How much is a London train fare?
You can buy tickets using cash, your contactless card, or by getting hold of an Oyster card, Visitor Oyster card or travelcard.
Tube journey planner
Get information about a station:
Plan a route between two stations (remember to check for tube strikes and delays):
Where can you get a tube map?
Free maps can be picked up inside tube stations in the most central, touristy parts of London. The best online map is at the TFL website: tfl.gov.uk/standard-tube-map.pdf.
Where can you get London underground timetables?
Paper timetables – You can get paper timetables from one of the Visitor Centres at Heathrow airport, Euston station, King’s Cross, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Piccadilly Circus and Victoria.
Online timetables – You can also look them up on the TFL website at tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/ – or this very website, by selecting a station from the dropdown menu above.
Download the TFL app – The official TFL app is worth downloading onto your phone because it comes with a tube map and route planner. Check out their website for details: tfl.gov.uk/maps_/.
How often do London underground trains run?
How often London underground trains run will depend on which line you’re using and the time of day you’re travelling, but a good rule-of-thumb is every 5-10 minutes in zone 1, going up to every 2-5 minutes during rush hour. Trains outside zone 1 can be anything from 10-30 minutes.
Services typically operate between 5 AM and 00.30 AM (Mon-Sat) and 7 AM to 11.30 PM (Sun), but some of the busier lines operate 24 hours a day on the night tube.
You can view of a map of the night tube routes on the TFL website.
When is rush hour on the London underground?
Rush hour on the London Underground is slightly different to peak time, and runs roughly from 7.30 AM to 9.30 AM, and 5 PM to 7 PM – don’t expect to get a seat during rush hour!
Peak time is used to work out the fare, and applies from 6.30 AM to 9.30 AM, and 4.30 PM to 7 PM (Mon-Fri). Weekends and public holidays are always classed as off-peak. Note: Between the 8th March and 31st May 2024 TFL are running a trial called ‘Off-Peak Friday Fares’, where Fridays will be classed as off-peak all day.
When does the night tube operate?
Central line – Trains run roughly every 10 mins between White City and Leytonstone, every 20 mins between Ealing Broadway and White City, and every 20 mins between Leytonstone and Loughton/Hainault. There’s no night service between North Acton and West Ruislip, Loughton and Epping, or Woodford and Hainault
Jubilee line – Trains run roughly every 10 mins
Northern line – Trains run roughly every 8 mins between Morden and Camden Town, and every 15 mins between Camden Town and High Barnet/Edgware. There’s no night service on the Mill Hill East branch or Bank branch
Piccadilly line – Trains run roughly every 10 mins between Cockfosters and Heathrow T5. There’s no night service on the T4 loop, or between Acton Town and Uxbridge
Victoria line – Trains run roughly every 10 mins
How can you avoid lifts and escalators on the tube?
Avoiding tube stations with lifts and escalators is harder than you’d think because a lot of them are very old and don’t have lifts, or even escalators, so the odds are pretty high that you’ll find yourself facing a long flight of stairs at some point.
If you look on a tube map then the stations showing a blue wheelchair symbol have step-free access between the train and the street, so these ones should be accessible for practically everybody, but the ones with a white wheelchair symbol only have step-free access between the platform and the street, so you might need some help getting on and off the actual train.
The journey planner on the TFL website will let you search for a route with extra options like ‘Use escalators but not stairs’ – tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/.
How do you get through the ticket barriers?
The first thing that you need to know is that you can’t get through every single barrier at the station. You can only use the ones that are showing a green arrow or yellow arrow next to the gate. If it has a red cross or yellow cross then it won’t accept your ticket.
The yellow circles in front of the gates are called Oyster readers. If you have an Oyster card or contactless card then all you have to do is wave it near the reader and the gate will open automatically. If you have a paper ticket, or a paper travelcard, then you have to insert it face-up into the slot beneath the Oyster reader. The same ticket will then pop out of the slot on the top. The gate will open automatically when you remove your ticket from this slot.
Note: If you’re carrying some bulky bags or you’ve got a pushchair with you, then you might struggle to fit through the barrier. So just look for the extra-wide barrier which is usually positioned at the far end for wheelchair users. This one is also useful if your child is travelling for free because they won’t have their own ticket.
How can you find the right platform?
