Getting Around W1: Tube Stations, Walking Routes and Transport Tips
Getting around central London, tube map in hand, is easier in W1 than almost anywhere else in the city, for one reason people rarely spell out: every Underground station in the postcode sits in Zone 1, and there are fourteen of them within about a square mile. The practical consequence is that you are almost never more than a ten-minute walk from a station, and that walking between two of them is frequently faster than riding between them. This guide sets out which lines run where, TfL's actual peak hours, and the walks worth taking instead of a change.
Every W1 tube station and its lines
| Station | Lines | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Oxford Circus | Bakerloo, Central, Victoria | The middle of Oxford Street and Regent Street. Three lines, and the busiest interchange in the postcode. |
| Bond Street | Central, Elizabeth line, Jubilee | The Elizabeth line stop for Mayfair and the west end of Oxford Street. |
| Tottenham Court Road | Central, Elizabeth line, Northern | The eastern end of Oxford Street, for Soho and Fitzrovia. |
| Piccadilly Circus | Bakerloo, Piccadilly | For Regent Street south, Jermyn Street and the theatres. |
| Green Park | Jubilee, Piccadilly, Victoria | The southern edge of Mayfair, for Berkeley Square and Piccadilly. |
| Baker Street | Bakerloo, Circle, Hammersmith & City, Jubilee, Metropolitan | Five lines, the most of any W1 station, at the top of Marylebone. |
| Marble Arch | Central | The far west of Oxford Street, at the corner of Hyde Park. |
| Great Portland Street | Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan | North Fitzrovia and the Regent's Park side. |
| Regent's Park | Bakerloo | A single-line stop on Marylebone Road, quiet by W1 standards. |
| Warren Street | Northern, Victoria | North Fitzrovia, for Tottenham Court Road's northern end. |
| Goodge Street | Northern | The heart of Fitzrovia, and the calmest useful station in the area. |
| Leicester Square | Northern, Piccadilly | Just outside W1 but the natural stop for Chinatown and the south of Soho. |
| Hyde Park Corner | Piccadilly | The southwest corner, for Park Lane and Apsley House. |
| Marylebone | Bakerloo | A mainline terminus as well as a tube stop, for Chiltern services. |
Lines and zones checked against Transport for London's own station data. All fourteen are in Zone 1.
The five lines that actually matter here
Central. The spine of the postcode, running east to west under Oxford Street through Marble Arch, Bond Street, Oxford Circus and Tottenham Court Road. If you are shopping, this is the line.
Elizabeth line. Stops at Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road only, but it is the fastest way in from Paddington, Liverpool Street, Canary Wharf and Heathrow. Its platforms are deep and its trains are long, so allow more time at the station than you would for the Central line and less on the train.
Victoria. Oxford Circus, Green Park and Warren Street. The quickest north to south route through the middle, and useful for Victoria and King's Cross.
Jubilee. Bond Street, Green Park and Baker Street, connecting Mayfair to Westminster, London Bridge and Canary Wharf.
Piccadilly. Hyde Park Corner, Green Park, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, plus a direct run to Heathrow if you are not in a hurry.
The Bakerloo, Northern, Circle, Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan lines all serve W1 too, but for most visitors they are connections rather than the main event.
Peak, off-peak and when it actually costs more
TfL charges peak fares Monday to Friday, not on public holidays, between 06:30 and 09:30 and between 16:00 and 19:00. Everything outside those windows is off-peak, including all weekend. Two details are worth knowing because they save money:
- The fare is set by the time you touch in, not when you touch out. Touching in at 09:29 charges you a peak fare for the whole journey; waiting a minute does not.
- A journey from outside Zone 1 into Zone 1 between 16:00 and 19:00 on a weekday is charged off-peak, because you are travelling against the commuter flow.
Night Tube and London Overground Night Service journeys are always charged off-peak. Contactless and Oyster both cap automatically over a day and over a Monday to Sunday week, so on a sightseeing trip there is no need to work out in advance whether a Travelcard is better. Current prices and caps are on TfL's tube and rail fares page, and they change each spring, so check rather than trust a figure you read somewhere.
