Get Around London,
with Ease
From the cheapest Tube route to a private chauffeur waiting at arrivals, we compare every way to reach London and move around it. Pick a mode to jump straight to it.
Flights into London,
Compared in One Search
Wherever you are flying from, start here. Search hundreds of airlines at once, see the real fares in your own currency, and book only what suits your budget and your dates, with no booking fees on our side.
Trains
and Eurostar
Fast trains across Britain and Europe
Fast trains across Britain and the Eurostar straight from Paris, Brussels and Amsterdam into the heart of London. Compare times and fares and reserve your seat in seconds, with no booking fees on our side.
Heading out of London for the day rather than into it? The classic trips are one direct train each: Paddington for Bath and Oxford, King's Cross for Cambridge, Victoria for Brighton and St Pancras for Canterbury. Each guide says which train to book, what to reserve before you go and how to fill the day.
Coaches
and Buses
The cheapest way into the city
The cheapest way into London. Compare National Express, Megabus and more from cities and airports across the UK and Europe, with long-distance tickets often just a few dollars when you book ahead.
From the Airport
to Your London Hotel
Landing at Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton or City? Skip the confusing signs and the taxi queue. Ride door to door with a professional private driver who meets you inside the terminal, tracks your flight and charges a fixed price in your own currency.
Sorted your journey? Now find your base: our guide to the best hotels in London by area, or, if you are here for work, the best business hotels in London.
Your Private Driver in London,
from the Moment You Land
Chauffeurz is our own London private driver service, built for international visitors. Fixed prices in your own currency, professional local drivers, and none of the surge pricing or surprises of an app. This is how you arrive in London.
- ✓Fixed prices, paid in your own currency (USD, EUR or GBP)
- ✓We track your flight and your driver waits if you are late
- ✓Meet and greet inside the terminal, with your name on a board
- ✓TFL licensed operator 010942, fully insured
- ✓One dedicated driver for your entire London visit
United States
Canada
Australia
New Zealand
Brazil
Mexico
France
Germany
Italy
SpainGetting Around London,
the Easy Way
Once you are in the city, moving around is simple and cheap. Tap a contactless card for the Tube and buses, jump on a sightseeing tour to see the icons, or rent a car or a bike for the days you want to roam further. Here is everything, in one place.
You no longer need an Oyster card
Good news for visitors. Oyster and paper Travelcards are being retired, and you do not need to buy anything in advance. Just tap and go, and let London do the maths.
- ✓Tap your contactless card or phone, no app or ticket needed
- ✓Works on the Tube, buses, trams, the DLR, Overground and river boats
- ✓Automatic daily and weekly cap, so you never overpay
- ✓Children under 11 travel free with a paying adult
Hop-On Hop-Off
and Sightseeing
See the icons the easy way
Compare hop-on hop-off bus tours, river cruises and guided experiences across London, bookable in advance with free cancellation and honest prices in your own currency.
Browse sightseeing toursRent a Car
for Days Out
Rent a Bike
or E-Bike
Heathrow to Central London,
Every Option Priced
Every way into town from Heathrow, side by side, so you can pick by speed, price or comfort. Prices are 2026 guides in your own currency and can change, so confirm before you book. Times depend on your final stop and the traffic.
| Option | Journey time | Price from | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Elizabeth line | 35 to 45 min | About $16 (£13) | The best all-rounder. Direct to Paddington, Bond Street and Canary Wharf. |
| Heathrow Express | 15 min | From $32 (£25) | The fastest train to Paddington. Cheaper if you book in advance. |
| Piccadilly line (Tube) | 50 to 60 min | From $7 (£5 to £6) | The cheapest option, with many central stops. Slower and busier. |
| National Express coach | 40 to 70 min | From $10 (£8) | Budget travel to Victoria. Great value, affected by road traffic. |
| Black cab | 45 to 70 min | $65 to $115 (£50 to £90) | Door to door on a regulated meter. Cost rises with traffic. |
| Private transfer (Chauffeurz)Recommended | 45 to 70 min | From $76 (£60) | Meet and greet inside the terminal, flight tracked, fixed price. All vehicle classes, from saloon to V-Class for groups. Best for families, luggage and zero stress. |
Chauffeurz also offers hourly hire and private day tours (Windsor, Stonehenge, Bath, the Cotswolds). Prices are fixed in USD, EUR or GBP before you travel, with no surge.
Get a fixed-price transfer quoteLondon Transport Tips,
from Our Local Editor
Practical, up to date advice on getting to London and around it: airport transfers, the Tube and contactless, cheap flights, day trips and driving. Every guide is checked and curated by our resident editor, so you travel on good advice, not guesswork. Get around London with ease.
London Transport,
Your Questions Answered
Everything visitors ask about getting to London and around it: flights, airport transfers, the Tube and contactless, taxis, trains and the practical extras. Tap any question to see the answer.
