How to get to The O2 Arena: tube, bus, river and the way back

Plan the trip around your return, not just arrival

Most people only plan how they will get to The O2 and leave the journey home to chance. That is backwards. Getting in is easy because it is spread across the evening; getting out is hard because tens of thousands of people leave within the same short window.

Before you travel, decide your return route and a realistic leave-by time. If you know how you are getting home, the rest of the night is far calmer.

The Jubilee line: the default, and its trap

North Greenwich station sits right by the venue on the Jubilee line, with fast connections into central London and onward interchanges. For most visitors it is the obvious, quickest way to arrive.

The trap is the return. The post-show queue is metered for safety, and your last useful train or onward connection can be earlier than you think. Check the last-train and last-connection times for your actual route before the show, not after it.

Planning the whole night, not just this? The The North Greenwich Survival Kit covers the route, the food window, the meeting point and three ways to leave.

Beyond the tube: bus, river boat and cable car

The Jubilee line is not your only option, and the alternatives are often quieter. Buses leave from the North Greenwich bus station beside the venue and can carry you away from the immediate crush toward other rail links.

Uber Boat by Thames Clippers stops at North Greenwich Pier, while the London Cable Car crosses to the Royal Docks side for a DLR connection at Royal Victoria. Both run to their own operating patterns and have limited capacity, so confirm the live service and never rely on either as your only way home.

Set a leave-by time and a backup that fails differently

Anchor your night to a leave-by time based on your last connection, then decide in advance whether you are leaving fast, waiting out the first wave, or taking the cheapest route.

Give yourself a backup that does not fail in the same way as your main plan: a different station, a bus instead of the tube, or a meeting point away from the busiest doors. Save every route offline, because signal is worst exactly when everyone needs it.