Camden Tube: 9 Mins to Oxford Circus, £3.10 Peak

Most guides to getting into London from a home postcode are written for commuter towns, with season tickets and a fastest train to a terminus. Camden does not work like that, because Camden is already in London. Nowhere in the borough is more than about fifteen minutes from the West End on the Underground, and most of it is in Zone 2. What people actually need to know here is which zone their station is in, what a single costs, and when the daily cap makes the fare stop mounting up.

Every figure on this page comes from Transport for London’s own systems, checked on 14 August 2026.

Which zone is your Camden station in

Camden straddles the Zone 1 boundary. The southern half of the borough, everything around Euston Road and below it, is Zone 1. The northern half is Zone 2, with one exception.

Hampstead is the exception worth knowing about. TfL lists it as “2+3”, a boundary station, which means it can be charged at either zone depending on the journey. If you live there, it is worth checking whether a Zones 1 to 2 or a Zones 1 to 3 Travelcard covers what you actually do, rather than assuming.

How long it actually takes

These are TfL journey planner times for an 08:00 weekday departure, taking the fastest route including any change.

A few of these are worth spelling out because the change matters:

• Camden Town to Oxford Circus, 9 minutes. Northern line to Euston, then one stop on the Victoria.
• Camden Town to Bank, 14 minutes. No change at all, if you board a Bank branch train. Camden Town is where the Northern line’s two branches split in both directions, which is why the platform indicators matter more here than at most stations.
• Holborn to Bank, 5 minutes on the Central line, and King’s Cross to Bank, 9 minutes on the Northern.
• West Hampstead to Oxford Circus, 14 minutes. Jubilee to Baker Street, then the Bakerloo.
• Hampstead Heath to Oxford Circus, 29 minutes. The Overground is the slow way into the West End from the north of the borough. If you are near both, walking to a Northern line station will usually beat it.

What it costs

Adult pay as you go fares, from TfL’s fare data, valid from 4 July 2026 to 4 July 2027.

Peak means Monday to Friday 06:30 to 09:30, and for journeys within Zone 1 also 16:00 to 19:00. Everything else, including public holidays, is off-peak. The cash single, if you use a paper ticket instead of contactless or Oyster, is £7.00 for any of these journeys, which is roughly double the contactless fare and the reason nobody should buy one.

Note what the table shows: from Camden Town, the peak fare into the West End is the same £3.10 as from a Zone 1 station. Zone 2 to Zone 1 and Zone 1 to Zone 1 are priced identically at peak. The extra 50p only appears once you are far enough out that the journey crosses from Zone 3.

Caps and Travelcards

You never pay more in a day than the cap for the zones you travel in, so for most people in Camden there is no reason to buy a ticket in advance.

The arithmetic for a Camden commuter is simple. Two peak singles from Camden Town cost £6.20 a day, so five days is £31, comfortably under the £44.70 weekly cap. Contactless pay as you go with the weekly Monday to Sunday cap beats a 7 day Travelcard for anyone doing a straightforward return, and it costs nothing if you are away. A Travelcard only wins if you need it loaded onto a Railcard-discounted Oyster or you travel far beyond your zone regularly.

Anyone in the Zone 1 part of the borough, around Bloomsbury, Holborn, Euston and King’s Cross, should check the walk first. Holborn to Tottenham Court Road is about twelve minutes on foot and £3.10 on the Central line.

Driving instead: what it costs to leave Camden by car

The Congestion Charge is £18 a day, and it rose to that from £15 on 2 January 2026. It applies 07:00 to 18:00 Monday to Friday and 12:00 to 18:00 at weekends and on bank holidays. Pay after the day of travel and it is £21.

This matters more in Camden than in most boroughs, because the zone’s northern boundary is Euston Road. Bloomsbury, Holborn, Fitzrovia and the streets south of Euston Road are inside the Congestion Charge zone. Camden Town, Kentish Town, Hampstead and everything north of Euston Road are outside it. The whole borough is inside the ULEZ, which covers all of Greater London.

Frequently asked questions

What zone is Camden Town in?

Zone 2. So are Chalk Farm, Kentish Town, Belsize Park, Swiss Cottage and West Hampstead. King’s Cross St Pancras, Euston, Holborn and Russell Square are Zone 1, and Hampstead is a boundary station listed as Zone 2 and 3.

How long does it take to get from Camden Town to central London?

Nine minutes to Oxford Circus, changing at Euston, and fourteen minutes to Bank with no change at all on a Bank branch Northern line train.

How much is a tube from Camden Town to Oxford Circus?

£3.10 at peak and £3.00 off-peak on contactless or Oyster. A paper cash single is £7.00.

Is there a Night Tube in Camden?

Yes, on some lines. TfL runs the Night Tube on Friday and Saturday nights on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Windrush lines, which between them serve most of the borough. Night Tube fares are charged at the off-peak rate. Not every branch of every line runs, so check TfL’s night map before you rely on a particular station.

Do I need a Travelcard to live in Camden?

Usually not. Contactless pay as you go caps at £8.90 a day and £44.70 a week for Zones 1 to 2, and a normal five-day commute from a Zone 2 Camden station comes in under that cap anyway.

Sources

• TfL Single Fare Finder API for peak, off-peak and cash single fares and their validity dates.
• TfL Journey Planner API for journey times and interchange stations.
• TfL StopPoint search for the zone of each station.
• TfL adult fares table (PDF) for daily and weekly caps and Travelcard prices.
• TfL Congestion Charge for the daily charge, hours and payment deadlines.

Fares and times change. TfL’s own pages are the final word, and this page is dated so you can see how old the figures are.