Which, the Oyster card or the Travel card ?

Gatwick Airport is outside the London area so Oyster Cards and most forms of the Travelcard are not valid from there. You will firstly take a national rail Southern train from Gatwick to either London Victoria or

a First Capital Connect train to London Bridge or Kings Cross, depending in which area of London you are staying in

Gatwick to London Victoria 5 trains per hour taking 31 to 38 hours www.southernrailway.com

Gatwick to London Bridge/Kings Cross 4 trains per hour taking 30 to 45 minutes www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk

You ARE able to buy a One Day Off Peak Travelcard from Gatwick (not before 09-30am weekdays)

which is valid for one return rail journey to London and unlimited travel on the London bus and Underground system for the rest of the day.

For the other days either buy a Visitor Oyster Card as suggested above or a daily Zone 1 & 2 Off

Prak Travelcard, currently £7 - will rise in price slightly in January 2013

www.tfl.gov.uk

Oyster Travel Card

Gatwick is outside the London fare zones so you will not be able to travel into London using an Oyster. An Oyster is a better bet because then you don't have to state how far out you will travel each day which you will have to do with a travelcard. Some attractions are further out so you have that option with an Oyster. There is now no such thing as a Zone 1 travelcard, it zone 1 & 2. There is a deposit for an Oyster Card but this is refundable or if you come back to London the credit never runs out,

The difference between the two:

With an oyster, you put an amount of money on there (a days travel card currently is £7.70, that would be how much your "travel card" would be) so lets say you put £8.00 on you oyster, depending on how much travelling you do the maximum you will spend is travel card cost - £7.70 - BUT if you do not reach that limit, the rest of your money just stays on your card, and you can use it the next day. That is why the Oyster card is preferable, simply because, you may save money, with the travel card, you pay up front regardless of where you go/how many trains you take.

Like the above poster said, you will have to buy a different ticket to get from Gatwick to central London. I've never done the journey, so I can't tell you if oysters are available at Gatwick train station, but once you are in central London you can get an oyster card from any tube station. I would recommened that.

Additionally, I don't think you can buy just a zone 1 travel card in the paper form, so you would be paying for more zones, even though your not going to use them. Where as this isn't the case with an oyster.

the tfl.gov.uk website gives you a table of cost/prices if you click on the "ticket" tab at the top.

An Oyster card. No need to order one in advance as it costs more money. Buy one at the ticket office when you arrive in London. I don't know whether you can get one at Gatwick, but even if you can, you can't use it on the train into London. If you are staying in Central London, you should need on average £8 per day on the card. Prices are going up in the New Year so I can't be accurate, but you can always check the daily price cap on the link nearer the time. Most of the tourist areas are within zones 1 and 2, but using the card on a Pay as you Go basis means that as long as there is enough money on the card, you can go anywhere in the Oyster zones.

The current daily price cap for Zone 1 is £7. You can travel on tubes, buses and local trains as many times in one day as you like for that price. On the website linked you can also find a journey planner and zone maps.

The oyster card is cheaper and i'd say more convenient because of the 'touch in and touch out' compared to the paper travel card. Also you can buy a week travel card on your oyster card anyway, and if you lose your oyster during the period i think you can get your money back, but you must register your oyster immediately you buy it! So yeah, the oyster is good :-)

Go to Transport for London website and you can have a Visitor Oyster card sent to you with credit on it ready to use as soon as you arrive. No queues etc for tickets. So much simpler.

Oyster Card is definitely cheapest way to get around.