Planning a trip to london and need help

[themightymelt]

Good afternoon,

I'm trying to plan a trip to London for two nights for myself and DH. Need a small bit of help as I'm not usually the one to organize holidays and logistics so I'm a bit lost.

I have booked our flights- midweek in mid February. Flying from Ireland to Stanstead.

Booked hotel in central London

I would like to get a train from stanstead to central London- no idea which one.

We will need to get the train back to the airport too.

Also need frequent use of the tube

Would like to know if anyone has any idea of a travel card I could purchase now in advise for us to cover train and tube?

Any help would be very appreciated x

Now in advance* (not now in advise... Typo. Apologies)

Stansted Express trains are the quickest and most direct routes between Stansted Airport and London. Services run every 15 minutes and tickets can be booked in advance or bought at the station. Stansted Express stops at and departs from Liverpool Street and Tottenham Hale stations, which provide access to the underground. The train station at Stansted Airport is directly under the airport terminal in the designated underground rail area. Rail services operate not only to central London, but to all major city destinations across the UK.
A Visiter Oyster Card is one of the cheapest ways to pay for travel on the underground and buses. It’s more than 50% cheaper than buying a paper Travelcard or single tickets with cash. There is a daily price cap – once you have reached this limit, you won't pay any more.
Buy a Visitor Oyster card before you visit London and get it delivered to your home address. A card costs £5 (non-refundable) plus postage. You can choose how much credit to add to your card. If you are visiting London for two days, I recommend you start with £20 credit. If you run out of credit on your Visitor Oyster card you can add more credit at a tube station.

You can use a contactless card for the tube.

Use a contactless debit or Visa card as you don't have to worry about getting an Oyster card. However given you are coming from Ireland, I guess you will be charged for every transaction (ie extra charge or foreign currency conversion rate with debit card) vs getting an Oyster card and paying for it once. I'm not sure about this but there is no difference with respect to fares in using debit card vs Oyster card. Can also use contactless on bus.

Must admit, I don't know what the charges would be for contactless payments on a 'foreign' card. I do know you can use an oyster card from Stansted on the train www.visitlondon.com/traveller-information/travel-to-london/airport/stansted, you can buy oyster cards in advance, or at the airport.

I would use a contactless card for the tube if you have one (you would need to have one each).

If you don't have one, it's highly likely you will be able to buy a visitor's oyster card on the plane, or there will be machines selling them at Stansted, which would save on postage.

Get a return ticket on the train, as it will be a bit cheaper than 2 singles.

Have a look at which tube station your hotel is near, and check the tube map. Stansted Express trains go into Liverpool Street, which is on the central line (red), the hammersmith and city line (pink) and the circle line (yellow). But they also stop at Tottenham Hale, which is on the Victoria line (pale blue) so depending on where you are headed it might make more sense to change there.

Get a time out or lonely planet guide. Probably in the library, or google.
Have nice time

Ricekrispie22 do you know if I could use the Oyster Card on the stanstead express or would I have to book seats in advance?

Thank you everybody for the advice x

You can’t use oyster on stansted express but definitely book tickets in advance as you’ll save money: they usually have a deal for two ppl traveling together