London Pass with transport? How to get around London really cheaply
Many people are looking for a London Pass that also covers bus and tube. This combined pass no longer exists. Here you can find out what a sightseeing pass really includes and which card is the cheapest way to pay for local transport: Visitor Oyster Card, Day Travelcard, Group Travelcard or contactless payment in direct comparison.
Is there a London Pass with public transport?
No. There is currently no sightseeing pass for London that covers public transport. Neither the London Pass® nor the Explorer Pass from Go City include tube, bus or train travel. You will need a separate solution for local transport - most commonly the Visitor Oyster Card or contactless payment.
The search for a London Pass® with transport is perfectly understandable. Many cities have City Cards that bundle admissions and local transport into one ticket. Travellers often expect the same for London - and there used to be offers that included a Travelcard. However, this combination has been discontinued. Today, sightseeing and transport are two separate things that you pay for separately.
This may sound like a disadvantage at first, but in practice it is usually cheaper. This is because London's local transport has a built-in price cap: no matter how many times you travel on the tube and bus in one day, you will not be charged more than a fixed daily amount with a Visitor Oyster Card or contactless card. For most visitors, adding a transport element to a sightseeing pass would be more expensive than these capped daily fares.
What a sightseeing pass really contains
The London Pass® and Explorer Pass cover entry to attractions - so Tower of London, London Eye, Westminster Abbey and over a hundred more. Also included are two things that are sometimes confused with „transport“ but are part of sightseeing: the hop-on hop-off bus tour and the 24-hour tram tour. Both take you through the city, but do not replace a ticket for the tube or public bus.
A sightseeing pass saves you money on entrance fees. A Visitor Oyster Card or contactless payment gets you from A to B cheaply. The ideal combination for most trips to London is therefore: a sightseeing pass for the attractions plus a separate solution for local transport.
If you want to get a sightseeing pass anyway, it's worth taking a look at the London Pass® from Go City. It bundles the expensive attractions at a fixed price - you can then organise the trips in between with one of the four transport options below.
The four ways to pay for public transport in London
Instead of a sightseeing pass with transport, you have four independent options for bus, tube and train. Which is the cheapest depends mainly on how long you are staying and how many people you are travelling with. Here is a quick overview, followed by each option in detail.
Recommendation for most
Visitor Oyster Card
£10,50Card fee plus credit
- Order in advance, ready to go
- Daily price automatically capped
- Extra discounts with partners
Without pre-order
Contactless payment
No feeonly the fares
- With your own credit card or mobile phone
- Same day price cap
- Nothing to buy in advance
Paper ticket
Day Travelcard
from £16,60per day and person
- Pre-stamped day ticket
- Fixed zones 1-4 or 1-6
- Rarely the cheapest choice
From 10 persons
Group Day Travelcard
from £11,00per person in the group
- Only for groups of 10 or more
- Over 30 % cheaper than individually
- All travelling together
Visitor Oyster Card: the simplest solution for most travellers
The Visitor Oyster Card is a rechargeable smartcard for all London public transport. You top up credit and pay per journey - with an in-built price cap per day.
With a Visitor Oyster Card you can travel on the Tube, bus, tram, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth Line, Thames Clippers river boats, the cable car and most National Rail routes in London. You hold the card up to the yellow card reader when boarding and alighting - that's it. On buses and trams, you only tap when boarding.
The big advantage: the daily price limit. No matter how many journeys you make, you will never be charged more than the daily limit in the central zones 1-2. Multiple changes, criss-crossing the city centre - in the end you pay the capped daily fare.
What the Visitor Oyster Card costs
The card itself costs a one-off fee of £10,50 (plus shipping). It comes with top-up credit of your choice: £10, £15, £20, £25, £30, £35, £40 or £50. The credit never expires and can be topped up at any time at the stations. Transport for London rule of thumb: for two days around £15, for four days around £30 Starting credit.