15°C, overcast
High 17, low 13. 45% chance of rain today
Disruption on 5 lines
Central: minor delays. District: severe delays. Elizabeth line: minor delays. Metropolitan: minor delays
JUSTIN HAYWARD: THE STORY IN YOUR EYES TOUR
Mon 12 Oct, 18:00 · Cadogan Hall
Checked at 11:00 London time
What nobody tells you before you arrive
The small things that catch visitors out, in one place. None of it is exciting and all of it saves an afternoon.
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Plugs and power
Type G, three flat pins, 230 volts. Nothing else fits, so bring an adapter rather than hoping the hotel has a spare.
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Paying for things
Tap a contactless card or phone everywhere, including buses, which take no cash at all. You can spend a week here without touching a banknote.
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Tipping
Restaurants usually add 12.5 percent service to the bill, so check before adding more. No tip is expected in pubs, where you order at the bar, and rounding up is plenty in a taxi.
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Tap water
Safe everywhere and free. Ask for tap water in any restaurant and they will bring it, and public fountains are mapped in the Refill app.
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If something goes wrong
Dial 999 for police, fire or ambulance and 111 for urgent medical advice that is not an emergency. Both are free from any phone, including a foreign one.
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Pharmacies
Called a chemist. Boots and Superdrug are on most high streets, and the pharmacist can advise on minor problems without an appointment or a fee.
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Bank holidays
Banks and offices close, while shops and attractions mostly stay open and get busier. There are eight a year, and the late August one is the busiest weekend of the London summer.
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Christmas Day
The Underground does not run at all, and neither do buses or trains. Almost everything closes. If you are here on 25 December, plan to walk or book a car well in advance.
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Shop opening hours
Roughly 10:00 to 19:00, later on Thursdays in the West End. Large shops may open only six hours on a Sunday by law, usually 12:00 to 18:00.
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Getting online
Free wifi on most Underground platforms and in nearly every cafe. An eSIM bought before you fly is cheaper and simpler than roaming for most visitors.
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Public toilets
Rare and often 20 to 50 pence. The reliable free ones are in department stores, big museums and mainline stations, so use them when you pass one rather than when you need one.
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Daylight in winter
It is dark by 16:00 in December and light until 21:30 in June. Plan outdoor sights for the morning between November and February, because the afternoon disappears fast.
London fares and the daily cap, in one table
Touch the same contactless card, phone or Oyster card on every journey and London does the sums for you: once the day reaches the cap for the zones you used, every further journey that day is free. These are the adult pay as you go fares Transport for London charges in 2026, the same on the Tube, the Elizabeth line, the DLR and the Overground.
| Zones | Single, peak | Single, off peak | Daily cap | Weekly cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 | £3.10 | £3.00 | £8.90 | £44.70 |
| Zones 1 and 2 | £3.60 | £3.10 | £8.90 | £44.70 |
| Zones 1 to 3 | £3.90 | £3.30 | £10.50 | £52.50 |
| Zones 1 to 4 | £4.80 | £3.60 | £12.80 | £64.20 |
| Zones 1 to 6, Heathrow by Tube | £5.90 | £4.00 | £16.30 | £81.60 |
| Bus and tram, any distance | £1.75 | £1.75 | £5.25 | £24.70 |
- Peak means weekday rush hours Monday to Friday from 06:30 to 09:30 and from 16:00 to 19:00, public holidays excepted. Weekends are off peak all day, and so is the Night Tube.
- One card each, the same one all day Every traveller needs their own card or phone, and the cap only works if you touch in and out with the same one every time. Switching between a phone and the physical card counts as two different payers.
- What the caps leave out Heathrow Express, at £26 pay as you go, Southeastern high speed trains and the river bus sit outside every cap. The Elizabeth line from Heathrow to Tottenham Court Road, at £15.50, is inside it.
- Never buy a paper single A paper ticket for one Tube journey in Zone 1 costs £7, more than twice the contactless fare. Buses take no cash at all, and the Hopper fare gives you unlimited buses within an hour for one fare.
Fares checked against Transport for London on 5 October 2026. Bus and tram fares rise on 1 November 2026, to £1.85 a journey with a daily cap of £5.55; the rail fares above were set in March 2026. Check any journey with the TfL single fare finder.
River bus, hire bikes, night trains and taxis
The Underground is the obvious answer, but four other ways of moving around London are often better, and visitors either miss them or use them the expensive way.
- The river bus is real transport Uber Boat by Thames Clippers runs a scheduled service from 24 piers between Putney and Barking Riverside, including Westminster, Embankment, Tower and Greenwich. Touch in and out on the yellow reader with contactless or Oyster for the lower fare. The price depends on how many of its three river zones you cross, and it never counts towards your daily cap.
- Santander Cycles Around 12,000 hire bikes at about 800 docking stations. A single ride is £1.65 for 30 minutes and a Day Pass starts at £3.50 for unlimited rides of up to an hour each; e-bikes cost more and cannot be hired from the street terminal. The docks at Waterloo, Bank and Holborn fill up so fast at rush hour that TfL posts staff there to clear space, so check free spaces in the app before you ride, because the clock keeps running while you hunt for one.
