Help needed for trip to London

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We (4 adults) are planning a trip to London in January. We have never done this before so looking for some tips.
One person at least wants to visit the Elvis Graceland exhibition and other than that we want to visit museums and see “the sights”.
We are trying to work out if it’s best to stay centrally (we have looked at some apartments on Booking.com) or stay further away and travel into central London each day, we will probably stay 4 nights but are flexible between 3 and 6 nights.
We are travelling South so if outside it would be North of London and would need good transport links. Someone has suggested staying near Heathrow but we don’t know how good that is as an option.

Where we stay will decide how we travel to London, outside it will be car and then use public transport each day. If we stay centrally we will get there by train but may drive some of the way and park the car up. We will use public transport each day.

We are confused by Travel pass, travel card, oyster, touch in. One person has a Disabled Bus Pass which can be used anywhere in England off peak, is this enough or does this need to be used with a London card as well. Do we need lots of different cards for different areas and different transport types. The more I read the more confused I get.

Thank you for any help you can give. Please remember we haven’t been to London and know where things are in relation to each other.

I personally would not entertain the idea of travelling in and out every day for a short stay. It will be tiring and a waste of time. I personally would rather stay in one of the budge type hotels that are nice and new but small rooms but stay centrally. You'll be able to enjoy the buzz of London for breakfast and fit so much more in! You'll be able to enjoy walking round the city which is one of the main joys of London, how walkable it is. You won't have to battle getting trains when tired after a nice meal or theatre trip. Try to stay within zones 1-2 👌🏼

Or if one person has a disability and can't walk loads, if they have a wheelchair they can still get about the centre ok, and public transport will be ok if you plan ahead. Many "things" are very close together but for me its not just the sights, its the general atmosphere

I agree. Travelling in will be exhausting and you won’t get the best of the city.

The greatest hits, as it were, Houses of Parliament, Trafalgar Square etc are all quite close together. Don’t even consider staying outside, or driving!

An Oyster card is the TFL issued transport card which you can top up with credit for Pay As You Go journeys and/ or a travel card. The PAYG is best if you're doing individual trips and not many of them, but if you want maximum flexibility the travel card is good - you can use it on buses, tube, trams and trains within the TFL zones. You have to pay a deposit when buying a new Oyster card so it's probably not worth it for a short trip.

If you have a contactless credit or debit card you can use it for PAYG Oyster, and capping applies so if you use it within a day period (which also covers the early hours if you're a night owl!) You won't pay more than a daily travel card. Similarly between Monday and Sunday you won't pay more than the cost of a weekly travelcard.

I think for a short visit, using a contactless payment card is the least hassle, best value and maximum flexibility. Make sure you use the same card consistently, and you need one card per person.

You need to tap both in and out on trains and tubes. On buses and trams, you only need to tap in. Tapping in on the bus and tram costs £1.55 and you can take as many journeys as you like within an hour for that one fare.

As mentioned above, London is very walkable, especially a lot of "the sights" but depending on the disability behind the pass, it can get tiring so it's good to know your options. Look out for an accessibility map if relevant (some stations have a ludicrous amount of stairs, especially for an interchange).

I live in zone 3 and travel in every day, it takes 20 minutes to get to Victoria by train. But if I were visiting and money wasn't a factor I'd try to stay somewhere central. It might not work out much more than travelling in would. If you find somewhere really central like near Waterloo, you might even be able to stick to buses which if they aren't busy are great, and sometimes less of a pain than the tubem

Try to travel after 10am and avoid 5-7ish if crowded transport bothers you!

You can use a disabled bus pass after 9am in the morning Monday-Friday and anytime over the weekend. There are no restrictions in the evening.

You can use your debit card to touch in through the ticket gates at all tube stations and on all buses. The system automatically caps your travel at the daily rate, so that's the max you will pay (the higher of a daily pass or your individual journeys). You don't need separate passes, or to buy in advance.
City Mapper is a good app to use to put in your hotel postcode and the place you are going (postcode/street/landmark) it will tell you the options to get from A to B, including walking time etc- so you can have a play around.
I personally wouldn't stay as far out as Heathrow.

