Visiting London from Manchester: a student's guide

Getting to Piccadilly

The London trains leave from Manchester Piccadilly, which the university puts at a 15 to 20-minute walk from campus. Oxford Road station is closer, five minutes from All Saints, but it serves regional routes; for the direct London service you want Piccadilly. Give yourself a margin on the walk, especially with a bag.

By train

The only direct trains between Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston are Avanti West Coast's, and the journey takes about two hours; Avanti's own average is a little over that. If you're between 16 and 25, or a full-time mature student, a 16–25 Railcard takes a third off most fares, Advance tickets included, though a minimum fare applies on weekday early mornings. Book once you know your dates, and travel off the morning rush where you can.

By coach

National Express coaches to London go from the coach station on Chorlton Street, in the city centre. They cost less and take longer: the operator itself describes the trip as a little over four hours. That's fine for a weekend away and hard work for a day trip, when you'd spend more of the day on the motorway than in London.

London's transport runs on contactless. Touch your bank card or phone on the yellow reader as you go through the Tube gates, and again on the way out; on buses and trams you only touch in. Transport for London caps what you pay in a day and across a week (Monday to Sunday), so once you've hit the cap, the rest of that day's travel costs nothing. The one rule: use the same card or the same phone every time, because switching between them can leave you paying more than you should.

After Manchester's compact centre, the Tube can feel like a maze. Its map stretches distances, and plenty of central stations are closer on foot than they look. Walk when it's a stop or two; you'll see the city rather than a tunnel wall.

A lot of London's best is free. The British Museum charges nothing to get in and is a short walk from Euston; it advises booking a free timed ticket, because entry without one depends on how busy it is. Tate Modern, by the river at Bankside, opens its collection to everyone for free, and stays open late on Friday and Saturday evenings. Sky Garden, at the top of a City tower, offers its views on free tickets that you book in advance. And Hyde Park's gates are open to walkers from early morning until midnight.

For food and browsing, London's markets beat its chains. Borough Market, near London Bridge, trades six days a week and closes on Mondays. Old Spitalfields Market, in the East End, is open every day. Columbia Road's flower market is a Sunday morning affair, finishing in the early afternoon. And the Southbank Centre Food Market sets up behind the Royal Festival Hall from Friday to Sunday. Opening times shift with the seasons and bank holidays, so check on the day.

London prices are higher than you'll be used to in Manchester, so plan where you'll eat rather than buying wherever you happen to be hungry. One proper sit-down meal, with market food the rest of the time, stretches a budget a long way.

On a day trip, the train is the better choice. With two hours each way, an early start from Piccadilly gives you a full day, as long as you keep it to one or two parts of the city. The coach makes more sense when you're staying over, because four hours each way matters less across a weekend.

Staying the night? Book early, as prices rise as the date gets closer, and look a little outside the very centre, where rooms cost less and the daily fare cap still covers getting back in. Sharing a room splits the biggest cost of the trip.

If family are travelling to Manchester to see you graduate, and above all if they're coming from abroad, London is an easy extension: two hours on from Piccadilly, which is a short walk from where you'll have spent the day in your gown. A couple of days there once the photographs are taken rounds off the visit nicely.