Visitor Oyster card Heathrow Airport transfer

• Make sure you have enough credit on your Visitor Oyster Card to cover the transfer back to Heathrow Airport. Top up your card when in London at any station or Visitor Centre.
• For a Heathrow Express transfer, you’ll need £25 on your card to cover the cost of the journey.
• For the Elizabeth Line transfer from London Paddington, you’ll need £12.80 on your card.
• For tube services to Heathrow Airport, you’ll need at least £5.80 on your card.

• If you’re travelling with a very large family or a group (10 passengers or more), we recommend our Group Day Travelcard.
• For groups of less than 10 that are travelling with children, here’s what you need to know:
• Children 0-10 years old: up to four children under 11 years old can travel for free on the TfL network as long as they are accompanied by a paying adult.
• Children aged 11 to 15 years old: in addition to being able to use a standard Visitor Oyster card (adult rates) you can also bring your card to London and, once there, ask a member of TfL staff to add a Young Visitor discount to the Visitor Oyster card purchased. This gives your child a 50% discount on the standard Adult pay-as-you-go Oyster rate which will last for up to 14 days before reverting to standard Oyster ticket rates. Please note, the Young Visitor Discount needs to be activated once arrived in London and can be obtained at any Tube station or Visitor Centre.
• Children aged 16+: Adult rates apply.

• Your friend or relative must hold a Visitor Oyster card.
• For the smoothest experience when travelling from any airport to Central London, contact both train stations’ at the start and end of your journey to find out about their accessibility scheme.
• You can check more details about London Transport accessibility in our Getting around London guide.

• Visitor Oyster cards deduct credit every time you make a journey. After you make several journeys in one day, you will reach a daily limit, and the rest of the journeys on that day will be free.
• Different journeys cost different amounts, depending on which zones you travel in and what time of day you travel. Daily limits (‘caps’) also vary according to these factors.  
• Travelling in peak times is more expensive than travelling off-peak. See a chart of all the journey prices here.
• Peak times are Monday to Friday, 6:30am - 9:30am and 4:00pm - 7:00pm. All other times are off-peak. 
• Travelling through more zones is more expensive. To check which zones the areas you want to visit are in, see the full map of the London transport network here.

Using a Visitor Oyster Card presents several advantages over using a contactless card for overseas visitors:

• You can avoid paying bank fees or exchange rate fees that might be incurred when using your card abroad
• You don’t need to keep getting your bank card out when you travel on TfL services
• You can cap your spending and avoid overspending on your bank card
• You can take advantage of many special offers and discounts around London with your Visitor Oyster Card
• You can keep your card after you leave as a souvenir of your trip to London
• You can ‘buy before you fly’ - it’s shipped to your selected address and ready to use when you arrive in London

• No, each person must have their own Visitor Oyster Card, except under 5s who travel free with a paying adult on the train.
• If your child is aged between 5 and 10, they’ll receive free travel on the Tube, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth Line, and some National Rail services.

• This Visitor Oyster Card costs £57.
• This price includes a £7 VOC fee, and £50 credit that is pre-loaded onto your card. £25 of this will cover your journey to London Paddington from London Heathrow Airport on the Heathrow Express.
• You’ll then have enough leftover credit pre-loaded on your card for approximately two days of further travel in London Zones 1-3 on the bus, Tube, tram, DLR, London Overground, Elizabeth line, River Bus and most National Rail services in London.
• You can then choose to top up your card further if you’d like to continue using your card beyond the two days, or travel beyond Zones 1-3. Simply check your balance and top up at any station or Visitor Centre.

• You’ll have enough credit after your airport transfer for approximately two days of travel on the TfL network within Zones 1-3.
• The daily travel price for Zones 1-3 is currently capped at £10.50. Add this to cover a further full day of unlimited travel in central London within Zones 1-3.

• If you run out of credit, you can top up your card at any station or at thousands of shops throughout London. You can also make one bus journey without any credit. The cost of the journey will be deducted when you next top up your Oyster card.

There are three ways for you to obtain a refund on a Visitor Oyster card:

• Underground station ticket machine.
• Refunds at Visitor Centres from Monday - Friday 9:00 am - 4:30 pm).
• Refunds by post.
• If you have a first-generation card, contact TfL customer services ([email protected]) with your Visitor Oyster Card serial number and bank details.

• As per Transport for London’s terms and conditions, the £7 activation fee is a non-refundable fee required to purchase a Visitor Oyster card. 
• You can keep the VOC for your next visit, pass it on to friends and family, or keep it as your unique London souvenir!

• London Underground (the Tube) 
• London Overground
• Most National Rail services in London
• London buses
• South London trams
• Docklands Light Railway (DLR)
• Elizabeth Line
• IFS Cloud Cable Car
• Gatwick Express
• Heathrow Express
• Thames Clippers River Bus services