0.1098021

Thanks @DelphiniumBlue that journey looks a hell of a lot easier than tubes. Thanks for the heads up :)

I did the walk from Muswell Hill Broadway about six weeks ago and the 15 minute walk is realistic. The 102 bus passes by the pub The Kinks used to frequent, the Phoenix Cinema (independent, one screen, Benedict Cumberbatch is a patron) and The Bishops Avenue (each house costs more than a small northern town).