London Tube Mistakes to Avoid: Save Time, Money and Hassle
There’s no doubt the best advice for riding the London Tube is ‘Stand on the Right. Walk on the Left.’
However, anyone who’s taken a London Tube journey more than once knows there’s a lot more involved to becoming a savvy London underground traveller.
As an American in London for over a decade, I’ve learned a lot about this form of transportation. And, while it can be efficient, it can be challenging if you don’t know what you’re doing
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London Tube Advice: Act Like a Londoner
Billed as one of the best transportation system’s in the world, the London Underground takes a little bit of experience to understand. So, if you want to try to blend with the locals while you’re here, I have some tips for you.
Londoners (for the most part) have their payment cards ready before they approach the turnstiles. They get very impatient if the person in front of them doesn’t move quickly.
Usually, they wait for others to get off trains before they board. And, if trains are busy, they take their backpacks off when standing to make room for others.
Unless they’ve just had a huge ‘sesh’ at a London pub after work, they don’t talk on the trains. You can always spot tourists by the loud conversations they have with each other. (Ok, yes I know the accent probably would give away their foreign identities too).
While we’re addressing conversations, Londoners aren’t on a train to talk. They aren’t really interested in your London trip details, what you’ve enjoyed or how London compares to your hometown.
If they do strike up a conversation with you, consider it a huge honour. Or, like I said earlier, they’ve had way too much fun earlier at the pub and have let their British guard down entirely.
Read. The. Room.
London Tube: Peak Times & Rate Caps
Whether you use an Oyster Card or Contactless Card and travel outside Zone 1, it literally pays to look at your watch before starting a journey. Peak travel times on the London tube are Monday-Friday 6:30am-9:30am and 4:00pm-7:00pm.
Your travel rate is determined when you swipe your card IN to start a journey. So, I start journeys at 9:35am, 3:55pm and 7:05pm whenever possible. This puts me out of 2025’s Peak Travel times/rates.
If you use a Contactless Card, it may take a few days for the rates to appear accurately. The daily cap will eventually apply to your travel, the same as if you would’ve used an Oyster Card.
I tried this the last time my mother visited from the US. When we went to Windsor Castle for a day trip, I used my Oyster Card and we swiped one of my American credit cards for her. The rates we paid eventually were equal.
London Tube: Avoid a Circus
Oxford Circus and Piccadilly Circus are indeed two of the busiest stations. During peak travel times they can really feel like a circus. They’re highly concentrated areas for tourists. So, if you’re able to travel through and exit from a station nearby instead of these two, it might save you some grief.
specific station advice for the london tube
Aside from the above two, there are some additional things to know about other Underground stations which will be beneficial.
Victoria Station- very busy because it’s a hub for people going to and coming from Gatwick Airport. Therefore, nearly everyone in transit there has a suitcase or two. This means they are naturally slower and take up a lot more space on an escalator and platform, as well as in a carriage.
Waterloo Station, London Bridge, Euston, Paddington and King’s Cross underground stations are also places in London to get trains.
Covent Garden Underground Station- there are only lifts, no escalators. You can take the stairs. However, there are 193 steps. That is equivalent to around 15 flights of stairs. If you are claustrophobic, consider Leicester Square Underground station. It’s less than a 5 minute walk away and allows you to avoid competing to get in a cramped lift in Covent Garden.
Hotels
If you haven’t booked your hotel yet for your London trip, here’s an interactive map to get you started! It’s based on the most central location in town.
Google Maps
Be sure to look at an actual map with stations marked, rather than just the Underground Map from TfL.
As mentioned above, some stations are very close together geographically but don’t appear that way on the TfL map. It’s not printed to scale!
Many times it can be faster to walk to a location rather than change stations. For example, in the area near Regent’s Park there are many station options within a 5 minute walk. You can find Baker Street and Great Portland Street stops (on the Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City Line, and Circle Line), Euston (Northern Line), and Warren Street (Victoria and Northern Line) and Regent’s Park (Bakerloo Line).
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Don’t Get Too Comfortable
Hopefully the advice above for making your London Tube journey will make life a bit easier on your London trip. However, it’s never a good idea to get too comfortable on the train. You might fall victim to someone taking a less than flattering picture of you…
Final Thoughts on the London Tube
There’s a little advice for riding the London Tube. What questions or tips do you have, Sunny friends?
For more specific questions, consider my one-on-one trip consultations and/or my London Travel Planner to help you avoid mistakes and have a fantastic London trip!
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I would add that if you have a buggy, really research what the route you are taking because navigating a child in a buggy on steep stairs is a complete pain. Some of the stations have lifts – many don’t. And, you can’t rely on the kindness of strangers because lots of able-bodied men will just ignore your plight.
Great suggestion! I was going to add some information about baby carriages in a future post, if I do one. I always feel bad for the girls with them when I see them. I’m amazed at how they manage them when I struggle just managing a handbag and water bottle!
Love it! I always avoid Oxford circus if I can – so stressful! I recommend the CityMapper app as well – makes travel so easy 🙂
Jasmin Charlotte
Thank you for the app suggestion! I’ll give it a look. 🙂
Oh God, I’ve done the sleeping one for sure… cringe. Great tips 🙂
Sophie X
http://www.yourgirlislovely.com
Oh no! I’ve been lucky the two times I did it that my husband was with me. Otherwise, it would’ve been a real disaster. Hope your trips ended ok and you didn’t end up on the other end of a line in the wrong direction with all your stuff stolen!
Great tips, Sunny! Can I also add in, if you’re a tourist, for the love of God, take off your giant backpack when on the tube. There’s nothing worse than getting a backpack to the head!
Oh that’s a GREAT point! Thank you for adding it!
I would say MOVE DOWN inside the carriages to let other people on. Makes a happier journey for all!
Thank you, Sammy! I agree! Whenever I have to suffer a change at Victoria Station, I always head to the very end because everyone clusters right at the top of the stairs. It’s always easy to get a seat in an end carriage there.
You forgot “don’t talk to anyone and never under any circumstances make eye contact!” ;o)
Great tips! I would add “let people out of the train first”! And also avoid Camden Town station at weekends!
Tina, the Camden Town tip is genius! I guess everyone makes that mistake once, right? 😉 I’ll never forget the time I went through there on a sunny day. Huge mistake!
We stayed in Slough because it was close to Legoland and cheap. We took GBR before changing to the Underground to get into central London. Changing at Paddington was a hassle, so many platforms and the underground is in a different area. Changing at Ealing Broadway was way easier, only four tracks total.
When it says stand behind the yellow line they really do mean it especially when an express goes past!! I didn’t know trains could go that fast!!
Make sure the train stops at your station and is not an express where the next stop is in a different zone to what you have paid for.
Arriving from Heathrow with a huge suitcase, and taking the tube to keep the cost down. If you want to end up at a station served by District, Circle or Metropolitan lines (known as the sub-surface lines) I highly recommend changing at Barons Court, as the Piccadilly line and District line are on opposite sides of the same platform, if you go to Earl’s Court you will have to struggle up an escalator.
Keep an eye out for closed lines. I once took the tube with my 9 year old daughter on a day they closed one of the main lines. Imagine a trillion people merging into one tunnel or in our case having to cross through said merged group. The memory still terrifies me 17 years later!