Short answer: in London, the price of a train journey depends far less on distance than on your payment method and your zone. On the Underground, Elizabeth line, Overground and DLR, a Zone 1 journey paid by contactless or Oyster costs £2.80 at peak times and £2.70 off-peak (versus £6.90 for a paper ticket bought at a ticket office), with a daily cap of around £8.90 in Zones 1–2: after three journeys, you pay nothing more. Buses cost £1.75 per journey, with the Hopper fare (unlimited buses for 1 hour) and a cap of £5.25 per day. For the airports, the gap is brutal: Heathrow → central London costs around £5.60 on the Elizabeth line versus £25 and up on the Heathrow Express for 15 minutes saved; Gatwick → London costs around £12–15 on Thameslink or Southern versus £20–25 on the Gatwick Express for virtually no time saved. Simple rule: always pay contactless, never buy a paper ticket, and forget the "Express" trains unless someone else is paying.
London is the European city where the same journey can cost £1.75 or £27 depending on what you tap at the gate. The network is excellent — Underground, Elizabeth line, Overground, DLR, suburban rail, tram, bus — but the fare system stacks up zones, caps, airport premiums and exceptions that catch visitors out every single time. And since late 2026, the opening of the Eurostar London–Antwerp route has been bringing even more French-speaking travellers to St Pancras with the same question: how much am I going to pay to get around the city?
This guide puts a number on every option at autumn 2026 fares, explains where the daily caps sit, and settles the two trade-offs that cost the most money: Oyster or contactless, and express train or ordinary train from the airport.
1. The fare table: what you actually pay
| Journey | Contactless / Oyster | Paper ticket | Daily cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Underground Zone 1 (peak) | £2.80 | £6.90 | ~£8.90 (z. 1–2) |
| Underground Zone 1 (off-peak) | £2.70 | £6.90 | ~£8.90 (z. 1–2) |
| Underground Zones 1–4 (peak) | ~£4.40 | ~£6.90 | ~£13.90 |
| Bus or tram | £1.75 | not sold on board | £5.25 |
| Elizabeth line Heathrow → Paddington | ~£5.60 | ~£12 | included in the cap |
| Heathrow Express | £25+ (outside promotions) | same | not capped |
| Thameslink Gatwick → St Pancras | ~£12–15 | same | not capped |
| Gatwick Express | ~£20–25 | same | not capped |
| DLR Bank → Greenwich | ~£3.40 | ~£5 | included |
Three immediate takeaways:
- The paper single is a structural rip-off. £6.90 for a journey worth £2.80: ticket offices exist mainly for national rail services, not for the Underground. Never use them.
- Buses are unbeatable. £1.75 whatever the distance, from the centre out to Zone 6, with a free transfer within the hour.
- The airport "Express" trains are not capped and are not part of the TfL system: they are added on top of your bill.
2. Oyster or contactless: the 2026 verdict
This is the question everyone asks before leaving, and the answer has become simple.
Pay contactless
A contactless Visa or Mastercard, or Apple Pay / Google Pay, works exactly like an Oyster: same fare, same daily caps, same weekly caps from Monday to Sunday. You tap your card or phone in and out (essential on the Underground and on rail services: forgetting triggers a "maximum fare" of several pounds).
Two practical precautions:
- Always use the same device for the whole day. If you tap in with your phone and tap out with the physical card, the system sees two incomplete journeys and charges the maximum fare twice.
- Check your bank's charges. Standard French cards often apply 2–3% in currency conversion fees plus a fixed commission per transaction, which can double the cost of a £2.80 journey. A fee-free travel bank card (neobank or travel card) solves the problem for the whole trip.
When Oyster still makes sense
- Children aged 11 to 15: with a Zip Oyster photocard or a Visitor Oyster registered as 11–15 Zip, they travel at half fare on the Underground and free on buses. With contactless, they pay the full adult fare. This is the one situation where Oyster saves serious money.
- Under-11s travel free, when accompanied, with no card at all.