I don't know anything about disabled passes but this page suggests you just show it to the driver if it's from elsewhere in England, I'm sure I've seen people do this. https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/free-and-discounted-travel/freedom-pass#on-this-page-3

I agree with other posters, I wouldn’t travel in from Heathrow - even with the Elizabeth Line. I’d definitely look to stay nearer the centre.

As for travel passes, if you have contactless debit cards, you can use those to tap in and out at the start and end of your journeys. (Just remember to tap in and out with the same card, so it does register). I don’t know about the disability bus pass I’m afraid, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t be valid in London.
However, you could call TfL and check :
TfL link

Stay somewhere central - zone one or two.

For those who don’t have the disabled pass, the easiest option is to use a credit or debit contactless card (make sure each of you uses your own and use the same one for each journey), tap it on the sensor on a bus, or for tube/train you’ll tap on the way in to and out of stations. It’ll charge you the correct fare and give you the appropriate day cap. If you travel there by train, do not get one with tube included, just get the train there then contactless.

Info on using a disabled buss pass is here https://tfl.gov.uk/transport-accessibility/fares-and-tickets#:~:text=You%20can%20use%20an%20English,free%20on%20buses%20and%20trams.

The Citymapper app is the easiest way to find your way around.

This might be helpful

Number 11 Bus

Stay centrally.

Don’t use an Oyster card - no one uses them anymore because you can just use a contactless debit or credit card.

Spend a day in South Kensington doing the big museums (V&A, natural history and science museum) and combine with a stroll in Hyde park.

Spend a day in Greenwich and get there on the Uber boat (otherwise known as the clipper) which you also use your contactless debit/credit card to pay for. Whilst there go to the observatory at the top of the hill, the maritime museum or the cutty sark.

Spend a day doing the west end sights - Trafalgar Square (also home to the national gallery), China town, Covent Garden. While you’re over that way you’re also close to parliament and Westminster abbey. The number 24 bus is your friend for visiting all of these sights.

Spend a day strolling along the Southbank. You can visit the London eye, the open air book market, borough market and Tate modern. It’s quite a walk but loads to see and eat along the way.

Spend another day out east visiting the city. It’s free to go to the top of the walkie talkie skyscraper (book in advance) to visit the sky garden. There are some amazing new sky scrapers to see. Wander north on foot or bus and visit spitalfields market and have a curry on brick lane or one of the amazing curry houses around aldgate.

Enjoy!

You definitely don’t want to be travelling in, and certainly not from Heathrow (don’t listen to another word that person says). The travelodge in Covent Garden can be a good option, or a bit further out is fine too. Have a look on air bnb and booking.com

I think everyone else above has covered transport, you can use your debit card. I would also put Uber on your smartphone if you have one, and computer cab for black cabs if you can’t get Uber. Always good to be able to grab a cab at the end of a long day.

Greatest hits type things I think are good -

The Shard
Borough Market
A trip down the Thames in a boat
Tower of london
The Victoria and Albert Museum
The Churchill war rooms
Westminster Abbey
Open top bus tour
Theatre
dinner in China town pre W End theatre
British museum

depends on what you’re into, but the travel is tiring so plan in geographical clusters, with later starts when you want to do something in the evening

I forgot to mention, download the Citymapper app. It tells you best options for getting from A-Z anywhere in London.

Don’t use an Oyster card - no one uses them anymore because you can just use a contactless debit or credit card.

I use oyster because I have a disabled rail card and it is linked so my daily cap is less than the usual standard cap.

Thanks, the disabled person doesn’t use a wheelchair.

Thank you everybody. Lots to look at.
Are “zones” like circles radiating outwards or random areas? Never used Uber we don’t have that where we live so something new to look at. My nephew laughed at me a few years ago when I didn’t know what Uber, Deliveroo, Just Eats etc were. We still don’t have anything like that where we live.
I will look at some apps.
This is one place we looked at yesterday

https://www.booking.com/Share-8iBHme

If you look at the tube map: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/standard-tube-map.pdf you can see the different zones - 1 is in the middle, 2 surrounds it like a doughnut, and so on.

Covent Garden would be a great place to stay if you can afford it. Very very central, and loads to see and do on your doorstep.

You'll have a great time!

