Getting Around London, With Olympic Season Upon Us, What Are The Options?

The majority of cities take some navigating and aren’t the easiest to get around – London is no exception to this rule. If your map reading skills and sense of direction are good you can get to a lot of places fairly quickly, assuming you’re not in six inch heels of course! And the bridge-filled landscape over the Thames, home to many iconic skyscrapers makes for a number of great reference points if one gets lost. We take a look at the best ways to scale the city and get around, particularly with the pending Olympic games.

London Underground (Håkan Dahlström) / CC BY 2.0

The tube

I recently went to Milan where the four-line subway system utterly baffled me, I believe the UK has nearer 10 lines, for a non-English speaking person visiting and trying to get around this doesn’t make for an easy journey. As with most things though, once you know how, it’s easy and efficient. In central London you rarely have to wait for more than three minutes for the next train and if it’s easy for you to get to an underground station this can be a fast and efficient way to travel.

Ferry

We love the river and amidst the hustle, bustle and general chaos that constitutes day to day city life taking a ferry from one place to another can provide welcome respite from the hectic day to day routines of many that live in the city. With British summer’s typically akin to the depths of winter for some countries this is certainly not the warmest route – for a tranquil way to travel though, it stands alone as the cities best.

Black London Cab, UK by Jimmy Barrett

Cabs

Travel in style, avoid stress from excessive traffic and parking worries, don’t worry that it’s going to break down or not be running…and pay more. If you’ve got the budget cabs are one of the best ways to go, the pro of these is being taken door to door without having to worry about missing trains, running late, climbing up masses of stairs because the escalators are broken, being packed in tightly with other travelers or figuring out where you need to go on a map. They are abundant although the sheer volume of partygoers on a weekend can render even the cab service scarce, many a clubber can be seen wondering around at 3am on a Saturday night looking for a way home which brings me on to another benefit – no time limits. The drawbacks are that you have to fight the traffic like everyone else and you can get ripped off, booking this in advance though and using a cab driver with good knowledge can eliminate a lot of this stress.

Buses

Finally, if you’re on a budget but it’s too far to walk or you’re wearing unsuitable footwear the big red buses so characteristic of London are a good way to get around. Even more difficult to get your head around than the tube these aren’t for the navigationally challenged! Most drivers will (admittedly grudgingly) help you to get to the right stop for your destination and make the best of the bus network.

The Transport for London website has a great journey planner and other maps, you can also click through to book a London taxi.

Tags: bustle, cabs, central london, escalators, excessive traffic, games london, general chaos, inch heels, line subway, map reading, olympic games, parking worries, reading skills, reference points, respite from, sense of direction, skyscrapers, subway system, underground station, welcome respite

Category: Cities, Travel Tips