How to Get to the Lyceum Theatre

21 Wellington Street, London WC2E 7RQ, just off the Strand, between Covent Garden and Waterloo Bridge.

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By tube

Covent Garden and Charing Cross are both about 6 minutes' walk, Holborn about 8, Temple about 10. Covent Garden is on the Piccadilly line, Charing Cross on the Northern and Bakerloo, Holborn on the Central and Piccadilly, and Temple on the Circle and District. Covent Garden is a small station and gets crowded before a show, so Charing Cross or Holborn can be easier.

By train, and the walk from Waterloo

Charing Cross is the nearest mainline station, about 6 minutes along the Strand. Waterloo is only about 10 minutes away over Waterloo Bridge, and on a dry evening walking it is often quicker than changing onto the tube or waiting for a bus.

By bus

Plenty of buses stop within a couple of minutes of the door. The closest stops are Lancaster Place (Stop T), at the top of Waterloo Bridge, and Savoy Street (Stop U) on the Strand. Which bus to take depends on where you're coming from:

• From West London: the 9 (Hammersmith, Kensington, Knightsbridge and Piccadilly Circus) and the 23 (Westbourne Park, Paddington and Marble Arch) stop at Savoy Street.
• From North London: the 91 (Wood Green, Holloway and King's Cross) and the 139 (Golders Green, West Hampstead and Baker Street) stop at Savoy Street. The 1 (Camden and St Pancras) comes down Kingsway to Aldwych / Drury Lane (Stop S) and Lancaster Place.
• From North-East London: the 76 (Tottenham Hale, Stoke Newington and Moorgate), the 243 (Tottenham, Dalston and Old Street) and the 341 (Tottenham, Harringay and Islington) stop at Aldwych / Drury Lane and Lancaster Place.
• From East London and the City: the 15 (Blackwall, Limehouse, Aldgate and Tower Hill) and the 26 (Hackney, Shoreditch and Bank) stop at Savoy Street.
• From South London: the 59 (Brixton and Kennington), the 68 (West Norwood, Herne Hill and Camberwell, and from Euston the other way), the 172 (Brockley, New Cross and the Old Kent Road), the 176 (Penge, Forest Hill and Dulwich), the 188 (Greenwich, Deptford and Surrey Quays) and the SL6 express (West Croydon and West Norwood) all cross Waterloo Bridge to Lancaster Place. The 87 (Wandsworth, Clapham Junction and Vauxhall) comes along the Strand to Savoy Street.

Late at night, more than a dozen night routes use these stops, among them the N9 to Heathrow and the N15, N26 and N87.

By taxi and by bike

Black cabs and bookable taxis can drop you right at the door on Wellington Street. There's a Santander Cycles docking station directly outside the theatre.

By car

There's no parking at the theatre. The nearest car parks are:

• Q-Park Chinatown, Newport Place
• NCP London Covent Garden, Parker Mews, off Parker Street near Drury Lane, with a height limit of 5ft 11

Q-Park Chinatown can be booked ahead.

You're inside the Congestion Charge zone. It's £18 a day, charged 7am to 6pm on weekdays and midday to 6pm at weekends and on bank holidays, so an evening performance falls outside it and a matinee doesn't. ULEZ applies at all hours to vehicles that don't meet the emissions standards.

There are Blue Badge bays close to the theatre, and a drop-off point outside the entrance on Wellington Street.

What time to arrive

Arrive 30 minutes before the show, no later. Every bag is checked at the door, a full theatre is 2,185 people, and a lot of them are children, so getting in takes time. The doors open 90 minutes before, and it's worth making sure everyone has been to the toilet before you sit down.

If you're late, you wait about 15 minutes before you're let in, and you miss the opening parade, when the animals make their way down through the Stalls. It's one of the best moments in the show.

It's just as busy on the way out, so allow for that too.