- If you don't have a reliable contactless card or want to control your budget by topping up a fixed amount.
The Travelcard: a leftover that's useful in one case only
The 7-day Travelcard for Zones 1–2 (around £44.70) remains slightly cheaper than the contactless weekly cap for the same zones, and above all it is accepted on national rail services to certain destinations outside the zones. For a 3- to 5-day city break it is pointless: the daily caps do better.
Decision rule: short, mobile trip → contactless only. Trip with teenagers → Oyster Zip. A full week in Zones 1–2 with daily commuting → compare the 7-day Travelcard with the weekly cap.
3. Airports: London's two most expensive traps
This is where visitors lose the most money, and often within five minutes of landing.
Heathrow: Elizabeth line, end of story
Since the Elizabeth line opened in full, the debate is over. Trains serve Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3, 4 and 5 and reach Paddington in 30 to 35 minutes, Bond Street in 40 minutes and Liverpool Street in 45 minutes, for around £5.60 contactless off-peak. The trains are spacious, air-conditioned and have proper luggage space.
The Heathrow Express reaches Paddington in 15 minutes for £25 and up if you buy late (less if you book well in advance). So you are paying £20 for 15 minutes — and if your final destination isn't Paddington, the saving vanishes in the connection, since the Elizabeth line often drops you closer.
The Piccadilly line remains the cheapest option (around £3.90 off-peak) but takes 50 to 60 minutes to Piccadilly Circus, in old, narrow trains where a large suitcase is a nightmare. Save it for light luggage and tight budgets.
Gatwick: the Gatwick Express has run out of arguments
Thameslink links Gatwick to London Bridge, Blackfriars, Farringdon and St Pancras International in 30 to 45 minutes; Southern reaches Victoria in 30 to 35 minutes. Budget £12 to £15 buying in advance, sometimes less with "advance" fares.
The Gatwick Express reaches Victoria in 30 minutes for £20 to £25. Same journey, same tracks, twice the price. The only remaining advantage: more luggage space at busy times.
A detail that matters if you arrive at St Pancras on Eurostar: Thameslink connects Gatwick and Luton directly to St Pancras International, with no Underground or taxi. If your trip combines Eurostar and a flight, it's the simplest connection in the city.
Stansted, Luton, Southend
- Stansted Express: 45 to 50 minutes to Liverpool Street, around £20 one way, less if booked online. No rail alternative; National Express or Terravision coaches come in under £10 for 1 hr 15 to 1 hr 45.
- Luton: Thameslink train to Luton Airport Parkway, then the Luton DART (automated shuttle) to the terminal. Total around £15–18, 45 to 55 minutes from St Pancras.
- Southend: Greater Anglia to Liverpool Street, around 55 minutes, roughly £18.
4. The fare traps nobody explains to you
The "maximum fare" for failing to tap out. Forgetting to tap your card on the way out costs up to £8.90 on a journey worth £2.80. On the Elizabeth line and suburban rail, the gates are sometimes left open: look for the yellow validators on the platform and tap anyway.
Zone 1 versus "avoiding Zone 1". Some outer journeys are cheaper if your route avoids Zone 1. The system usually works this out on its own, but if you change at King's Cross when an Overground route existed, you pay the Zone 1 fare.
Peak hours. 6:30–9:30 am and 4–7 pm on weekdays. Outside those windows, and all day at weekends, the off-peak fare applies. Shifting a departure by twenty minutes genuinely lowers your bill over a week.
National rail services are not TfL. A South Western, Southeastern or Chiltern train to a destination outside the zones is charged at national fares, outside the cap, and an "advance" ticket bought a few days earlier often costs half the price of the same ticket on the morning itself. Same logic as finding a cheap train ticket in Europe: planning ahead pays.
The network is tiring. Interchanges at Bank, Baker Street or Green Park involve hundreds of metres of corridors and stairs. A pair of lightweight walking shoes is worth more than any journey-planner app, and a compact power bank keeps you from being left without a boarding pass or a Tube map if you pay with your phone — flat battery = closed gate.
