United Kingdom: Everything You Need to Know Before Your 2025 Trip

Oyster or contactless card. Daily cap Zone 1-2 = £8.50, buses = £5.25. IMPORTANT: tap in AND out!

CityMapper - best for London. TfL Go - official. Trainline - for trains across the country.

Heathrow - main, good connection to center. Gatwick - second largest. Stansted/Luton - budget airlines, further from center.

Stansted Express (train) - £21 to Liverpool Street. National Express (bus) - cheaper.

Heathrow Express - 15 min to Paddington, expensive. Tube (Piccadilly Line) - cheaper but 1 hour. Taxi ~£60-65 to center.

Uber, Bolt, FreeNow, Gett (black cabs). Black cabs more expensive but can hail on street.

Zoopla, Rightmove - main aggregators. OpenRent - directly from owners. SpareRoom - rooms. Airbnb - prices inflated.

1 bedroom - from £1200-1500/month. Don't forget Council Tax! Harder to find with pets.

By coverage: EE best, Three, Vodafone. Budget: ASDA Mobile (£5/mo, 3GB), Giffgaff, Lebara. Buy at supermarket, no ID needed.

British Museum, Victoria & Albert, Tate Modern, Tate Britain, National Gallery, Natural History Museum, Science Museum.

Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, St Paul's Cathedral, Warner Bros Studio (Harry Potter) - book 6-8 weeks ahead!

Oxford (Bodleian Library - book ahead!), Cambridge, Bath + Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, Brighton, Canterbury.