To categorise the running costs: a bus or tram journey in pay-as-you-go mode costs £1,75, the daily cover for bus and tram is £5,25. For tube and rail in the central zones 1-2, the daily cap is £8,90. This is significantly less than a paper day pass and a key reason why a separate transport solution is cheaper for most people than a sightseeing pass with a transport component added on.
Children and families
Children under the age of 11 always travel free on buses and trams, and also travel free on the Tube and trains when accompanied by a paying adult (up to four children per adult). For children aged 11 to 15, a Young Visitor discount can be applied to the Visitor Oyster Card at most Tube stations, which grants half the adult fare - the child must be present.
Where you buy them
You can't buy the Visitor Oyster Card in London itself. You order it online before you travel and have it delivered to your home - so it's ready to use as soon as you arrive and you don't have to queue at the vending machine.
Contactless payment: without pre-ordering, same price cap
You can also pay for all London public transport directly with your contactless credit card, debit card or via Apple Pay and Google Pay on your mobile phone - without having to buy your own card.
With contactless payment, you simply hold your bank card or mobile phone up to the same yellow card reader as with the Oyster Card. The fares and the daily fare limit are identical: in the central zones 1-2 you never pay more than the capped daily fare, a bus or tram journey costs £1,75. There is no card fee of £10,50 and you don't have to organise anything in advance.
Contactless is particularly worthwhile if you have a card without international fees and value maximum spontaneity. Make sure you use the same card for all journeys so that the daily limit applies correctly. However, if you want to take advantage of the Visitor Oyster Card partner discounts or prefer to plan with a fixed travel budget, the Visitor Oyster Card is better for you.
There is practically no difference in price between the two. Visitor Oyster Card = fixed advance solution with extra rebates and no dependence on your bank's foreign transaction fees. Contactless = buy nothing in advance, no card fee, but without the visitor discounts. Both have the same daily price cap.
London Day Travelcard: the pre-stamped day ticket
The Day Travelcard is a paper ticket for unlimited journeys in one day. You order it in advance and it will be delivered to your home stamped to your date of travel.
A Day Travelcard is valid for unlimited journeys on bus, Tube, tram, DLR, Overground, Elizabeth Line and National Rail within the selected zones. You can choose between zones 1-4 and zones 1-6 when purchasing and only pay for the zone you need. The starting price is £16,60 per day.
In practice, the Day Travelcard is rarely the cheapest choice: the daily fare cap for Visitor Oyster Card and contactless in zones 1-2 is only £8,90 - i.e. around half. The paper Travelcard is particularly useful if you want to travel with a physical ticket or are travelling far into the outer zones where the bill is different.
Group Day Travelcard: the best value choice for large groups
If you are travelling with at least 10 people, the Group Day Travelcard is by far the cheapest option for local transport.
The Group Day Travelcard is an off-peak paper ticket for unlimited travel in zones 1-6, including access to Heathrow Airport. It costs from £11,00 per person and saves over 30 % compared to individual standard Travelcards. Prerequisite: The group must consist of at least 10 paying people who are travelling together for the whole day.
As an off-peak ticket, it is valid Monday to Friday from 9.30 a.m. and all day on weekends and public holidays. Each person needs their own ticket, and separate tickets are required for each day of travel. This is the simplest and cheapest solution for school classes and tour groups.
The four options in direct comparison
Visitor Oyster Card, contactless, Day Travelcard and Group Travelcard at a glance. All prices according to official information from Transport for London and the VisitBritain Shop, as at 2026.
