United Kingdom
London
Since April 2025 even EU citizens need a paid entry authorisation to visit — the single most commonly missed fact for European travellers right now.
Contains affiliate links — what that means.
- Entry
- Almost everyone visa-free now needs a paid ETA before travel — EU citizens included since 2 April 2025. £20, apply at gov.uk. Irish and British citizens are exempt.
- Currency
- Pound sterling (GBP)
- Getting around
- Contactless bank cards work directly on the Tube and buses — no need to buy an Oyster card.
- Driving in the centre
- Congestion Charge (£18/day) and ULEZ (£12.50/day) both apply to rental cars — up to £30.50/day combined.
Checked 15 August 2026. Prices and visa rules change — tell us if something here is wrong.
The single fact most likely to catch European visitors out here isn't a visa rule in the old sense — it's that the UK now requires almost everyone, including EU citizens who never needed anything before, to hold a paid travel authorisation before they fly.
Entry rules: the ETA, explained properly
The UK's Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) is a digital pre-travel permit, not a visa, required for most visa-exempt visitors:
- 8 January 2025 — extended to around 49 nationalities including the US, Canada and Australia.
- 2 April 2025 — extended to EU/EEA citizens (Ireland excluded). From this date, essentially all non-British, non-Irish visa-free travellers need one.
Cost: £20 (risen from an initial £10). Apply via the official UK ETA app or gov.uk — never a third-party site, which will charge more for the same thing. It covers multiple entries, stays up to 6 months each, and is valid 2 years or until your passport expires, whichever comes first. Apply at least a few working days ahead, though most applications are decided within minutes. Every traveller, including infants, needs their own ETA. British and Irish citizens, and anyone already holding UK immigration status, are exempt. Visa-required nationalities are unaffected — they continue applying for a full visa as before.
Getting from the airport
London has five airports — knowing which one you're landing at matters, since transfers between them can take over two hours.
Heathrow (LHR) — ~22 km, most full-service long-haul carriers
- Elizabeth line — from £13.90 into Zone 1.
- Heathrow Express — 15 minutes to Paddington; standard single £26 walk-up, from £10 booked well ahead.
- Black cab — roughly £65–100 to central London, 40–90 minutes depending on traffic.
Gatwick (LGW) — ~45 km, leisure long-haul plus easyJet's main base
- Gatwick Express — 30 minutes to Victoria, roughly £20 online.
Stansted (STN) — ~60 km, Ryanair's main UK base
- Stansted Express — 45–50 minutes to Liverpool Street, roughly £10–22 depending on how far ahead you book.
- National Express coach — from £7 one-way.
Luton (LTN) — ~51 km, easyJet/Wizz Air base
- Rail plus a short shuttle to St Pancras (roughly 22–40 minutes), or National Express coach from £7.
London City (LCY) — ~10 km, the closest to the centre
- DLR — about 20–25 minutes to central London; mostly short-haul European business routes.
If you're flying Ryanair, you're almost certainly at Stansted, not Heathrow or Gatwick — a common and costly mix-up. Don't book a tight connection through two different London airports; the transfer alone can eat two hours or more.
Where to stay
| Area | Mid-range/night | Good for | The downside |
|---|---|---|---|
| Covent Garden / Soho | £120–250+ | First-timers, theatre, shopping, walkability | Among the most expensive areas in the city; loud at night, especially Soho |
| South Bank / Bankside | £130–250 | Families, culture (Tate Modern, Borough Market) | Chain-hotel-heavy; can feel corporate along the river path |
| Shoreditch | £70–170 | Nightlife, food scene, younger travellers | Chaotic late at night when bars close; 20–30 minutes by rail from central sights |
| Kensington / Chelsea | £150–300+ | Museum-lovers (V&A, Natural History), families | Quiet in the evenings; prices climb fast near Knightsbridge |
| Camden | varies — few hotels | Alt/music culture, markets | Genuinely limited hotel stock; apartment rentals often fill the gap instead |
| Bloomsbury / Fitzrovia | £90–180 | Best value-for-location in central London, near King's Cross/Eurostar | A little more sedate, less nightlife buzz |
Nightly ranges are directional estimates — London hotel pricing swings hard by season and day of week.