To find the right tube platform you need to know your direction of travel. If you want to travel from Piccadilly Circus to Oxford Circus on the Bakerloo line, for example, then you need to look for signs saying Bakerloo Northbound, because that’s the direction you travel on the ground. If you’re returning in the opposite direction then you’d need Bakerloo Southbound. Other journeys might say Eastbound or Westbound.
If an underground line branches in two different directions then you also need to look for the last stop on the line. So if you want to travel from Westminster to Kew Gardens on the District line, for example, then you need the District Westbound to Richmond – because Richmond is the last stop on the branch which goes to Kew Gardens. If you boarded the District Westbound to Wimbledon then that would be the wrong one, because that branch doesn’t go to Kew Gardens.
How can you avoid tunnels on the London underground?
If you’d rather avoid tube tunnels on the underground then you’re out of luck in central London because the journeys in zones 1 and 2 are practically all underground.
Once you get out to zone 3 and beyond then it’s the total opposite, because most of them are above ground.
Check out this handy map on the TFL website which shows you which parts are above ground: tfl.gov.uk/tube-map-with-tunnels.
Can you take a bike on the London underground?
Non-folding bikes are banned on large parts of the London underground because the tube trains are so busy. Check out this handy map on the TFL website showing you which stations allow them: tfl.gov.uk/cycles-on-public-transport-map.
The Northern line is a bit more confusing because not only does it split in two, but each branch also has the same final stop. So what you have to do then is look for the words Bank loop and Charing Cross loop. If you look on a tube map then you’ll see that one branch goes past Bank station, whilst the other goes past Charing Cross.
And bear in mind that the Circle line doesn’t actually go around in a circle, like its name implies (welcome to London!). If you ride it round as far as Edgware Road then you’d actually have to get off and board another train to Baker Street.
What is a National Rail train?
A National Rail train is an overground train that goes outside London to other parts of the country.
There are lots of different companies that operate National Rail trains: Chiltern Railways, East Midlands, First Great Western, Great Northern, Merseyrail, South West Trains and Thameslink, to name just a few, but they all come under the umbrella of ‘National Rail’.
Each company will have their own individual website, but we recommend using the official National Rail website at nationalrail.co.uk, because it allows you to search all of the different companies together.
Where can you catch a National Rail train?
Here’s a list of the main National Rail stations in central London, with some of their most popular destinations.
Trains heading north – City Thameslink for Luton Airport, St. Albans – Euston for Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, Watford – King’s Cross for Cambridge, Edinburgh, Newcastle, Nottingham, York – Marylebone for Birmingham – Moorgate for Hertford – St. Pancras for Luton Airport, Nottingham
Trains heading south – Blackfriars for Ashford International, Brighton – Cannon Street for Ashford International, Margate – Charing Cross for Canterbury, Dover, Hastings – Farringdon for Brighton – London Bridge for Brighton, Canterbury, Hastings – St. Pancras for Brighton, Eastbourne, Eurostar to Paris – Victoria for Brighton, Dover, Eastbourne, Gatwick Airport, Margate – Waterloo for Bournemouth, Canterbury, Dover, Hastings, Portsmouth, Southampton
Trains heading west – Paddington for Bath, Cornwall, Heathrow Airport, Oxford, Plymouth, Wales – Waterloo for Cornwall, Salisbury
Trains heading east – Fenchurch Street for Southend – Liverpool Street for Stansted Airport
Good manners and bad etiquette on the train
If you’re new to the London Underground then here’s a quick little guide to tube etiquette:
Getting through the barrier – Tube stations are very busy places and you should always try and have your ticket ready before you reach the barrier. If you stand there for a few minutes rifling through your pockets and bag then expect to get some withered looks.
Standing on the escalator – The biggest sin that a tourist can commit on the tube is blocking up the escalator by standing on the left. If you want to stand still then use the righthand side. The lefthand side is for people who want to save some time by hurrying up it.
Not quite as annoying (but pretty close!) is when people get to the end of the escalator and then just stand there, totally oblivious that a whole bunch of people are about to crash into the back of them.
Standing on the platform – Underground platforms are usually quite long but lots of people just stand by the entrance corridor, not bothering to move down. If the station is busy then you should always try and move along to make more space.
Getting on the train – It’s good manners (and good sense) to let passengers off the train before you try and board it. You should also try and move down inside the carriage once you’re onboard.