London congestion charge...

[Maz]

With it being half-term next week, I will be doing the tourist thing in London with family. I will be driving directly from Leicester to the hotel in Wimbledon. Will I need to pay the congestion charge? Is Wimbledon in the congestion zone? I will be leaving the car parked at the hotel and taking the tube for getting around. Also, I heard under-16s travel free on t'Tube. Is this correct?

Thanks.

 

[mickle]

Prem Inn Maz?

Wombledon is outside the zone.

Get the bus Maz, you'll miss so much by travelling umderground.

 

[zimzum42]

Unless you mess up, you won't need to go through....

Come in on the M1, go round the North Circ until it becomes the south circ, you'll get there eventually

M25 is a possibility, but it's the long way round.

if you want an incredibly detailed route through the back streets, PM me and I can try and remember it all from my van driving days

 

[Maz]

Get the bus Maz, you'll miss so much by travelling umderground.

I would do, but our youngest will be in a pushchair. I imagine it will be a ball-ache hoiking/folding/unfolding a pushchair on and off busy London buses.

 

[ianrauk]

Under 16 is free, however you will need to obtain an Oyster card for the youngster. In fact best get one for yourself too. You can buy online and have it delivered to your home. https://oyster.tfl.gov.uk/oyster/entry.do
Or you pick pick them up at Wimbledon Station. Top up as and when you need to.
Wimbledon Station has three terminals, 1: for the Underground into Central London, via Earls Court, Victoria and Embankment, 2: for mainline trains direct into Victoria, 3: Tram to Croydon.(not that you would probrably want to go there)

edit.
Just checked the site
Under fives don't need an Oystercard or ticket

 

[Maz]

Oyster cards? Never even heard of them until now.
Would an Oyster card work out cheaper than buying an "all-day" underground ticket that I imagine a lot of tourists would buy?

 

[Maz]

Looks like my 12 year-old needs to get her own Oyster photocard. Takes 3 weeks to process and I'm off next week. What a pain in the jacksy.

Why is it so bloody complicated?

 

[Maz]

If you want any solicited (!) advice on what to do in London with kids at a reasonable cost just ask...

...I'll be glad to help.

Yes, please. I would be grateful for any travel/Oyster advice and places to visit. Send me a PM. FYI my kids are aged 12, 9 & 2.

 

[rich p]

Last time I went, I got an all day saver when I bought the train ticket. I can't remember the cost but it wasn't too bad. Let's face, it if you're spending a few days in a capital city you have to expect to stump up a bit of dosh.

 

[jonathan ellis]

might i recommend

the Duck tour if weather is fine - much better than the London Bus tour and with added twist.

The BFI IMAX is a corker what with that new funky 3D polarizing blinky widget (if theres a good flick on)

for kids food, the rain forest cafe is fantastic for children - expensive for you.

 

[domtyler]

Taking the tube with kids is a nightmare Maz! I always avoid the tube now and I only have the one. For me it is generally drive and pay the C Charge and parking as a preference, then an overground train or DLR if possible and then the tube. I don't really like buses as they are normally full of drunken, stoned hoodies playing music and spitting, playing around with knives and/or guns and generally being completely unruly and anti-social, not a place to take your family.

The tubes are a disaster due to the unending rabbit warrens with masses of stairs and escalators to negotiate followed by the horrendous conditions on the actual trains themselves. You always see the very worst of humanity down there.

 

[jonathan ellis]

get the BR train to Waterloo you can walk about from there...

(i think it goes there from Wimbledon, not been for ages...)

 

[Crackle]

Taking the tube with kids is a nightmare Maz! I always avoid the tube now and I only have the one. For me it is generally drive and pay the C Charge and parking as a preference, then an overground train or DLR if possible and then the tube. I don't really like buses as they are normally full of drunken, stoned hoodies playing music and spitting, playing around with knives and/or guns and generally being completely unruly and anti-social, not a place to take your family.

The tubes are a disaster due to the unending rabbit warrens with masses of stairs and escalators to negotiate followed by the horrendous conditions on the actual trains themselves. You always see the very worst of humanity down there.

You feeling a bit jaundiced this Monday Dom?

 

[domtyler]

You feeling a bit jaundiced this Monday Dom?

Just telling it like it is Crackle!

 

[surfgurl]

Take the kids to the Natural History Museum in Kensington. Make sure you go in via the main door on Cromwell Road for the full impact of the kids seeing the huge dinosaur skeleton. Entrance is free although at busy times there is often a queue. Trying going just before last admission at about 5pm, that will give you enough time to walk round the dinosaur exhibition without the kids getting fed up.
A trip on the DLR is quite nice, try and get to Island Gardens station on the DLR. When you get off there is a pedestrian tunnel under the Thames that brings you out by the Cutty Sark.