- The Night Tube and night buses Trains run all night on Friday and Saturday only, on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly and Victoria lines and the Windrush line of the Overground, though not on every branch. Fares are off peak and the cap still applies. Every other night, the night buses take over: routes with an N before the number, at the same fare as by day.
- Black cab or minicab Only a black cab may be hailed in the street or taken from a rank; it runs on a meter at fares set by TfL, about £12.60 to £20.20 for two miles on a weekday daytime. A minicab is legal only when booked in advance through a licensed operator, and it sets its own price. For long trips compare the quote with the meter: Heathrow to central London by black cab is £70 to £120.
Lines, branches and timetables change at weekends, so check before a late night: TfL Night Tube and TfL taxi fares.
You almost certainly need an ETA to enter the UK
Since 2025 most visitors who never needed a visa now need an Electronic Travel Authorisation before they travel. It is quick and cheap, and the airline will not let you board without it, which is how people find out about it far too late.
- Who needs one Almost every visitor who does not need a visa, including travellers from the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the Gulf states and, since 2025, the European Union.
- Who does not British and Irish citizens, anyone who already holds a UK visa, and anyone with settled or pre-settled status. If you have a visa, you do not also need an ETA.
- What it costs About £16 per person, children included. Each traveller needs their own, linked digitally to their own passport.
- How long it takes Most decisions come back within minutes, but the Home Office asks you to allow up to three working days. Apply when you book, not the night before.
- How long it lasts Two years, or until your passport expires, whichever comes first. It covers as many trips as you like, of up to six months each.
- Where to apply The official UK ETA app or gov.uk, and nowhere else. Plenty of copycat sites charge three times the price for forwarding the same form.
The rules move, so check the official page before you travel: gov.uk electronic travel authorisation.
London with limited mobility, honestly
The Underground was dug before anyone thought about lifts, so about a third of stations are step free and the rest are not. That sounds bad and mostly is not, because the buses and the taxis here are better than almost anywhere, and that is the part nobody tells visitors.
- Every bus, every time All London buses have a ramp and a wheelchair space, with no booking and no extra fare. For many journeys the bus is simply the right answer, and it is often quicker than hunting for a station with a lift.
- Every black cab too Licensed black cabs are required by law to carry a wheelchair and have a ramp. You can hail one on the street like anybody else. Minicabs booked by app are not covered by that rule.
- Which lines to use The Elizabeth line, the Docklands Light Railway and the newer Jubilee line stations are step free end to end. The deep old lines, Piccadilly, Northern and Central, mostly are not.
- Plan it properly The TfL journey planner has an avoid stairs setting, and there is a separate step free Tube map. Use them rather than the standard map, which shows no access information at all.
- Help on the mainline Assistance getting on and off a train can be booked up to two hours before you travel, and staff meet you at the platform. It is free and it works well.
- Blue Badge, with a catch Most boroughs accept a badge issued abroad, but Westminster, Kensington and Chelsea, Camden and the City of London run their own schemes and do not. Check before you park in the centre.
Step free routes, maps and station by station detail: Transport for London accessibility.
Getting to and around London
The full list, newest first. Each one is researched from official sources and checked by our editor before it goes up.
-
13 min read
Read How to Get from London to Any UK City by Train, Coach or CarHow to Get from London to Any UK City by Train, Coach or Car
-
11 min read
Read How to Get Between London’s Train Stations, Airports and Hotels
How to Get Between London’s Train Stations, Airports and Hotels
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12 min read
Read How to Get from London to the UK Cruise Ports
How to Get from London to the UK Cruise Ports
-
6 min read
Read Best Time to Visit London: A Month-by-Month Guide
Best Time to Visit London: A Month-by-Month Guide
-
5 min read
Read VIP Services in London: Chauffeurs, Tours and Access
VIP Services in London: Chauffeurs, Tours and Access
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12 min read
Read Rent a Luxury Car in London 2026: Self-Drive vs Chauffeur
Rent a Luxury Car in London 2026: Self-Drive vs Chauffeur
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5 min read
Read London Airport Transfers 2026: 9 Airports, Prices, Options
London Airport Transfers 2026: 9 Airports, Prices, Options
-
8 min read
Read Faut-il un Visa pour Londres ? Guide ETA 2026
Faut-il un Visa pour Londres ? Guide ETA 2026
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8 min read
Read Brauche ich ein Visum für London? ETA 2026
Brauche ich ein Visum für London? ETA 2026
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13 min read
Read Gite di un Giorno da Londra: le 17 Migliori (2026)
Gite di un Giorno da Londra: le 17 Migliori (2026)
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7 min read
Read Serve il Visto per Londra? Guida all’ETA 2026
Serve il Visto per Londra? Guida all’ETA 2026
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10 min read
Read Como Ir de Heathrow ao Centro de Londres (2026)
Como Ir de Heathrow ao Centro de Londres (2026)
London, from someone who checks the details
Where to stay for the trip you are actually taking, what things really cost, and the parts of the city that guidebooks keep getting wrong. Twice a month at the most, and never a word we would not want to read ourselves.
Clara Whitby AI travel curator
