Working out the best way to get to Excel London for the London International Horse Show? I’ve lived in London for 22 years and I’ve been reporting from the show for almost as long, so whether you’re heading to there for the first time or you want to take a fresh look at your choices this year, I’ve rounded up your best options below.
One of the great aspects of travelling in London is that there are always lots of different ways to get anywhere using public transport, which means you have options if there are delays or services are down on one route.
Download a Tube map to your phone if you’re not familiar with where you’re going
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How to get to Excel London via rail
The closest stations are Custom House and Prince Regent. Trains pull up at a covered walkway and the walk to the entrance is less than two minutes.
You can get to Custom House on the Elizabeth Line or the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), and Prince Regent on the DLR.
If you’re looking at a standard tube map, the Elizabeth Line is shown by two purple lines and the DLR shown by two turquoise lines. You will find both Custom House and Prince Regent stations on the far right of the map in zone 3.
Below are the simplest routes from the major stations, but you can also use the Transport for London journey planner or Google Maps to help you find the best route. Download a tube map to your phone so that you can access it even when you’re out of signal on the underground.
From Waterloo
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Take the Jubilee Line (silver) eastbound towards Stratford. Change at Canning Town onto the DLR (turquoise).
From Euston
Take the Northern Line (black) southwards on the Charing Cross branch. Change at Tottenham Court Road onto the Elizabeth Line (purple).
From King’s Cross/St Pancras
Take the Hammersmith & City (pink), Circle (yellow) or Metropolitan (maroon) line eastwards for one stop. Change at Farringdon onto the Elizabeth Line (purple).
From Paddington or Liverpool Street
Take the Elizabeth Line (purple).
How to pay
You can buy a paper ticket at the station or use an Oyster card, but contactless card payment is simplest. You can use this for both the tube and DLR – and London buses – simply tap in on the yellow validator at your first station and out at your final one on each journey. There is no need to tap in or out at stations in between.
Not all DLR stations have barriers, so if you use the DLR you need to remember to tap in and out – it’s more likely you’ll be overcharged than undercharged if you forget!
The car parks at Excel have 1,200 spaces that must be booked in advance over the London International dates. It costs £50 for up to 24 hours. Some dates have already sold out.
For sat navs, use E16 1FR to navigate to the car parks. For What3words, use ///cheer.events.began.
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The scenic route to Excel London
You can take a river boat to Excel – the route is serviced by Uber Boat by Thames Clippers. There are departures from major London piers every 20 minutes. Alight at the Royal Wharf Pier for a 20-minute walk through Britannia Village and over the Royal Victoria dock footbridge to Excel’s west entrance.
The IFS Cloud Cable Car connects Excel to North Greenwich tube station (on the Jubilee Line). A cabin arrives every 30 seconds and flights last approximately 10 minutes, except during peak commuter times when it runs a bit quicker.
All exhibitors and visitors to Excel are offered a 50% discount, which works out at £3.50 for a single fare. To redeem this offer, just present a confirmation email or your ticket.
Pippa is a true eventing geek and has been H&H’s eventing editor since 2005. She has first-hand experience of competing up to British Eventing intermediate and international CCI2*-L level, and has worked in the industry on a top event yard. Pippa enjoys nothing more than immersing herself in the sport at the highest level, reporting from the five-stars and international championships, including the Olympics.
