A Day Travelcard for Zones 1 and 2 costs £16.60. Tapping a contactless card for the same day of travel costs at most £8.90, because that is the daily cap. The paper ticket is 87 percent more expensive for identical journeys.
The weekly version is stranger still. A 7 Day Travelcard for Zones 1 and 2 costs £44.70, and the Monday to Sunday contactless cap is £44.70. Not similar. The same figure.
Transport for London publishes all of this, but only inside a 268KB PDF, and its own Travelcard page twice suggests you use contactless instead. Here is the whole picture, including the two cases where a Travelcard genuinely does win.
The numbers, for the zones most people use
All of these are the 2026 adult rates.
Zones 1 to 2: daily cap £8.90, Day Travelcard £16.60, 7 Day Travelcard £44.70, Monday to Sunday cap £44.70, Monthly £171.70, Annual £1,788.
Zones 1 to 6: daily cap £16.30, Anytime Day Travelcard £23.60, Off-Peak Day Travelcard £16.60, 7 Day £81.60, Monthly £313.40, Annual £3,264.
Read those two lines and the pattern is already clear. On a single day inside Zone 2 the Travelcard costs nearly double. Across a week it costs exactly the same. There is no zone and no duration at which the paper ticket is cheaper than tapping, for one person travelling alone.
The off-peak ticket that costs the same as the anytime one
For Zone 1 only, Zones 1 to 2, Zones 1 to 3 and Zones 1 to 4, the Anytime Day Travelcard and the Off-Peak Day Travelcard are both £16.60.
They are the same price and one of them is restricted. The Off-Peak version cannot be used before 09:30 on a weekday. The Anytime version can be used at any hour, for the same money.
The two only separate at Zones 1 to 5, where Anytime becomes £23.60 and Off-Peak stays at £16.60.
So inside Zone 4, never buy the off-peak ticket. You are paying full price for a worse product, and nothing on the ticket machine tells you that.
Peak and off-peak caps are the same thing inside Zone 6
The caps table has separate columns for a daily peak cap and a daily off-peak cap, which implies travelling later saves money.
For every zone combination up to and including Zones 1 to 6, the two numbers are identical. Zones 1 to 2 is £8.90 and £8.90. Zones 1 to 3 is £10.50 and £10.50. Zones 1 to 6 is £16.30 and £16.30.
They only diverge from Zones 1 to 7 outward, where the peak cap is £17.80 and the off-peak £16.30, and further out the gap widens to £23.30 against £16.30 at Zones 1 to 9.
Individual journeys are still charged at peak or off-peak rates as you make them. It is the ceiling that does not move, and inside Zone 6 the ceiling is the number most visitors actually hit.
Where the Travelcard wins: ten people
There is one version of this ticket that beats contactless outright, and TfL talks it down on its own page.
A Group Day Travelcard costs £11.00 per adult for Zones 1 to 6, for groups of ten or more travelling together. Under 16s pay £5.50. Zones 1 to 9 are £11.60 and £5.80.
The Zones 1 to 6 daily cap is £16.30. So the group ticket saves £5.30 a head, or £53 a day across ten people, and £106 across twenty.
Against that, TfL’s page says of the group ticket that “using pay as you go per person with a contactless card or an Oyster card offers good value too”. For a group of ten in Zones 1 to 6 that advice costs the group £53 a day.
The restriction is the time. Group Day Travelcards run from 09:30 Monday to Friday, and any time at weekends and on bank holidays.
Where the Travelcard wins: the river
A Travelcard gets you a third off river boat fares on some services. Contactless pay as you go does not.
It is the only travel benefit on this ticket that capping cannot replicate, and if a river trip is in the plan it can close most of the gap between £16.60 and £8.90 on its own.
Zone 9 is free, unless you start in Zone 1
This one is buried in the table and nobody states it.
A 7 Day Travelcard for Zones 2 to 8 costs £78.90. For Zones 2 to 9 it also costs £78.90. The same is true of Zones 3 to 8 and 3 to 9, of 4 to 8 and 4 to 9, of 5, 6 and 7 outward, and of Zone 8 only against Zones 8 to 9, all at £70.70.
So if your Travelcard starts anywhere outside Zone 1, adding Zone 9 costs nothing. Ask for the wider ticket.
From Zone 1 it is not free. Zones 1 to 8 is £104.90 and Zones 1 to 9 is £116.40, a difference of £11.50.
A Zone 1 only Travelcard is not cheaper than Zones 1 to 2
Every figure is identical. £8.90 daily cap, £16.60 day ticket, £44.70 weekly, £171.70 monthly, £1,788 annually, for both.
There is therefore no reason to buy a Zone 1 only ticket, ever. Take the Zones 1 to 2 version and keep the extra zone for nothing.
The same flattening happens in the outer zones. A 7 Day Travelcard is £33.50 for Zone 2 only, Zones 2 to 3, Zone 3 only, Zones 3 to 4, Zone 4 only, Zones 4 to 5, Zone 5 only, Zones 5 to 6 and Zone 6 only. Nine different tickets, one price. Always take the pair rather than the single zone.
What a Travelcard does not cover
Heathrow Express and Southeastern high speed services are excluded from caps and from Travelcards. TfL states this in a footnote at the bottom of the fares table, in smaller type than the prices.
It is the one exclusion that catches arriving passengers, because the fast train from Heathrow looks like part of the same network and is not. Heathrow Express costs £26 on its own terms whatever else is in your pocket.
