London is an exciting city filled with great history, art, and food. This page is all about visiting London and what we feel might be helpful for you in planning your trip to SysMus17.
Accommodation in London:
East London is a great part of the city. Its history, diversity, music and art scene makes it one of the best areas to stay in.
Airbnb is a great way to find a good and reasonably priced place to stay.
Queen Mary also has a list of places around the campus posted on their website which has some great suggestions of hostels and hotels.
If you wish to stay in university accommodation for the night of September 12th (unfortunately university accommodation is not available after the 12th), you can contact the committee team (sysmus17@gmail.com) stating “SysMus17 Conference Accommodation”. UPDATE: If you would like to stay on campus, you can make a booking directly at this site, without needing to contact the committee.
Getting To London:
As we are trying to have a greener conference we want to encourage you to think of alternative ways of getting to the conference. Below are some suggestions and some information about getting to and around London.
Getting into London by Train:
London has a number of major train stations, including Kings Cross, St. Pancras, Waterloo, and Victoria. All have good connections to the tube, buses and bike rentals.
St. Pancras station is the international station where the Eurostar terminal is. Here is more info about taking the Eurostar which can get you from mainland Europe to London.
If you are traveling from within the UK to London here is the link to the National Rail which can get you into London from most places within the UK.
Getting into London by Plane:
London has several airports, each located approximately an hour’s travel from central London.
If you are flying into Gatwick Airport…
- You can take the train to Victoria Station or to Liverpool Street Station. From Victoria station you can grab the tube and get to most places in the city.
If you are flying into Heathrow Airport…
- You can take the tube (Piccadilly line) into anywhere in the city.
If you are flying into Luton Airport…
- You need to take the shuttle bus to the Luton Airport Parkway station. It costs £2 and they only take cash. It is a short 5 minute ride. Then you can hop on the train toward Brighton and get off at St. Pancras station from where you can get to most places in the city.
If you are flying into Stansted Airport …
- You can take the train to Liverpool Street station. From there you can get to most places in the city.
If you are flying into City Airport…
- You can take the DLR (teal line) and get to Bank station and get anywhere in the city from there.
Finally you can drive, carpool or hitchhike!
- Driving around London is not always an easy task. If you are up for the challenge here is a website that will help you know how to park around the Queen Mary Campus.
Getting around London:
London is an amazing and large city with tons of public transport. There are a couple of options when traveling around to city.
You can use the tube!
The tube actually is fairly green as its emissions are not high. Below are some links that may help you navigate the tube.
The closest tube stations to Queen Mary are Mile End and Stepney Green. Both are located within 10 minutes’ walk from campus. Mile End can be reached via the Central (red), District (green), and Hammersmith & City (pink) lines. Stepney Green can be accessed via the District (green) and Hammersmith & City (pink) lines.
Here are some helpful websites that help you get around on the tube:
You can take the bus!
There are three bus lines which stop near Queen Mary.
- The 25 towards Ilford
- The 205 towards Bow Church
- The N205 towards Bow Church which runs all night
Here are some helpful websites that help you get around on the bus:
Map of key bus routes in London
You can ride a bike!
- Biking can be a great way to see the city. It can be busy on some of the streets so remember to always wear a helmet.
- If you want to ride a bike you can rent Santander bikes all around the city.
- To hire it for the whole day is it £2. If you just want to rent it for part of the day the first 30 minutes are free and any extra 30 minutes or less is £2.
- Here is their website which will show you where you can pick up the bikes and drop them off all around London.
- If you have your own bike here is a website that shows you where you can store your bike around London.
- If you want to keep it on Queen Mary’s campus there are bike racks all around.
Transit Tickets:
To get around the city using public transit you will need to buy tickets. Depending on how long you are in London there are a couple of options:
- Oyster Card: It is only 5 pounds and you can top it up with money as you like. You can turn it in at the end of your trip and get the 5 pounds back. This card works for most trains, DLR, Overground, Underground and buses. You can pick it up at any large station.
- Paper single and return tickets: You can just buy single tickets each time you need it. You can buy these tickets at all stations.
- Travelcards: You can also buy a 7 Day Travelcard for zones 1-2 at any station for £32.10. Queen Mary is in zone 2 so this should be fine.
Getting around the Queen Mary Campus:
- Once you are on campus you will need to know where to go. The conference will be held in the Bancroft Building on campus. Download the campus map here to help you find the correct building.
- Queen Mary Campus Map