Getting Around London 2026: Airports, the Tube, Buses, Black Cabs, and the Trains North

London transport is good but not intuitive. TfL counts six main airports and eight main train stations in central London, there are eleven Tube lines, and the cheapest way to pay depends on knowing how the caps work. Once you know which card to tap and which line to take, it gets easy: the Elizabeth line has you at Paddington 28 minutes after leaving Heathrow.

This guide covers the airports, paying, the Tube and buses, taxis, why not to hire a car, and the trains out of London. Fares and journey times are from TfL and the airports' and train operators' own sites.

London's six airports

TfL counts six main airports, all connected to London by public transport: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, London City and Southend. Which one suits you depends on who you fly with and where in London you're staying.

Getting from each airport to central London

Heathrow (LHR):

Times are TfL's and Heathrow Express's; fares are from TfL's fare data, Heathrow Express and TfL's taxi fares page.

• The Elizabeth line is quicker than the Piccadilly line, and costs more. Neither is cheaper off-peak: TfL charges the peak fare at all times on Tube and Elizabeth line journeys between Heathrow and Zone 1.
• The Heathrow Express runs every 15 minutes, non-stop. £26 is the walk-up Standard single (£32 for Premier+); booked in advance, tickets start at £10 one way, and children 15 and under travel free.
• The Piccadilly line serves Terminals 2 & 3, 4 and 5. It's the cheapest way in.
• A black cab from a Heathrow rank adds £1.60 to the fare.

Gatwick (LGW):

Fares are from TfL's fare data. Peak is 6.30 to 9.30 AM, Monday to Friday.

Gatwick says Southern, Thameslink and the Gatwick Express all reach London in 30 to 45 minutes. Gatwick Express journeys don't count towards the daily and weekly caps.

Stansted (STN), 40 miles from central London, the airport says:

• Stansted Express: about 48 minutes from Liverpool Street. Booked in advance, singles start at £9.90 and returns at £19.80.
• Coaches: the airport's coach page lists National Express, which runs 24 hours a day with advance fares from £5 one way, and Flibco.

Luton (LTN):

• Luton Airport Express: from St Pancras in as little as 32 minutes, every 30 minutes. Advance fares start at £10 one way, including the Luton DART shuttle to the terminal.
• Coaches: National Express and Green Line 757 reach central London in as little as 50 minutes, the airport says.

London City (LCY):

• DLR: every 10 minutes, 22 minutes to Bank and 18 to Canary Wharf. To Bank it's £3.30 off-peak or £3.90 at peak, pay as you go.

Taxis from Gatwick, Stansted and Luton: these airports are outside London, so TfL says the fare can be agreed with the driver before the journey starts.

Paying: contactless and the caps

Contactless. Touch in and out with a contactless card or device, or an Oyster card, and you pay the right fare. TfL caps what pay as you go charges you in a day and in a Monday-to-Sunday week: in Zones 1–2 in 2026, the caps are £8.90 a day and £44.70 a week. Depending on your travel pattern, you'll never be charged more than the relevant cap.

Travelcards. TfL says pay as you go with daily capping is cheaper than a Day Travelcard anywhere in Zones 1–9, and the weekly cap usually beats a 7 Day Travelcard. The exception is a week that starts mid-week, Thursday to Wednesday say: there aren't enough days before Sunday to reach a weekly cap, so a 7 Day Travelcard can be better value.

Oyster. For adults, an Oyster card has the same fares and caps as contactless, and a standard card costs £10. It matters for children: ask a member of staff to set a Young Visitor discount on an Oyster or Visitor Oyster card, and 11–15-year-olds get 50% off adult pay as you go fares. Contactless can't do that.

Under-11s travel free. Each fare-paying adult can take up to four children under 11 free on the Tube, DLR, London Overground and Elizabeth line, and under-11s are free on buses and trams anyway.

The Tube: what to know

Eleven lines. Most run from about 5.30 AM to about 12.30 AM, Monday to Thursday. On Sundays, lines without a Night Tube start around 7 to 7.30 AM (the Bakerloo line's first southbound train from Oxford Circus is at 7.30), and last trains leave a little before midnight.

The Night Tube runs on Friday and Saturday nights on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Windrush lines.

The Elizabeth line opened on 24 May 2022. It runs from Heathrow and Reading in the west, through central London (the West End and the City), to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

Tube etiquette:

• Stand on the right on escalators. Walk on the left.
• Let people off before you get on.
• Move down the carriage. Don't cluster at the doors.

Wi-Fi is available at all Tube stations, and TfL says half of the Underground's below-ground stations now have a mobile signal.

Buses

A bus journey costs £1.75 pay as you go, and TfL's Hopper fare gives you unlimited bus and tram journeys within an hour of touching in. From 1 November 2026, the fare rises to £1.85, with a daily bus cap of £5.55.

Buses don't take cash. Pay with contactless (card or device) or an Oyster card, or use a Travelcard or Bus & Tram Pass.