Also worth knowing on Heathrow: all Tube and Elizabeth line journeys to and from the airport are charged peak fares if they start, end or pass through Zone 1, whatever time of day it is.
The peak rule almost nobody knows
Peak pay as you go fares apply Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, from 06:30 to 09:30 and from 16:00 to 19:00.
But if you travel from a station outside Zone 1 into Zone 1 between 16:00 and 19:00, you are charged the off-peak fare. The evening peak only bites on the way out of the middle of London, not on the way in.
Night Tube and London Overground night service fares are always off-peak, at any hour.
The prices are only in a PDF
TfL’s Travelcard page carries a link reading “Find Travelcard prices”. It leads to a page of eight PDF downloads, one for adults and seven for various photocards and railcards.
There is no web page listing Travelcard prices. The number you need in order to decide whether to buy the ticket exists only inside a document you have to download, which is a reasonable explanation for why so many visitors buy the paper ticket without ever comparing it to the cap.
What to know
One person, one day, inside Zone 2: tap a card. £8.90 against £16.60.
One person, one week: tap a card. £44.70 either way, and no ticket to buy or lose.
Ten people or more: buy the Group Day Travelcard. £11.00 a head against a £16.30 cap, from 09:30 on weekdays.
Going on the river: buy a Travelcard. A third off boat fares, which capping does not give you.
Never buy an off-peak day ticket inside Zone 4. It costs the same £16.60 as the unrestricted one.
Never buy Zone 1 only. Zones 1 to 2 is the same price in every column.
Everything here was taken from Transport for London’s own published pages and its 2026 adult fares document, rechecked on 2 October 2026. The comparisons between Travelcards and caps are arithmetic on TfL’s own figures rather than claims TfL makes. Fares change each January, so check before you buy.
Where to go next
What the tube costs covers the pay as you go fares themselves, the Hopper bus fare and how capping actually recognises you, which is the other half of this decision.
The Congestion Charge is the comparison that makes any of this look cheap: £18 a day to drive into the zone, or £30.50 if the car does not meet the ULEZ standard, against an £8.90 cap on the trains.
Santander Cycles is the cheaper option again for short central journeys, and the annual pass there costs half what twelve monthly ones do.
Airport drop-off charges covers what it costs to be driven to the terminal door instead of taking any of this.
The Night Tube runs at off-peak fares all night, and Heathrow Express is the service your Travelcard will not cover.
The six airports, Gatwick to London and Stansted to London cover the journeys in, none of which a Travelcard pays for either.
The travel tips cover the rest of the practical arrangements, and things to do in central London covers how much of the city needs no ticket at all.
Questions we get asked
Is a London Travelcard worth it?
For one person travelling alone, no. A Zones 1 to 2 Day Travelcard is £16.60 where the daily contactless cap is £8.90, and the 7 Day Travelcard is £44.70 where the Monday to Sunday cap is also £44.70. It is worth buying in two cases: a group of ten or more, where the Group Day Travelcard is £11.00 a head against a £16.30 cap for Zones 1 to 6, and when you want the third off river boat fares that only a Travelcard gives.
How much is a London Travelcard?
For 2026, a Day Travelcard is £16.60 for Zones 1 to 4 and £23.60 for Zones 1 to 6 at anytime, or £16.60 off-peak. A 7 Day Travelcard is £44.70 for Zones 1 to 2 and £81.60 for Zones 1 to 6. Monthly is £171.70 for Zones 1 to 2 and Annual £1,788. TfL does not publish these on a web page, only inside a downloadable PDF of adult fares.
Is a Travelcard cheaper than contactless in London?
No, not for an individual. Contactless and Oyster pay as you go cap at £8.90 a day and £44.70 a week for Zones 1 to 2, while the equivalent Travelcards cost £16.60 and £44.70. The daily ticket is nearly double and the weekly one is identical. TfL says so itself on its Travelcard page, noting that Monday to Sunday capping gives seven days of travel for the price of five, just as a 7 Day Travelcard does.
What zones do I need for a London Travelcard?
Almost all visitor destinations sit in Zones 1 and 2, so that is the usual answer, and a Zone 1 only ticket is pointless because it costs exactly the same as Zones 1 to 2 in every category. Heathrow is in Zone 6. If your ticket starts outside Zone 1, adding Zone 9 costs nothing at all, so ask for the widest version. Outer zone weekly tickets flatten at £33.50 for any single zone or adjacent pair from Zone 2 outward.
Can you use a Travelcard on the Heathrow Express?
No. Heathrow Express and Southeastern high speed services are excluded from both Travelcards and pay as you go caps, which TfL states in a footnote under its fares table. Heathrow Express charges its own £26 single regardless of what else you hold. The Elizabeth line and the Piccadilly line from Heathrow are covered, though journeys to and from the airport are charged peak fares if they touch Zone 1 at any time of day.
What is the Group Day Travelcard?
A paper ticket for ten or more people travelling together, priced per person at £11.00 for Zones 1 to 6 and £11.60 for Zones 1 to 9, with under 16s at £5.50 and £5.80. It runs from 09:30 Monday to Friday and at any time on weekends and bank holidays. It is the only version of this ticket that beats contactless outright, saving £5.30 a head against the Zones 1 to 6 daily cap of £16.30.
Written by Robert J Wills, no. 142 in the guide.
Last checked 2 October 2026 against the venues' own published information. Nobody pays to appear here and we take no bookings.
