Should You Use an Oyster Card or Contactless in London, and Which Museums Are Free?

Oyster vs contactless: same fares, different extras

Tapping a contactless debit or credit card, or a phone or watch with Apple Pay or Google Pay, at the yellow readers charges the same adult pay-as-you-go fare as an Oyster card on the Tube, buses, DLR, Overground, Elizabeth line and most National Rail inside London. Contactless needs no top-ups and no card fee, and TfL adds up the day's journeys into a single charge.

Use one card or device consistently. Capping is calculated per card, so switching between your phone and the physical card it holds counts as two separate cards and you lose the cap. Always tap in and tap out on rail services, or you'll be charged a maximum fare.

Pick Oyster if your bank charges a fee on every foreign transaction, or if you want a separate prepaid budget. A Visitor Oyster card is ordered online before you travel and posted to you, preloaded with credit; a regular Oyster can be bought at stations. Both carry a non-refundable card fee (about £10 in 2026, check TfL for the current amount), and leftover credit can be refunded.

2026 fares and daily and weekly caps

Tube and rail fares rose on March 1, 2026. A Zone 1 single is now £3.10 at peak times and £3.00 off-peak, and a Zones 1-2 peak single is £3.60. Cash isn't accepted at Tube ticket gates; buying a paper single costs far more.

The daily cap stops you paying more than a set amount however many trips you take. For Zones 1 and 2 it is £8.90, and the caps were frozen in 2026. The weekly cap runs Monday to Sunday (not from your first tap) and is £44.70 for Zones 1 and 2. Both caps apply to contactless and Oyster alike.

A typical sightseeing day in central London, three or four Tube rides plus a bus, hits the £8.90 cap, so after the third ride the rest of the day is effectively free.

Buses and the Hopper fare

London buses don't take cash. A single bus or tram fare is £1.75 until October 31, 2026, rising to £1.85 from November 1, 2026. The Hopper fare gives unlimited bus and tram rides within one hour of your first tap for that same single fare.

If you only ride buses, the bus and tram daily cap is £5.25, rising to £5.55 on November 1, 2026. On days you mix the Tube and buses, the bus fares count toward the Zones 1-2 cap. Tap only when boarding a bus; there is no tap-out.

Heathrow to central London: Elizabeth line, Piccadilly line, Heathrow Express

The Elizabeth line runs from Heathrow to Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road and on to the City in about 30 to 45 minutes. Since March 1, 2026, the pay-as-you-go single between Heathrow and Zone 1 is £15.50, up from £13.90.

The Piccadilly line is the cheapest rail option, under £6 to Zone 1, but takes closer to an hour with frequent stops; it's direct for Covent Garden, Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus. The Heathrow Express reaches Paddington in about 15 minutes; walk-up singles are about £25 to £26, with advance fares from £10 if booked ahead on its website. Tapping in on the Heathrow Express charges its own fare, not a Tube fare.

Travelling with kids on TfL

Children under 11 travel free on the Tube, buses, DLR, Overground and Elizabeth line when with a fare-paying adult, up to four children per adult. They go through the wide gates with you; no ticket is needed.

Children aged 11 to 15 pay full adult fares on contactless, which is where Oyster earns its place: a Young Visitor discount can be added to an Oyster card by station staff, giving roughly half-price pay-as-you-go fares for a limited period. Ask at a Tube station ticket office or visitor centre, and check the current terms on TfL's site, as the rules for this discount have changed over the years.

London's free museums, donations and timed tickets

The UK's national museums have free general admission. The big ones for visitors:

• British Museum (Bloomsbury): the Rosetta Stone, the Parthenon sculptures and the Egyptian galleries. From September 2026 it also hosts the Bayeux Tapestry on loan from France, as a separately ticketed exhibition.

• Natural History Museum and Science Museum (South Kensington): side by side near the V&A, the decorative arts and design museum, so one Tube stop covers three free museums.

• National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery (Trafalgar Square): European paintings from Van Eyck to Van Gogh, and portraits next door.

• Tate Modern (Bankside) and Tate Britain (Pimlico): modern and British art, linked by a river boat.

Entry to the permanent collections is free, but temporary exhibitions charge. Donation boxes suggest around £5; giving is optional. On weekends and school holidays, book a free timed ticket online for the British Museum and Natural History Museum to skip the walk-up queue, which can run 30 to 45 minutes at peak times. Bags go through security at every major museum, so travel light.

For an itinerary that strings these together, see our 3 days in London plan and the full London guide. Check entry rules, including the ETA, in our UK visa guide.

Frequently asked questions