Cheapest way to travel round London?

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Visiting London next week for 4 days but staying in Greenwich. Will want to travel around London to see the sights. Was going to tap in/out on tube but realised I can't do this for the children withoutpayingfull fare. What's the best/cheapest option please? Or am I best just sucking it up, getting them to tap and pay adult fare? Thanks.

How old are the children?

How old are they? Under 11 they just go through the gates with you.

If over you need to get an oyster card from the ticket office and tehy will apply the child rate to it.

Sorry, they're 13 and 15

Walking and bus is cheapest option. Buses are limited to being charged 3 times a day and cost £1.65 no matter how many stops.

Buses are the cheapest way to travel around London. An adult will pay a flat fare of £1.75 and can take onto as many buses as they like for no additional fee, provided it is within an hour of the first bus. Children under 16 are free.

Tubes are more expensive. Children of 11+ pay half fare - my children have an Oyster zip card which I pay money onto. It is more expensive to buy paper tickets than to tap using your phone or card.

Walking and bus.

If you download an app called city mapper it tells you how to get from A to B with different routes including walking and shows you the cost. I use it EVERY day, it's a godsend.

Oh thank you. I didn't know that you can tap on and off busses too, sorry to sound thick but is it the same as the tube where you just tap on when you get on and off when you get off?

Thank you Trampoline123 I'll download that now.

Get an Oyster for each child and get someone at a station to endorse it as a Young visitor Oyster. Half fare or less everywhere after that.
just tap ON buses, not off as well.

You don’t sound thick at all. London buses are different to the ones in Brighton (where I grew up) and probably elsewhere too.

You only tap to get on as it is a flat fare. The bus driver won’t take cash.

If they have Oyster tou get a WAY better deal for them on the boat, which is a fun thing to do from Greenwich.

You only have to tap in on the buses

I'd get kids oysters for the children as that will be cheaper. The tube fare is capped at a day rate and it's cheaper if you travel off peak.

The bus to and from town from Greenwich is quite slow.

Not the cheapest option but you can also get the Uber boat from Greenwich to the city. It's more expensive than the tube but a lot cheaper than one of the tour boats that does the same route and it's good fun.

I looked at the boat but it was £70+ for a24 hour family pass! Although I believe that uber operate one a lot cheaper.

@CruCru children 11-15 are free on buses only if they have an Oyster Zip card (which are named and have photo on).
@Multipleexclamationmarks if you get (normal) Oyster Cards you can ask for it to be registered as a child’s visitor card so they pay child’s prices. To get the Oyster card you have to pay £7 (I think) for the card - so £14 because you need two but I think you can get that back at the end of your trip.
It had to be one card per person so you can’t pay 3 times with your card. If they have their own contactless debit cards they could use those - but will be charged adult fare.

Cross Post onehundredotters thanks x

I think you can still buy an off peak day travel card for travel from 9.30 on. You can get a paper ticket or add to Oyster. Check if you can still buy a family card. Remember to use any discount cards such as Family Railcard to get it even cheaper.

You only tap to get on buses and trams. If you tap twice on Oyster you will be charged twice. You tap in and out on the train and underground. If you don’t tap out you will get charged the top daily charge.

@LadyLapsang Off -Peak Day tickets will be more expensive. Paper tickets are always more expensive than contactless/oyster.

You need an Oyster card for each of them. As Pp mentioned the staff should be able to process it to a zip card 11+.

Busses will take way too long for some journeys, you will probably find you do a mix of tube and bus (docklands light rail and trams if you’re travelling in from Greenwich).

The card will max out at the zone 1-3 rate (about £9ish a day for an adult). That’s me assuming Greenwich is zone 3, it might be zone 2 🤔 . So you can keep travelling within those zones and won’t be charged more. It’s a cheaper max-out rate if you get the zip card for the kids. Maybe phone TfL to confirm you can have a regular Oyster card altered by staff for the children.

Honestly, my children don’t need to tap when they get buses when they are with me.

@CruCru at 13 and 15, they would be adked to tap, not small kids

Fair enough, my children are 9 and 11. My son does tap when he isn’t with me

@CruCru they are meant to. At lot of drivers don’t always argue when teens get on without their Zip Card but I have also seen drivers who do refuse and not let them travel.
It’s risky.
If you are a regular London bus traveller just get them a Zip 🙄

@CruCru Oh sorry - at 9 and 11 it’s different. 9 year old doesn’t need a card. 11 year old should get one now. It will be valid until they are 16 so you only need to pay once.

Both my children have a zip oystercard.