5 Tips for Getting Around London

1. Get Your Oyster Card at Home or at the Airport:

Getting around London and choosing the right card takes some work. I found it easier to get the travel pass in Barcelona than getting the Oyster card in London. But, what I can tell you is, it’s important to ask the transportation employees for helps while at the airport. Everyone we spoke to were beyond helpful and assisted us in navigating the right card to get. You can also purchase your Oyster Card or Travel Pass while you’re still at home. Check out the Transport for London website to determine which transportation card works best for you.

2. Know Which Lines to Take:

It’s important to know which lines to take to get you to your destination. The Piccadilly line is what we used most while in London. The Piccadilly line goes directly from the Heathrow airport terminals to several lines into central London, where you can transfer to other destinations. If you don’t know where you are going there are signs all round the platform and station showing you which line you will be on and where the line stops as well as other transfer line available. I found that having the lines color-coded helped to me to find the right train a lot faster.

3. Find a Central Station for Getting In and Out of London:

Whether it’s Paddington or another station in Central London. Find your central station in the city. Find a station that you can use to get to most of your destinations. This station will have transfer lines and will be most useful if you can take Regional trains in and out of there. Paddington station was that station for me. I was able to get to so many different locations and easily took the Piccadilly line to Paddington from Earls Court to get to locations in and out of London.

4. Use Local Transfer Lines:

The best tool to help you get around London has to be the color coded trainlines that help you to determine where you will transfer to. Because they are not letters or numbers, I found them easy to find and navigate on maps. The color coding of the lines also helped me to find the correct line on signs around the train stations. You can also use the online maps to help you navigate where you should be getting on and getting off depending on your destination.

5. Alternative Ways to Get Around:

There are so many different ways to get around London. There are buses and bikes. Uber or a Black cab can also be useful. River boats can also get you where you need to go. There are also many ways to get in and out of London. We made our way to Oxford, Stow-on-the Wold, and Bath during our visit. We took the Great Western Railway from Paddington station whenever we wanted to head out of London. You can purchase tickets online or get them when you get to the station.

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