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| Criterion | Visitor Oyster Card | Contactless | Day Travelcard | Group Day Travelcard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Type | Rechargeable smartcard | Bank card / mobile phone | Paper ticket | Paper ticket (group) |
| Price adults | £10,50 Fee + credit | no fee, only fares | from £16,60 / Day | from £11,00 / Person |
| Daily price cap zone 1-2 | £8,90 | £8,90 | fixed daily price | fixed daily price |
| Pre-purchase necessary | Yes, before departure | No | Yes, before departure | Yes, before departure |
| Card fee | £10,50 | none | none | none |
| Partner discounts | Yes | No | Discount Thames Clippers | No |
| Minimum number of persons | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 |
| Ideal for | Most travellers | Spontaneous with free card | Fans of physical tickets | Groups of 10 people or more |
All prices in pounds sterling (£). As at: 2026 Source: Transport for London and VisitBritain Shop. Daily fare cap applies equally to Visitor Oyster Card and contactless payment.
Which transport option suits me?
Answer three short questions and receive a recommendation - with a direct link to the right card.
For most travellers, separating admission and transport offers the biggest savings on balance: a London Pass® for the expensive attractions, plus a Visitor Oyster Card or contactless payment for the rides in between. This way you only pay the cheapest price for both.
Frequently asked questions about London Pass® and transport
No. Neither the London Pass® nor the Explorer Pass include an Oyster Card or travel on the Tube and bus. The passes only cover admission to attractions. For local transport you will need your own solution, most commonly the Visitor Oyster Card or contactless payment.
Currently not. There used to be offers with an integrated Travelcard, but this combination has been discontinued. Today you pay for sightseeing and transport separately. In practice, this is usually cheaper because local transport has a daily price cap that is lower than the additional transport component of the sightseeing pass.
If you want to see a lot of attractions and use local transport at the same time, yes: the Sightseeing Pass saves you money on admissions, while the Visitor Oyster Card or contactless payment is cheap for the journeys in between. Both together are the cheapest combination for most journeys.
In terms of price, there is no difference between the two, as the daily price cap is identical. The Visitor Oyster Card offers additional partner discounts and is independent of your bank's foreign transaction fees, but costs a one-off card fee of £10,50. Contactless payment saves the fee and the pre-order, as long as your card does not charge foreign fees.
From Heathrow you can reach the centre on the Elizabeth Line or Piccadilly Line, both of which you can pay for with Visitor Oyster Card or contactless. The National Rail route from Gatwick can also be used in this way. Fast connections such as Heathrow Express and Gatwick Express are not covered by the normal fare cap and cost extra.
With Visitor Oyster Card or contactless, you will never pay more than £8,90 per day, no matter how often you travel. For bus and tram, the daily cap is £5,25, a single journey costs £1,75. A paper Day Travelcard, on the other hand, starts at £16,60 per day.
Children under the age of 11 always travel free on buses and trams and are accompanied by a paying adult on the Tube and train (up to four children per adult). For children aged 11 to 15, a Young Visitor discount can be applied to the Visitor Oyster Card at most Tube stations, giving half the adult fare.
You can order the Visitor Oyster Card, the Day Travelcard and the Group Day Travelcard from the official VisitBritain Shop before you travel and have them delivered to your home. This way, they are ready to go as soon as you arrive. You don't need to buy anything for contactless payment - just use your own card or mobile phone.
The best way to plan your entrance fees and transport
Separate the two components deliberately: a sightseeing pass for the attractions and a separate solution for local transport. That way you only pay the best price for both.
Visitor Oyster Card
Rechargeable smartcard for Tube, bus, train and more. Daily price automatically capped, partner discounts included, can be ordered in advance and is ready to use immediately.
- £10,50 Card fee + freely selectable credit balance
- Day cover zone 1-2 only £8,90
- Children under 11 travel free of charge
The London Pass®
All-inclusive sightseeing pass with over 100 attractions. Hop-on hop-off bus and Thames boat trip are included - the ideal addition to the Oyster Card for the journeys in between.
- From £99 for 1 day
- Over 100 attractions included
- Save an additional 5 % with code LONDONCP05LP
Calculate your savings on tickets, compare the two most popular passes directly or get practical tips on how to make the most of them.
Is the London Pass® worth it? With calculator