Covent Garden Tube Station

This station is a nightmare!

Its always busy as Covent garden is tourist central.

Best to avoid, especially on the weekend.

I’d suggest getting off at another stop and walking to the market place instead.

Try using charing cross!

Me and my wife make regular trips to London and the last three visits we have gone to Covent garden by tube and aways enjoy our time there,
On the last visit,( february 2011) we decided to use the stairs from the tube station and 'phew' what a great test of fitness, we are both over 60
and we were pleased with ourselves when we reached the top although out of breadth! Cheaper than going to the gym.

I was at Covent Garden Tube Station on Saturday. It was packed full of people and was very warm. I had a panic attack whilst waiting for the lift to arrive. I honestly thought I was going to suffocate.

It was the most horrendous and frightening experience of my life as there were about 300 people jammed into a space made for 40.

On the way home we were advised to made the 250 metre over ground walk to Leicester Square which took about 3 minutes and we travelled on from there.

In future, I will never use Covent Garden Tube Station again. It's far too crowded at weekends and as it's so deep - climbing the stairs is not really an option.

Like the many announcments say, you should really use Leicester Square station on the weekends and evenings - Covent Garden station gets really packed at the busy periods, and because there’s only really the lifts to get up or down to and from the station concourse (don’t take the stairs, there’s a reason for that warning!)

Covent Garden - Leicester Square is also one of the most expensive modes of transport in the world - £4 for 250m… so save your money, and walk it!

This station is not very good to use at night as it gets extremely crowded and it takes ages to top up oyster cards etc. It is better to take the nice walk down to leicester square or piccadilly circus and get a bus!
Also if you dont take the lift you have to take the stairs. Once in your life is enough times to make this climb. You start off going quite fast keeping up a good pace but as you get to a quarter of the way and you cant see the top (it’s a spiral staircase) you will be wishing you took the lift. By the time you get near the time your thighs wil be burning but you will be determined not to let anyone overtake you so once you have got to the top you will be sweaty and out of breath!
(that could be a slight exaggeration… but the memories are too painful!

Some tourist attractions are somewhat let down by their public transport (with Camden Town being a prime example) and Covent Garden is one of them. Using this station can be a bit of a nightmare and people going to Covent Garden should just use some of the other adjacent stations instead. The shortest distance between stations on the tube network is 300m and it’s between Covent Garden and Leicester Square stations. Go to the nearby London Transport Museum in Covent Garden and discover other facts like that!!

A word of advice - Don't take the stairs when you arrive at Covent Garden. You will probably have a heart attack once you've reached the surface. I don't know how many steps it is exactly, but i'd guess about 150. Exhausting.

Apart from the stairs, this is a great little station. You're in tourist country here, so lots of facilities to cater for all. Loads of street performers to be seen directly outside the station + a very handily placed M&S across the street from the tube.

Now here's an interesting fact - The distance between Covent Garden and Leicester square is the shortest distance between any 2 stations on the London underground. If you haven't got an Oyster card, it will cost you £4 to travel 260 metres. My grandmother could walk that distance in seconds. I really hate to think of all the poor, unsuspecting tourists that have forked out nearly a fiver to travel such a short distance!