What actually costs the same either way?
Pay as you go fares are identical whether you tap a contactless bank card, a phone or smartwatch wallet, or a physical Oyster card. A single Zone 1 Tube journey is around £2.80 off-peak and up to about £3.10 peak in 2026, and the daily cap for Zones 1-2 is £8.90 — once you have tapped enough journeys in a day, further ones are free. Buses and trams are a flat £1.75 per tap, but the Hopper fare means unlimited bus and tram changes within one hour count as a single £1.75 charge, so a two-bus journey across town often costs the same as one. None of this differs between Oyster and contactless: the fare engine treats them the same for daily capping.
Where contactless pulls ahead: weekly capping
This is the detail most visitors miss. Contactless bank cards and phones automatically get weekly capping, Monday to Sunday, across all the zones you travel in, with no setup needed — TfL just totals your taps and refunds the difference if a Travelcard-equivalent weekly price would be cheaper. A standard pay as you go Oyster card does not do this automatically: to get a weekly cap on Oyster you need to load a paper-free 7 Day Travelcard onto it in advance, which requires knowing your zones and paying upfront. If you are staying five days or more and moving around a lot, contactless simply caps itself; Oyster does not unless you plan ahead.
Visitor Oyster, Zip cards and children
A Visitor Oyster card, bought online before arrival, currently carries a £5 non-refundable card fee that a standard Oyster bought at a station machine does not have — the standard card itself is free to obtain, though a £5 deposit used to apply and policies change, so check tfl.gov.uk before buying. Children under 11 travel free on the Tube, DLR, Overground and buses when accompanied by an adult with a valid ticket, no card needed. Children 11 to 15 need a photocard-linked Zip Oyster card for discounted fares, which contactless cannot replicate — this is the one case where Oyster is compulsory rather than optional. Buses accept no cash whatsoever, so a bus-only trip with children still needs Oyster or contactless for anyone over 10.
Keep it handy while in London
- Add it to your home screen: works offline too
- Save your favourite spots
- Turn on Congestion Charge & ULEZ alerts (free)
The counter-intuitive tip: pick one card and stick to it
The single biggest mistake tourists make is mixing payment methods mid-week — tapping in with a phone on Monday, then a bank card on Tuesday because the phone battery died. Each payment card or device is capped separately, so splitting taps across two cards means you pay two partial fares instead of hitting one cap, often costing several pounds more over a week. Use exactly one card or one device per person for the whole stay. At mainline stations serving Zone 1 that also carry National Rail services, such as London Bridge or Victoria, always tap in and out even if you are only using the Tube gates, since fares and caps are calculated from the taps, not from your intentions.
So which should you actually use?
For almost every tourist, a contactless bank card or phone wallet is the better choice in 2026: no card fee, no queue at a machine, automatic weekly capping, and the same fares as Oyster. Buy a physical Oyster only if your card charges foreign transaction fees, if you are travelling with a child aged 11 to 15 who needs a Zip card, or if you simply prefer a dedicated transport card you can top up in cash. Whichever you choose, commit to it for the whole trip and always touch in and out consistently.