Any Londoners? Quickest/easiest way from Hemel Hempstead into central London please

[MadameGazelle]

We're going to the Harry Potter studio next month, travelling by car and staying at a hotel in Hemel Hempstead. We want to combine this trip with a day in London and wondered what would be the easiest way to travel into London on public transport for the day. I've looked at an off peak, one day travel card for zones 1-6 (bus then the tube) but but can't find out if the bus from HH would be covered by the travel card?

If anyone can suggest an easier or better way that would be great. We're a family of 4 - 2 adults and 2 kids aged 14 and 13. TIA

Dont think bus would be.
Train from hemel goes to euston though

Or actually, you could drive to Watford junction and go to euston from there.
15 minutes drive I'd say.

Specialist bus takes you to Watford Junction, 20 minutes to Euston on a direct train. On return, train to Hemel.

The studios are (public transport speaking) in the middle of pissing nowhere. Good buses, but not brilliant to get into a London without going to Watford Junction.

Yep, what Cherry says.

I think you'd be better off just getting a mainline train from HH and buying a 1-2 travel card.

Or using contactless cards if you have them to travel London if you have them.

Thanks everyone.

We'd be travelling from our hotel in Hemel into central London and back to Hemel. Don't go to the studios until the following day.

Just don’t forget to tap in/out at stations!

Cross posted. Train from Hemel to Euston, then. Just check that you don’t get the train that stops every five bloody minutes! Get a direct/almost direct train. They show all the stops on the board.

Either tap in/out from Watford tube station or the quickest way is train from Hemel, or Apsley, if your hotel is nearer there (25 mins and about 20 quid off peak per adult)

Also dont forget HP isn't in London, it's in Watford.

Hemel Hempstead and Watford are both outside of zone 6 so your travel card wouldn’t cover the bus. What station are you getting the bus to? If Watford tube station you’d have to buy a ticket to get you to northwood, and then your zone 6 ticket would cover you from there. It will be much quicker to get the train from Hemel Hempstead to London, but I don’t know how much more expensive it would be.

Just returned from London , we stayed at abbey wood ( near Dartford) and caught the train into London each day, bought a family railcard (£30) but will use that again, then got travel cards each day 2 adults 3 kids 16,14,10 cost total £25.00 , allowed us to travel on train, tubes and buses.
Alternatively look at contactlessness or Oyster cards but you still have to pay £5 deposit per card. Not sure how contactlessness works with kids though.

Thanks Hobbes8 that's really helpful. I hadn't thought about a train!

Train from HH to London Euston. Takes around 30 mins maximum. You can’t use a travel card or contactless before or after Watford (depending on your direction of travel, obviously!) so you’ll need to get tickets at HH station (or Apsley if your hotel is closer to that station) to Euston. You can then use contactless around London on buses or tubes.

Euston has Victoria and Northern tube lines.

2nd the family rail card idea they save a fortune and usually pay for themselves after one or two journeys. Booking train tickets in advance also tend to save money (on some lines).

Depends where in central london you want to go op?

You could for eg take the Overground from HH to Euston and jump on the victoria line to oxford street? Takes about 40mins.

A word of caution if you've never been to Hemel Hempstead before and are driving. They've got the most bonkers roundabout system I've ever encountered in my life. DD1 and I stayed in a hotel in HH when visiting HP Studios a couple of years ago and I'd never seen anything like it. Google the roundabouts

@mejon I love the magic roundabout! The work of an absolute madman, but it does feel satisfyingly naughty to drive around it counter-clockwise.

Just get the train from HH to London then. You don’t need a bus. Buy a travelcard each at hemel (and probably a family railcard because it will pay for itself in savings) which includes your return mainline journey into London as well as tubes, trams, DLR and buses all day long. Easy stuff 👌🏻

6 mini roundabouts in one.
It’s actually really efficient once you know where you’re going, saves going the whole way round if you’re going right.

Agree that train will be easiest. You can buy train tickets with added zone 1-6 travel card validity (as opposed to a ticket just valid to Euston) at the station. Don’t forget children aged 0-10 travel free on the underground/buses so you may only need a train ticket for them depending on their ages.

Buy the train tickets at the station from a person not a machine then the kids tickets will be cheaper but they don't offer those tickets on the machines (so people don't buy them for adults)

Thanks everyone, you've all been really helpful.

Is there plenty of parking at HH train station if we were to drive there and leave the car? It would be around 9am on a Saturday morning if that makes a difference.

Rail enquiries has got a good option where you can check station facilities:

www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/HML/details.html

It says there are 200 spaces. If it’s anything like my local station, Saturday morning is usually a quiet time but trust someone with more local knowledge than me!!!