Buses are useful when:

• You don't want to walk far to or from a Tube station
• You're going somewhere a single line doesn't reach without two changes
• The Tube is shut for engineering works
• You want to see the city on the way

Routes worth knowing for visitors:

• Route 15: Charing Cross (Trafalgar Square) → Aldwych → Fleet Street → St Paul's → Bank → Tower of London, and on to Blackwall. The sightseeing route east. It's run with standard buses: the heritage Routemaster services on routes 9 and 15 ended in 2020.
• Route 11: Waterloo → Westminster → Victoria → Sloane Square → Chelsea (King's Road) → Fulham Town Hall. It no longer serves Liverpool Street, Bank, St Paul's or Trafalgar Square.
• Route 24: Hampstead Heath → Camden → the centre → Pimlico. A useful north–south spine.

Black cabs and Uber

Black cabs, London's licensed taxis:

• Drivers learn the Knowledge: thousands of streets and landmarks within a 6-mile radius of Charing Cross. TfL says mastering it typically takes three to four years.
• Every licensed taxi is wheelchair accessible, carries assistance dogs free of charge, and accepts card and contactless payments without a surcharge.
• From Heathrow, TfL's typical fare to central London is £70 to £120. To Gatwick, Stansted and Luton, agree the fare with the driver first.

Uber's London page lists UberX, UberXL and Exec XXL.

Don't hire a car

Don't hire a car for a London trip. The reasons:

1. The Congestion Charge: £18 a day if you pay on the day or in advance, or £21 if you pay by midnight on the third day after. It applies from 7 AM to 6 PM Monday to Friday, and from noon to 6 PM on Saturdays, Sundays and bank holidays, with no charge between Christmas Day and the New Year's Day bank holiday. Cameras enforce it, but you have to pay it yourself: online, by phone or by registering for Auto Pay, or face a penalty.
2. The ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone): £12.50 a day for vehicles that don't meet its emissions standards. It has covered every London borough since 29 August 2023.
3. You won't need it. The Tube, buses, the Elizabeth line and the trains out cover a city trip.

Hire a car only if you're driving onward to the Lake District, the Yorkshire Dales, Cornwall, the West Country or the Cotswolds. In that case, pick it up at the end of your city stay, from Heathrow or Gatwick rather than the centre.

The train network out of London

TfL lists eight main train stations in central London: Paddington, Euston, King's Cross & St Pancras International, Charing Cross, Liverpool Street, Waterloo, London Bridge and Victoria. The most useful for visitors:

• King's Cross / St Pancras: the north, including York and Edinburgh, and Eurostar from St Pancras to Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Lille.
• Paddington: the west (Oxford, Bath, Bristol, Cardiff), plus the Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line.
• Victoria / Waterloo: the south coast (Brighton, Portsmouth, Southampton).
• Liverpool Street: the Stansted Express.

Day-trip and weekend destinations by train:

Times are from GWR, Southern, LNER and Eurostar.

Book ahead. Booked in advance, LNER's fares start at £28.80 to York and £41.40 to Edinburgh; Eurostar's start at £39 one way, as part of a return trip. Book on the operator's own site: LNER, GWR, Southern or Eurostar.

A few things nobody tells you

• On Sundays the Tube starts late: around 7 to 7.30 AM on lines without a Night Tube.
• From Heathrow, the Elizabeth line costs more than the Piccadilly line: £14.60 at any time, against £5.90. You're paying for the time: 28 minutes to Paddington, against about 50 to central London.
• Children under 11 travel free on buses and trams, the Tube, DLR, London Overground, the Elizabeth line and some National Rail services.
• The cable car across the Thames is now simply the London Cable Car, between Greenwich Peninsula and the Royal Docks. It takes contactless and Oyster pay as you go, but those journeys don't count towards the caps.

London transport rewards the right option for the right journey: contactless for everything, the Tube or the Elizabeth line for distance, buses for short hops, and the national rail network for everything beyond London.

Questions

How do I get from Heathrow to central London?

The Elizabeth line takes 28 minutes to Paddington and costs £14.60 pay as you go at any time of day. The Heathrow Express is quickest, at 15 minutes to Paddington (£26 walk-up, or from £10 booked in advance). The Piccadilly line is the cheapest, at £5.90, and takes about 50 minutes.

Do I need a car in London?

No. The Tube, buses and the Elizabeth line cover the city, and driving into central London means the Congestion Charge (£18 a day) and, for vehicles that don't meet its standards, the ULEZ (£12.50 a day).

How do I pay for the London Underground?

Touch in and out with a contactless card or device, or an Oyster card: no paper ticket needed. Daily and weekly caps apply automatically, and in Zones 1–2 the daily cap is £8.90. For 11–15-year-olds, an Oyster card with a Young Visitor discount gets 50% off.

Does the London Underground run all night?

The Night Tube runs on Friday and Saturday nights on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Windrush lines. On other nights, services stop around 12.30 AM.

How long do the airport express trains take?

The Heathrow Express takes 15 minutes to Paddington, the Gatwick Express 30 minutes to Victoria and the Stansted Express about 48 minutes from Liverpool Street. The Luton Airport Express takes as little as 32 minutes from St Pancras.