My Favorite A-Z Travel Destinations — London

Using public transportation to get around Europe’s third largest city

We visited jolly old London for ten days during the fall of 2013 and decided to stay in Stratford City, the site of the Summer Olympic Games just a year before. The place was bustling then but not now. Nothing to do and nowhere to go for miles.

So, what to do? Simple, we made use of the public transportation available at Stratford Station.

You may have heard of the city’s intricate subway system with the official name of the London Underground. But absolutely nobody calls it that. It is known as The Tube and there are two lines, Central and Jubilee, that serve Stratford. There’s also an overground robot-controlled train system called Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and the National Railway. We used all of these to get around.

See the tube map of London here. Click once for a full screen view.

We landed at Heathrow on our first day in England and before riding the Tube my wife and I each purchased a seven-day Oyster card that covered all of our transportation costs for that time period. We then took the Piccadilly line to Green Park where we transferred to the Jubilee line that took us all the way to Stratford.

The next day we rode on the Jubilee line to Westminster where we walked around for a while and then jumped on a sightseeing bus that took us all over London. I think we crossed the Thames six times! The tour ended with an optional cruise down the Thames to the Tower of London. For free!

Yes, the cruise was free and we said to ourselves Why Not? and jumped onboard. We then walked to Tower Hill Station and boarded a District line car which took us to Mile End where we transferred to the Central Line to get back to Stratford.

On Day 3 we took the Central to Tottenham Court which is just a few blocks away from the British Museum. After our museum visit we walked to Fitzrovia and then returned to Tottenham to get back on the Central. We stopped to visit St Pauls, stayed to listen to a rehearsal by the London Philharmonic and then continued all the way back to Stratford.

Day 4 was reserved for an all-day bus tour to Stonehenge, Glastonbury and Avebury. We rode on the Central to Marble Arch to find our bus. We purchased our Stonehenge tour tickets online at the Viator website prior to our trip.

On Day 5 we took the National Railway to Liverpool Street Station and then we walked around the Spitalfields and Brick Lane neighborhoods before returning to Stratford.

We reserved Day 6 for our Rick Steves West End Walk, following Rick’s directions as stated in his Pocket London guidebook. We took the Jubilee and Northern lines to get to Leicester Square, the beginning of our walk. We ended our walk at Piccadilly Circus and used the Piccadilly and Jubilee lines to get back to Stratford.

We stayed in Stratford all day on Day 7 relaxing and enjoying a reunion with our Irish cousins who flew over from Belfast to visit us for a few days. We saw them the previous year in Amsterdam and would see them again in Paris the following year and in Edinburgh two years after that!

On Day 8 we took the DLR to Cutty Sark and spent the day visiting Maritime Greenwich which includes the Royal Naval College, the National Maritime Museum, the Royal Park and the Royal Observatory where we stepped on the Prime Meridian. I remember sipping a Meantime beer on that day, too.

On Day 9 we took the Central and Piccadilly lines to Knightsbridge to visit the famous Harrods department store. We then walked all the way to Buckingham Palace and The Mall and on to Trafalgar Square. We then took the Northern and Jubilee lines to get back to Stratford.

We went back to St Pauls on Day 10 with our cousins and walked across the Millennium Bridge to the Tate Modern. We then boarded a District line train at Blackfriars and transferred at Mile End to the Central line to return to Stratford.

We purchased single-day Oyster cards for these last three days and then on Day 11 we bought a discounted Oyster airport ticket to get back to Heathrow via the Jubilee and Piccadilly lines.

So, what are the pros and cons of using the tube so much? Most of the hotels in central London are old and expensive. Our hotel room was modern and even included a kitchenette. And it was very inexpensive.

We soon discovered that the Central Line destinations were only about 20 minutes away. The Jubilee Line went all over the place, though, and usually took twice as long.

The Tube always got us where we wanted to go and didn’t cost too much, thanks to the Oyster card. But the trains were always crowded (especially the Central and Jubilee lines) and it was always hot and the air quality was very poor.

If we stayed in a central hotel we would have walked more with more fresh air and views. No views at all, of course, on the Tube. We also would still have had to take public transportation to and from the airport and to Greenwich. And we probably would not have visited Spitalfields and Brick Lane.

The following year we visited Paris for three weeks and did the exact opposite in choosing our residence and methods of transportation. We found an apartment in the heart of Paris within walking distance of just about everything we wanted to see.

I guess I will have to write about Paris when I get to the letter P!

Check out these Globetrotters writers who have also joined the A to Z Favorite Travel Destinations writing challenge: Sam Millichap, Adrienne Beaumont, Darren Weir, Michael Rhodes, Robert G. Longpré - [he/him] - Canadian métis, Jillian Amatt - Artistic Voyages, Dan Carlson | Meandering Naturist.