7 day Travelcard doubts

[rajumalaga]

Hello,
We are a group of 3 adults, 1 child of 11 years and 2 children of 9 and 3 years of age.
We will arrive at Gatwick Airport on the 7th July and travel around London for the following 5 days and stay in Travelodge Heathrow Central Hotel, our departure airport is Luton. We have arranged a prepaid private taxi for the airport to hotel and back routes since we will have luggage that we don't want to carry around in public transport.

For our daily outings (mainly visiting central London) I think it would be convenient for us to buy 7 day travelcards for 3 adults and the elder child, I believe the other 2 will travel for free with us. Since we will leave the hotel every morning, travel around London and return in the evenings is there a better way than a 7 day travelcard?

I have also seen that if I buy a travelcard with bears the national rail logo it will allow us to get 2for1 in some London attractions such as London Eye, Madame Tussauds, etc. Is there any way for me to get such travelcard easily when I arrive in Gatwick, or should I purchase it in advance from the visitbritainshop website?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Romilly]

Welcome to the forum.

I think that your plan makes good sense if you end up travelling into London on each of the 5 days, and you are correct about travel for your children.

A 7-day adult offpeak (i.e. after 0930 and any time at weekends) travelcard for zones 1-6 costs just under £60, which equates to £12 per day for 5 days. £12 is equivalent to the cheapest "pay as you go" fares for 1 journey on London Underground from Heathrow to central London, plus two short journeys in central London during the day, plus 1 journey back to Heathrow.

But if you think that you might use up 1 of the days visiting Windsor (for example), and another visiting Oxford perhaps, it would probably start to work out cheaper to buy 1-day travelcards each day you travel into London. If you start your journey from one of the Heathrow tube stations after 0930 in the morning (or as early as you like on a Saturday or Sunday), you would be able to buy an Adult offpeak zones 1-6 travelcard from the ticket machines for £12.10 each (and a child one for your 11-year old at half that price).

You could try to buy a 7-day travelcard from the railway station ticket office at Gatwick on arrival, but be clear that you only want a zones 1-6 travelcard, as they also sell more expensive travelcards that include validity between Gatwick (which is outside zones 1 to 6) and the outer edge of zone 6. I suspect that you won't be able to use the ticket machines at Gatwick railway station for what you want. However, you might just want to find your pre-booked taxi rather than having to first find the railway station ticket office.

But you will also be able to buy 7-day travelcards at the Heathrow tube station where and when you start your first day of travel into central London.

Enjoy your visit!

Edit: I've just checked on a map, and the nearest Underground station to your hotel is probably Hounslow West, which is just over 1 kilometre east of your hotel along the main road. But there are buses that run between Hounslow West station and your hotel (e.g. 81, 222 and H98), and use of those buses is covered by a travelcard (but you can't buy a travelcard on the buses).

 

[rajumalaga]

Thank you Romilly for your great answer, you've covered my main doubts and I now have a clearer picture of what suits me most.

Thank you again