The Best Oyster Card Tourist Options To Save Money 

Planning a London trip and overwhelmed by the amount of Oyster Card tourist varieties?

I know – it’s way too complicated. 

Here’s a simple rundown of Oyster Card types, including the best Oyster Card for visitors, comparing the Visitor Oyster Card vs Oyster Card, and how to make it super simple and just pay with contactless. 

That’s right – you don’t need any oyster card at all, and I’ll show you how. 

Oyster Card Tourist Options Explained 

You have a few options when it comes to paying for London transport. The most common are Oyster Cards and contactless payment cards (or with a digital wallet like Apple Pay). 

Oyster Cards are simply prepaid smart cards where you purchase the card for a fee, load money onto it, and tap on London transport to pay your fare. 

With both Oyster Cards and contactless payment, fares are capped per day. You’ll never pay more than the daily maximum fare if you use the same card correctly all day. 

When you pay with contactless (a card with a chip or a digital wallet), there is nothing to set up or register when you get to London. You can simply tap in and use London transport, and you’ll be charged the correct fare with the daily cap as the maximum. 

Both Oyster Cards and contactless payment can be used on all London transport, including the Underground, Buses, Trams, DLR, London Overground, most of the Elizabeth line, IFS Cloud Cable Car and Thames Clipper boats. 

Tip: Tap in and out with the same payment method for each tube journey, and tap in (not out) on each bus ride. Use the same card for the same person all day to get the correct fare cap.

Oyster Card Types Explained 

There are two main types of Oyster Cards: the Visitor Oyster Card and the regular Oyster Card. 

With any type of Oyster Card, as well as contactless payment, it’s a pay-as-you-go system. That means that you only pay for the transport you use. 

You’ll tap in and out at the ticket barriers at tube stations, and tap in (and not out) on buses.  

There are daily and weekly fare caps, so you’ll never pay more than the maximum if you use the card correctly. 

But what are the major differences between the Oyster Card types? Let’s take a look. 

Oyster Card for Visitors 

The Visitor Oyster Card costs £15 (for the card itself – not including any money you load onto it) and is shipped to your home before you travel for additional shipping costs. 

£10 of credit is included in the cost of the card (if you select the minimum £10, it will still be £15 total).

When you purchase the card, you can load it with as much money as you choose. You then tap the card each time you ride transport in London and pay-as-you-go. 

Visitor Oyster Cards cannot be registered, so if it’s lost or stolen you’re out of luck.

Visitor Oyster Cards & Traveling with Kids

There is no option to purchase a child Visitor Oyster Card online.

If you’re traveling with a child 11-15, you can purchase any Oyster Card and have TFL staff add the discount to the card at a station when you arrive.

Up to 4 children under 11 travel free on London transport with a paying adult.

See my guide here on how to travel with children on London transport.

Visitor Oyster Cards & Senior Discounts/Concessions

There is no ‘senior discount’ or concession price for over 60s for Visitor Oyster Cards or on any London transport unless you live in London.

Shipping Cost for Visitor Oyster Cards

Shipping costs for a small plastic card are quite high.

I plugged in various shipping countries on the TFL website, and to ship to Germany it ranged from £4.40 (non-tracked) to £15 tracked.

To ship to the USA, it costs anywhere from £7.50 – £19.

To ship to Australia (I plugged in New South Wales), it ranges from £9-£30.

You may want to factor in shipping costs when deciding on Visitor Oyster Card vs Oyster Card, as these can be highly variable and quite pricey.

Regular Oyster Cards 

Regular Oyster Cards are the same card (except for the design on the front) but cost £7.

You can add however much money you want to the card. You then tap the card each time you ride transport in London and pay-as-you-go. 

Regular Oyster Cards do not come with any balance loaded like the Visitor Oyster Card does. You’ll have to add money on top of the £7 fee.

Unlike Visitor Oyster Cards, regular Oyster Cards can be registered with the TFL app. If your card is lost or stolen you can transfer the balance to another card quickly and easily.

You can purchase these easily at any station when you arrive in London, including at Heathrow, Gatwick, and London City Airport. Ticket machines are available in several languages. 

Regular Oyster Cards & Traveling with Kids

If you’re traveling with children 11-15, purchase an Oyster Card from a machine as illustrated above.

Then, flag down any member of staff. Ask them to apply the child discount to the card you just purchased.

Up to 4 children under 11 travel free with a paying adult. Here’s how to go through the ticket barriers with children.

Standard Oyster Cards & Senior Discounts/ Concessions

There is no ‘senior discount’ or concession price for over 60s for Oyster Cards or on any London transport unless you live in London.

Oyster Card vs Contactless Payment 

You don’t need an Oyster Card at all if you just use contactless payment with a debit or credit card. 

If your card has a chip on the front, you can simply tap on the yellow readers and you will be charged the pay-as-you-go fare. 

For contactless payment you need a separate contactless payment method for each person. If you use the same card for multiple people on the same journey, you’ll be overcharged. 

Traveling with Kids Using Contactless Payment 

If you’re traveling with kids 11-15, they can only get the discounted travel rate (50%) with an Oyster Card. There’s no way to add the child discount to your contactless payment card. 

In this case, I recommend the adults use contactless payment, and purchase the children each their own Oyster Card, having TFL staff apply the discount at the station. 

