James I did a bit of research on this recently - I found it genuinely complicated and not all the advice on this thread so far precisely tallies with what I found out. My adult visitors stayed for 1 week and only used Zones 1-to-4.  The prices for an adult Zone 1-to-4 7-Day Travelcard are exactly the same for Oyster as for a paper ticket, i.e. £45.00 Children between 5 and 10 years old travel free, regardless of nationality, and do not need a ticket of any kind, as long as they always travel with an adult.  If they look older than 10 (or travel alone), they should apply for some sort of card - as my friend's child looks his age, I did not look into this further. I wondered how this would work in practice with the automatic gates at stations but it was very straightforward.  Using the wide gate for buggies etc, the adult activates the gate and there is plenty of time for the child to go through in front or behind.  We had no problems with this at all, including on buses. There is a pricing difference if a 7-Day Travelcard is not needed (i.e. you pay each day individually).  Off-peak Oyster travel (after 09:30am), costs a max of £7.70 per day (Zones 1-to-4) or a max of £10.60 if travelling before 09:30am.  This use of Oyster is known as pay as you go and merely requires you to have sufficient credit on the card before starting the journey.  The same journeys cost £8.90 (off-peak) or £11.40 (peak) if paid for via a paper ticket 1 Day Travelcard. If you decide to get Oyster cards, I think there is a £3.00 deposit per card, refundable when you no longer need it.  I am not absolutely certain of this as I have never yet returned a card. In advance of your visitors' arrival, you can collect and pay the deposit on Oyster cards and ask for the Travelcard to start from the appropriate day or buy paper 7-Day Travelcard tickets in advance (or buy these easily on the day from any tube station and many newsagents etc). HTH Phil

Entire Thread

Topic	Date Posted	Posted By
Travel for visitors	04/08/14 09:32:00	James Roy
Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 09:38:00	Andy Pease
Re:Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 09:46:00	Curzon Tussaud
Re:Re:Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 10:25:00	James Roy
Re:Re:Re:Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 10:30:00	Curzon Tussaud
Re:Re:Re:Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 11:00:00	Kim Rugg
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 11:43:00	James Roy
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 13:13:00	Doreen Nicholls
Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 14:04:00	Rebecca Singer
Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 14:07:00	Phil Kay
Re:Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 14:38:00	James Roy
Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 15:14:00	Phil Kay
Re:Re:Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 15:27:00	Carl Wynne
Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 15:10:00	Doreen Nicholls
Re:Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 15:21:00	James Roy
Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 16:04:00	Richard Jennings
Re:Re:Travel for visitors	04/08/14 20:07:00	Kim Rugg

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