Our Greater London Megathread

goingnowhere

Completely doable

Just be sure to be on the first flight of the day out
Check in online
Make sure you know how to get around, you don't want to waste any time figuring out where to go
Check for engineering works which impact the tube/train

I managed to visit Brussels, Paris & London in a single day and still get home before 11pm despite a 40 minute delay leaving Dublin, gone to Paris for lunch (didn't even take the first or last flight home). But that requires some serious logistical planning

vg88

I do it often, highly recommend city or heathrow airport to fly into as i often can get into and out of airports .

goingnowhere

City can be good, but is closed Saturday afternoon and Sunday mornings

endabob1

mr_jackapple wrote: »

Hello everyone, I know the answer already but would be nice to hear about experiences or opinions.

I’m a massive Arsenal fan and been travelling over a couple times a year to London to watch them play. I’d go over more only the hotel prices in London are hefty.

Seeing as I can usually get a return flight for little or nothing, does anyone have any experience flying over and back in the same day from Dublin? It seems do-able in my eyes. 6am flight, land early morning, and get the return flight back around 6pm.

It would mean I can travel to more games because I wouldn’t have the hotel bill.

Used to do it the opposite direction for work occasionally, Red eye out of Luton, back on the last flight, it is a long day but very doable. Especially on a weekend when you have the next day to recover

wall

Meant to book tickets weeks ago for the Harry Potter tour in Warner Bros London for 3rd week in October but there is no availability now on their website. Do people buy tickets for this from other agencies does anyone know?

lovelyhurler

You can buy them from Golden Tours in central london - porbably at a slightly inflated price.
IIRC I think that you may have to buy the accosicated bus trip from central london as part of the package.

wall

Thanks for the reply, I checked Golden Tours last night and they didn’t appear to have availability then either, I may email to double check.

manshay

wall wrote: »

Meant to book tickets weeks ago for the Harry Potter tour in Warner Bros London for 3rd week in October but there is no availability now on their website. Do people buy tickets for this from other agencies does anyone know?

Look at the website every day, some availability magically appears!

wall

Got my tickets after regularly checking their website. I think tickets become available when people change their bookings to another date.

lovelyhurler

Good to hear.
Enjoy it, we (all the family) thought that it really was fantastic.

Jauzman

I'm an Irish Citzen and I'm married to a South African Citizen. We are living in Ireland with our two Irish Born Children . My Wife has a Stamp 4 and GNIB. We are travelling together with our Boys to South Africa via Heathrow, Will my Wife need a visa to transit via Heathrow ?
Thank you.

whomitconcerns

Check Heathrow website? Transit visa section?

Oh 2 secs on Google

https://www.gov.uk/transit-visa

breadbin

Myself and the gf are visiting London this weekend and I just had a few questions. We are flying into Gatwick but the flight is late, lands about 22:00. Can we still buy Oyster cards to get to Victoria at this time? Does anyone know where to get them exactly in Gatwick too in case I'm rushing.

Also do I buy them with money on them already? How much would I need for a week of sightseeing and return trip to Gatwick.

Thanks

Caranica

breadbin wrote: »

Myself and the gf are visiting London this weekend and I just had a few questions. We are flying into Gatwick but the flight is late, lands about 22:00. Can we still buy Oyster cards to get to Victoria at this time? Does anyone know where to get them exactly in Gatwick too in case I'm rushing.

Also do I buy them with money on them already? How much would I need for a week of sightseeing and return trip to Gatwick.

Thanks

You don't need a oyster card, you can use contact less on your debit card now and that is what they encourage you to do.

whomitconcerns

There's loads of trains from Gatwick. So no need to hurry. There's a raft of machines just inside the train "lobby".

Just but a ticket to london. Sort the oyster next day. Any station £10 including 5 credit and a 5 deposit for the card.

spurious

There's also the option of EasyBus/National Express, which would take about 1 hr 20 mins at that hour to Victoria. You could have got a great deal on prices had you booked early.

finbarrk

Oyster card is handy. But not a necessity.

mfceiling

finbarrk wrote: »

Oyster card is handy. But not a necessity.

Do you get the same discounts by using your contactless card as an oyster card? I know with the oyster card you can only be charged a certain amount each day??

Caranica

mfceiling wrote: »

Do you get the same discounts by using your contactless card as an oyster card? I know with the oyster card you can only be charged a certain amount each day??

Yes, capping is the same

fricatus

Caranica wrote: »

You don't need a oyster card, you can use contact less on your debit card now and that is what they encourage you to do.

Caranica wrote: »

Yes, capping is the same

Does this work with Irish debit cards too? It’s a great system, but I assumed it only applied to UK-issued cards.

Caranica

fricatus wrote: »

Does this work with Irish debit cards too? It’s a great system, but I assumed it only applied to UK-issued cards.

Works with Irish ones too

spurious

Get the London Transport app and use the buses. Much lower daily cap if you stick to bus only.

mrmorgan

Is this not more expensive than an oyster?

whomitconcerns

No it's not. And is only debited once a day so you don't get multiple charges each day.

murpho999

Install Revolut on your phone. Order a card.

You can then add money to the account.
You can use their card (or phone if you have Google Pay) and they don't charge FX fees and also give a better exchange rate than your own bank.

Use this for all spending on your trip.

Been using Revolut for a few years and saved a lot of money with it.

coylemj

spurious wrote: »

Get the London Transport app and use the buses. Much lower daily cap if you stick to bus only.

But you blow that lower cap with just one trip on the tube. I try to use the bus the odd time I'm in London because it's nice to see the city as you go but probably because of the tube network, the bus service is not as arterial as you'd like so most time you need to use the tube. Going from almost anywhere towards the centre of London, the tube is usually the best option.

grimm2005

coylemj wrote: »

But you blow that lower cap with just one trip on the tube. I try to use the bus the odd time I'm in London because it's nice to see the city as you go but probably because of the tube network, the bus service is not as arterial as you'd like so most time you need to use the tube. Going from almost anywhere towards the centre of London, the tube is usually the best option.

Yeah, I'd agree, for the sake of a few extra pounds each day it's well worth using the tube due to it's reliability, speed and the fact is connects everywhere. It might be a different story if I were living there and doing the same commute everyday but when you're moving around a lot throughout the city as a tourist, I'd consider it essential.

spurious

Yes I suppose if you're in a rush, the Tube although more expensive is a better option, but if time is not an issue, the buses save quite a bit of money. Likewise the £2.99 fares in from the airports, again, if you're not in a rush.

Limpy

spurious wrote: »

There's also the option of EasyBus/National Express, which would take about 1 hr 20 mins at that hour to Victoria. You could have got a great deal on prices had you booked early.

Easy bus is great, it's very cheap of you book early. The national express busses are pretty laid back too with regards to which time you have. Weather your early or late

Ronney

have a read of this too,

You wont be getting a tube from Gatwick. Sometimes cheaper to buy Train tickets online pre Journey.

https://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/gatwick_thameslink.htm