Hotels in London
Bloomsbury and South Bank both put you within walking range of major sights at a step below West End pricing.
Agoda is often cheaper for the same properties in this region.
Compare on Agoda
Same hotels, frequently different prices.
What things cost
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Inexpensive meal | roughly £14–30 |
| Mid-range 3-course dinner for two, no drinks | roughly £55–130 |
| Pint of beer, London average | £6.55 (some bars now charge over £10) |
| Coffee (cappuccino/flat white) | £4.52 average, above the UK-wide £3.97 |
| Single Tube fare, Zone 1, contactless | roughly £3.00–3.10 |
| Tower of London — adult | £37 |
| London Eye — standard adult, online | from £25–29 |
| Warner Bros. Studio Tour (Harry Potter) — adult | from £58.50 |
Prices dated 15 August 2026. Confirm exact Tube fares at tfl.gov.uk before you travel, since fares are revised periodically.
Should you rent a car?
Almost certainly no, for central London. Two separate daily charges stack on top of parking costs:
Congestion Charge — £18/day (Mon–Fri 7am–6pm, weekends and bank holidays noon–6pm), rising to £21 if you pay late. ULEZ (Ultra Low Emission Zone) — £12.50/day for non-compliant vehicles, covering every London borough, 24/7, every day except Christmas. Both apply to rental and foreign-registered cars, and rental companies don't pay these for you by default — a driver of an older, non-compliant vehicle can owe both at once, about £30.50 a day just to be in the centre, before parking. Unpaid Congestion Charge penalties start at £90.
A valid foreign licence lets you drive in Great Britain for up to 12 months from your most recent entry; whether you also need an International Driving Permit depends on your licence's issuing country and format — check gov.uk directly, since rental companies often add their own stricter requirements on top of the legal minimum.
Compare car hire for trips outside London
Covers local UK agencies the big international sites leave out, and shows the excess before you pay — pick up outside the ULEZ/Congestion Charge zone to avoid both fees.
Staying connected
UK carriers are EE, Vodafone, O2 and Three. A 30-day prepaid SIM with meaningful data typically runs £15–24; eSIMs (Airalo and others) start from around $4 for smaller data packages. You almost certainly don't need an Oyster card — any contactless bank card or phone works directly at Tube, DLR, Overground and bus gates, with the same daily/weekly fare capping Oyster gets. London buses are cashless — contactless or Oyster only, no cash accepted onboard.
Scams and traps to know about
- Unlicensed minicab touts at airports and mainline stations (Victoria, King's Cross, Paddington) — this is a genuine safety issue, not just overcharging. Only use a black cab hailed at a rank, or a pre-booked licensed minicab via app or phone.
- West End pedicabs have been documented charging wildly inflated fares — cases as high as £180 for a few minutes' ride. Treat any pedicab approach as a near-certain overcharge.
- Street "find the lady" card games are rigged — walk past.
- Pickpocketing concentrates on crowded Tube carriages and Oxford Street; phone-snatching by moped or bike is also a documented risk, so keep phones out of sight near roads.
- Fake theatre tickets — buy only from a STAR-accredited seller or the theatre's own box office/site.
Laws and things that catch visitors out
- Tipping: restaurants 10–15%, but many bills already add a 12.5% "optional" service charge — check before double-tipping. Pubs don't expect tips even for table service.
- Stand on the right on Underground escalators — breaking this norm draws real annoyance at rush hour.
- Traffic drives on the left — look right first when crossing; painted reminders exist at busy junctions for a reason.
- Tube strikes recur unpredictably (recent ones hit in June 2026) — check tfl.gov.uk/service-status before any trip that depends on a Tube journey, especially to or from an airport.
- A citywide overnight-stay levy for London has been granted as a power to the Mayor but was not yet an active charge at the time this page was checked — worth a quick check closer to your trip in case that's changed.