The walks that beat the tube
These are straight-line distances between station entrances, calculated from TfL's own station coordinates. Street routes are a little longer, but the ranking holds, and every one of these is faster on foot than the equivalent journey with a change.
| Between | Straight-line distance | Walking time |
|---|---|---|
| Great Portland Street to Regent's Park | 161 m | about 2 min |
| Leicester Square to Covent Garden | 335 m | about 4 min |
| Baker Street to Marylebone | 431 m | about 5 min |
| Oxford Circus to Bond Street | 520 m | about 6 min |
| Warren Street to Goodge Street | 556 m | about 7 min |
| Tottenham Court Road to Goodge Street | 563 m | about 7 min |
| Bond Street to Marble Arch | 703 m | about 9 min |
| Piccadilly Circus to Green Park | 711 m | about 9 min |
| Oxford Circus to Tottenham Court Road | 767 m | about 10 min |
| Green Park to Hyde Park Corner | 797 m | about 10 min |
| Oxford Circus to Piccadilly Circus | 803 m | about 10 min |
| Oxford Circus to Green Park | 922 m | about 12 min |
Two of these deserve singling out. Great Portland Street and Regent's Park are 161 metres apart on Marylebone Road, close enough that you can see one from the other. And Leicester Square to Covent Garden, at 335 metres, is the journey Londoners quietly enjoy watching visitors pay for: by the time the Covent Garden lift arrives you could have walked it twice.
Practical rules for moving around W1
Oxford Circus at rush hour. The station is one of the busiest on the network and staff periodically hold people at the entrances to control platform crowding. If you are heading east or west along Oxford Street between about 17:00 and 18:30, Bond Street or Tottenham Court Road are usually quicker to enter, and both are under a ten-minute walk away.
Cross the grain, not along it. The tube in W1 runs mostly east to west. Going north to south, from Fitzrovia down to Piccadilly say, the network makes you change, and the change costs more than the walk. Regent Street and Bond Street are both direct, pleasant north-south routes on foot.
Buses are better than they look. Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane all carry frequent buses, they are cheaper than the tube, and the Hopper fare lets you change buses within an hour at no extra charge. They also let you see where you are going, which the Central line does not.
Taxis and traffic. A black cab across W1 in the middle of the day will often lose to walking. Soho's streets are narrow and partly pedestrianised, Oxford Street traffic is restricted, and the whole postcode sits inside the Congestion Charge zone, which is worth knowing before you order a car. Our guide to parking in W1 covers driving in more detail.
Step-free access is patchy. Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road were rebuilt for the Elizabeth line and are step-free to the platform; several of the older W1 stations are not. Check step-free status on the TfL site before relying on a particular station.
Where to go from here
Once you can move around the postcode, the rest is easy. See our guides to where to eat in W1, Oxford Street shopping, free things to do in W1 and the West End theatre guide, or start from The W1 London homepage. If you are still working out where W1 begins and ends, what the W1 postcode covers explains it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are all the W1 tube stations in Zone 1?
Yes. Every Underground station serving the W1 postcode is in Zone 1, which is why a journey between two of them is the simplest fare on the network. It also means there is no fare advantage in walking to a different station before you touch in.
When are peak fares charged on the tube?
TfL charges peak fares Monday to Friday, excluding public holidays, between 06:30 and 09:30 and between 16:00 and 19:00. Everything else is off-peak. One exception is worth knowing: a journey from a station outside Zone 1 into Zone 1 between 16:00 and 19:00 on a weekday is charged off-peak. Peak or off-peak is decided by the time you touch in, not when you touch out.
Which W1 station has the most lines?
Baker Street, with five: Bakerloo, Circle, Hammersmith and City, Jubilee and Metropolitan. Oxford Circus, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road and Green Park all have three.
Where does the Elizabeth line stop in W1?
Bond Street and Tottenham Court Road. Both also have the Central line, so between them they cover the whole length of Oxford Street and are the fastest way in from Paddington, Liverpool Street or Heathrow.
Is it quicker to walk than change trains in central London?
Very often, yes. Most W1 stations are between 500 and 900 metres apart in a straight line, which is a 6 to 12 minute walk on the street. A change involving one interchange plus two platform walks rarely beats that, and it never beats it at 17:30 on a Thursday.
Are Night Tube fares more expensive?
No. TfL charges off-peak fares on Night Tube and London Overground Night Service journeys at all times.
What is the shortest useful walk between two tube stations near W1?
Great Portland Street to Regent's Park, 161 metres apart on Marylebone Road, which is under two minutes. The better-known one is Leicester Square to Covent Garden at 335 metres, a walk that takes less time than queueing for the Covent Garden lifts.