Do you know what your sightseeing might involve? I personally enjoy the ‘old’ City of London so visiting St Paul’s (+Millennium Bridge/Tate Modern/Globe) and Tower of London, Tower Bridge. If that’s what you’re looking for then I’d suggest accommodation in a different area than if you wanted to spend time in Soho, Oxford Street, the West End etc. However, if you stay somewhere near the tube stops that are on the SE section of the circle/district line (ie between Temple-Monument) this means you can travel very quickly west to South Ken museums, Embankment (National Gallery, Trafalgar Square), Westminster, and east to St Paul’s and Tower of London. Also convenient for the river and Thames Clipper. I find hotel accommodation a bit cheaper too as it’s off the major tourist hotspots - there are some Travelodges and Premier Inns. I recommend the Premier Inn London Bank (Tower) which can be quite cheap at the weekends as the City is quieter when all the people working in banks have gone home. However the immediate location (side street off a busy road not that glamorous). The Premier Inn at Blackfriars also in a convenient location (and there are some great pubs around Fleet Street).

That's a good location but there's something odd about the photos. The back of the block looks like a mid-20th century block, with another similar block at an angle and a central garden between them. I don't know of any blocks of flats like that in that precise area, and I don't think there's enough space behind the buildings in those streets for a garden that size.

I'll have a good look on Google StreetView this morning. The window in the bedroom at the front is very distinctive. The view shows the building opposite which looks right for the area (brick-built and sash windows) but the flat's window is completely different: one fixed pane and a casement window next to it.

Train may be a good option to get to London if you buy off peak return tickets, or advance tickets, especially using whatever railcards people have.
I agree that Travelodge Covent Garden is one good option, but can be expensive. I have stayed in Copthorne Tara hotel in Kensington (very near a tube station and bus stops), which sometimes has good deals and not excessively expensive. Travel by tube or bus, using contactless. I've stayed in various Travelodges and Premier Inns in different locations, eg near Euston/Kings Cross, Kensington, so perhaps look at some of those.

You can stay as centrally as Waterloo at the premiere Inn, if you want buzz there's a travel lodge in Covent garden/soho area. These budget hotels have upped their prices since covid but still cheaper than apartments etc, and the last thing you want is a 30 min train or tube journey at the end of a long night. I lived 30 mins from Waterloo on train for 16 yrs nd after going to the theatre in town it was tiring having to race for last trains etc.

I’ve just booked a 3 night stay for February and am a regular day tripper to London. I’ve booked a Premier Inn, which is cheap and cheerful but value for money and you generally know what you are going to find when you arrive, unlike Booking.com which has been a bit hit and miss for me. We’ll be staying near Farringdon, as it’s close to St Paul’s which is on the Central Line. It’s only a couple of stops on the tube from the theatre district but should be fairly quiet and relatively safe of an evening. The Premier Inn website is quite handy as it plots room prices on a map of London so that you can compare by area and spot the bargains.

As per pp, I would just tap and out on the tube using a debit card. If the member of your party with a disability is in a wheelchair you can see the fully accessible stations on the tube map.

The Uber Boat is fantastic and will take you to Greenwich, which is well worth a visit, and Fulham Palace in the opposite direction.

The TodayTix app is fantastic for booking shows. I also like the A Lady in London website and Instagram page for ideas for areas of London to visit.

I've looked on StreetView and I think that listing is fake. There are no buildings like that in Monmouth Street or the neighbouring streets, there's no rear garden behind the buildings on Monmouth Street, and the style of window of the front bedroom doesn't match any on Monmouth Street. As for the price - £239 for 3-bedroom flat for 3 nights - totally unrealistic. The next highest property in that area that can accommodate 4 people is £510, and that's for a quadruple room (ie 4 people sleeping in one room) not a 3-bedroom flat.

Stay clear of that one!

Thank you to those who have said that listing is probably fake. I did think it seemed very cheap and it also says new to booking.com so there aren’t any reviews.

We will actually be driving to our friends in North Wales and then all travelling to London together. Obviously 4 people in a car will be cheaper than 4 train fares so we are wondering if it’s feasible to drive to North west of London and park in a car park that allows longer stays and get a train in just the once.

We stay in premier inns quite often so agree that it’s probably the best way to go. We just have to decide where we want to be.