5. How much to budget for a trip: three real-world figures
| Profile | Daily use | Cost/day | 4 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central-London tourist | 3–5 Underground journeys, Zones 1–2 | £8.90 (cap) | ~£35.60 |
| Budget tourist | buses only + walking | £5.25 (cap) | ~£21 |
| Extended stay | Zones 1–4, Underground + rail | ~£13.90 | ~£55.60 |
Add your airport transfers: around £11 return on the Elizabeth line from Heathrow, £24–30 from Gatwick on Thameslink, £50 if you give in to the Gatwick Express.
For a couple spending four days in Zones 1–2, transport comes to around £90 to £100 if you pay the right way, versus £180 and up with paper tickets and express trains. The difference easily covers a meal and two museums.
6. Comparing London with the rest of Europe
London remains expensive per single journey, but its daily caps make it gentler than it looks as soon as you move around a lot: £8.90 a day for unlimited travel in Zones 1–2 is comparable to a Paris day pass and cheaper than a book of Swiss tickets. Germany is still unbeatable with the Deutschlandticket at €63 a month — but it covers only one country, and no British equivalent exists.
If you're coming from continental Europe, the real decision comes before London: how you cross the Channel. We covered it in detail in how to get to London cheaply, with Eurostar, coach and plane prices compared door to door. And to plan your connections once you're there, Gopaxo's discount cards and travel guides list the schemes country by country.
One last practical tip: in London, the terminus stations (Victoria, Waterloo, Liverpool Street, St Pancras) display platforms very late, sometimes five minutes before departure. A cabin-sized travel backpack is easier to carry than a suitcase in that final sprint, and a pocket guidebook to London is still quicker to consult than a phone when you're underground with no signal — which happens on a good half of the Tube network.
Frequently asked questions
Should you buy an Oyster card before you travel?
No, in the vast majority of cases. Contactless payment by bank card or phone applies exactly the same fares and the same caps. Oyster is only really useful for 11- to 15-year-olds (half-price Underground, free buses) or if you don't have a reliable contactless card.
Does the daily cap work with contactless?
Yes, and it also works weekly (Monday–Sunday) as long as you always use the same payment device. Switching card or phone mid-week breaks the running total.
Is the Heathrow Express worth the price?
Rarely. It saves around 15 minutes over the Elizabeth line for four to five times the price, and only if your destination is Paddington. With heavy luggage, a very tight schedule or a ticket bought far in advance on promotion, it can be justified.
How do you get from Gatwick to St Pancras to catch the Eurostar?
On a direct Thameslink, with no change, in 45 to 55 minutes for around £12–15. It's the simplest link between a London airport and the Eurostar. Allow a margin of at least two hours: border checks and EES at St Pancras lengthen boarding.
Do London buses accept cash?
No, not since 2014: no bus accepts cash. You need a contactless card, an Oyster or a valid pass. A bus journey costs £1.75 with free transfers for an hour thanks to the Hopper fare.
Can you use national rail services under the TfL cap?
Only within the TfL zones and on participating lines. As soon as you leave the zones (towards Brighton, Oxford, Cambridge), you pay a national fare, outside the cap, and you're better off buying it in advance.
In summary
- Always pay contactless: £2.80 for a Zone 1 journey instead of £6.90 with a paper ticket.
- Daily caps: around £8.90 in Zones 1–2, £5.25 for buses only, £13.90 in Zones 1–4.
- Buses at £1.75 whatever the distance, with free transfers for 1 hour (Hopper fare).
- Heathrow: Elizabeth line at ~£5.60 (30–35 min) rather than Heathrow Express at £25+ (15 min).
- Gatwick: Thameslink or Southern at £12–15 rather than Gatwick Express at £20–25 for the same journey time.
- Thameslink links Gatwick and Luton directly to St Pancras, the best connection with the Eurostar.
- Tap in and tap out, using the same device, or the maximum fare applies.
- Oyster Zip is essential for 11- to 15-year-olds; travel is free for under-11s.
