Questions about the Oyster Card

[luvgoing2disney]

We will be traveling to London in July, staying from Sunday till Friday when we will go to Paris. It looks like the Oyster Card would be our best bet for traveling around the city but would like some input.

Our hotel is in the Westminster section and we will be visiting
Buckingham Palace
Tower of London
London eye
Warner bros studio
Palace theater
Harrods

Any suggestions or tips?

 

[BadPinkTink]

what is it you need help or advice with?

 

[luvgoing2disney]

what is it you need help or advice with?

Would the Oyster package be the one you recommend we purchase or is there another we should consider?

 

[BadPinkTink]

Would the Oyster package be the one you recommend we purchase or is there another we should consider?

the Oyster Card is the standard for travel in London. It is used by locals and tourists. Oyster is the name for the plastic credit card sized card. It can be loaded with both Pay As You Go or / and multi day travel cards. It is used for all means of transport in London, underground (Tube) regular city buses, DLR (Docklands Light Rail) and overground trains. It is the only way to to travel around London as the entire transport system is cashless.

How you use it depends on the amount of days you need transport for and the type of transport you use.

 

[A Small World]

the Oyster Card is the standard for travel in London. It is used by locals and tourists. Oyster is the name for the plastic credit card sized card. It can be loaded with both Pay As You Go or / and multi day travel cards. It is used for all means of transport in London, underground (Tube) regular city buses, DLR (Docklands Light Rail) and overground trains. It is the only way to to travel around London as the entire transport system is cashless.

How you use it depends on the amount of days you need transport for and the type of transport you use.

This isnt quite right.
Buses are cashless and you cant buy tickets actually on the underground or other trains however the Oyster card isnt the only way to travel.
You can use contactless bank cards in the same way as an Oyster card (probably not an option for visitors from the USA) or you can buy a single ticket or single/multi day travel cards from the machines or the ticket office if there is one.
Basically you buy the Oyster card and load it with money which means you dont have to buy a ticket every day or for every trip. It also means you dont have to work out how many journeys you will be making each day to work out if you would get enough use out of a day travel card.
The oyster card is touched onto the ticket machine when you enter and exit through the barriers and it deducts the cost of that journey. There is also a cap which means once you have made a certain amount of journeys each day the rest of the journeys in the same zones are free for that day.
Using a contactless bank card works in the same way.

OP - You mentioned going to Warner Brothers Studios. Im not sure how you plan to get there but if you are going by train then the Oyster card probably wont be valid on that journey as the studios are so far out of London. It is only valid on trains within a certain area around London.
All the other places you mentioned can be reached by underground

 

[seelyt2]

We're from the States and can give you my perspective as an out-of-towner. Our family traveled to London and Paris last June and used the Oster card extensively throughout our trip and found it to be very useful. I found the Oyster's website to be pretty user friendly in how to use it, and I googled how to reload the card because we don't have a train or subway system where I live (suburban Pennsylvania), however it's pretty similar to NYC, etc. It was super simple. As far getting around town I found it helpful to download a good tube app with maps of the tube lines (tube map - London, citymapper, etc.,) Do the same for Paris.

We stayed in Waterloo and found it to be a 10 minute walk to Westminster. Westminster is easy to walk so once you're there, barring any mobility issues, you should be good. I also pinned the locations I wanted to tour in Google Maps so that I could find them easily while in town. Google Maps also shows where the nearest tube stations are so you can walk there, use your app to figure out what lines you should take to get to where you want to go next, and you're on your way. It was the best trip of our lives. Enjoy!

 

[Fldisneyfamily4321]

I recently used the Oyster card on our visit ( staying near st James tube ) and only added money once , super easy as long as you tember to “ tap out “ and we also used it to get to Hampton court on the northern rail for about a 5.50 charge . It was very easy and was able to get remaining money off card before leaving .