Traveling in a Group Using Contactless Payment 

Since you need a different contactless payment method for each person, there’s an easy method you can use to double the amount of payment methods you have. 

Adding your debit or credit card to a digital wallet (like Apple Pay for iPhone or Google Wallet for android phones) counts as a separate payment method. So for instance, it would work like this: 

• Traveler #1: Taps in with physical Credit Card A 
• Traveler #2: Taps in with physical Credit Card B
• Traveler #3: Taps in with Apple Pay connected to Credit Card A
• Traveler #4: Taps in with Apple Pay connected to Credit Card B

Tip: When using any debit or credit card abroad, make sure your bank doesn’t charge foreign transaction fees (this is unfortunately common for American banks, especially). 

Visitor Oyster Card vs Oyster Card: Pros and Cons

The obvious difference between the Visitor Oyster Card vs Oyster Card is the price…but what about everything else? Here’s the pros and cons of each.

✅ Visitor Oyster Card Pros

• Have your Visitor Oyster Card ready the moment you arrive in London. 
• You can keep it and reuse it the next time you’re in London.
• It technically saves £2 over the standard Oyster Card, but you’ll pay more than that to ship it to your home address.

❌ Visitor Oyster Card Cons 

• Shipping costs abroad are astronomical (I plugged in various countries for shipping and it ranged from £19 to America to £9 to Germany).
• No option to automatically add the child discount at checkout, so you have to stop at the station anyway and ask staff to add it. 
• You’ll have to order well ahead of your trip to receive it (at least 7-9 business days).
• Massive queues at stations to get Oyster Cards are rare, so you’re not really saving time at all. 
• Visitor Oyster Cards can’t be registered, so there’s no recourse if it’s lost or stolen.

✅ Oyster Card Pros 

• Half the cost of the Visitor Oyster Card. 
• Have the child discount applied when you purchase at a station. 
• No shipping costs. 
• Register your card on the Oyster App and get refunded if it’s lost or stolen.
• You can keep it and re-use it if you return to London.

❌ Oyster Card Cons 

• It’s still £7, which is a lot for a plastic card. 
• You have to keep an eye on the balance and top up. 
• Refunding the balance back when you leave London is an annoying process (but you can always keep the balance indefinitely – I have one from 2014 that still has £10 on it!).  

Oyster Card vs. Contactless: Pros and Cons 

Now that you know the difference between the Visitor Oyster Card vs Oyster Card, are you thinking you might not even need an Oyster Card?

You’d be correct. 

Let’s look at the pros and cons to see if Oyster Card vs. Contactless is right for you. 

✅ Contactless Pros 

• Just tap and go! No upfront costs of any kind. 
• Use chip credit or debit or a digital wallet straight from your phone. 
• One less card to worry about. 
• It’s perfectly safe (I’ve used it daily for years and have never been overcharged or had any sort of fraud). 
• No balance to refund: pay only for what you use. 

❌ Contactless Cons 

• No option for child discount. 
• You might not have enough contactless payment methods for everyone. 
• Some people don’t like taking out their phone or credit card in crowded areas (I don’t worry about this – stations are very safe and it’s nearly impossible to steal anything with the ticket barriers in the way). 

Day Travelcards & Weekly Travelcards

To add to the confusion, there’s one more ticket option for London transport, and that’s the travelcard.

Travelcards give you unlimited transport for the amount of time you purchased (available for 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, or 1 year).

There’s lots of other stipulations and variables with travelcards that I won’t get into here. So just know this:

For most visitors to London, travelcards cost more than using Oyster or contactless and don’t make sense.

Unless you’re traveling with a group of 10 or more, travelcards aren’t usually worth it.

Should I Get an Oyster Card, Visitor Oyster Card, or Pay with Contactless in London?

Now that we went over all the Oyster Card types and I showed you how to use contactless payment, which option is best for your London trip?

Let’s go over who each type of payment is best for.

Visitor Oyster Card is Best For:

• People who want to purchase an Oyster Card ahead of time.

Oyster Card is Best for:

• Traveling with kids ages 11-15.
• People who don’t want to use contactless payment, or have international transaction fees on their credit or debit cards.

Contactless Payment is Best for:

• Ease and efficiency.
• People who have fee-free credit or debit cards.

Oyster Card Types: Final Tips

In most cases, I 100% recommend simply using contactless payment for London transport. It’s safe, it’s efficient, and you won’t overpay.

Many families neglect this option because they don’t have enough payment methods, but it’s super quick and easy to set up a digital wallet to double the amount of payment methods you have.

If you’re traveling with children ages 11-15, the adults can use contactless and the children can use Oyster Cards with the child discount applied. It’s super simple!

More on Visiting London:

How Big is London? What Tourists Need to Know

31 London Tourist Mistakes & How to Avoid Them

Everything You Need to Know About Public Toilets in London (& Find one ASAP)

Your Ultimate Guide to a Family Trip to London on a Budget

How to Use the London Underground for the First Time 

How to Catch a Bus in London for the First Time

How to Travel in London During a Tube or Rail Strike

Is Tipping in the UK Expected? A Super Simple Guide

Ultimate Guide: 49 Brilliant London Apps Everyone Should Know

Oyster Card Types: FAQ