Angel to Bank is 7 minutes and £3.10. Journey times, zones and 2026 fares from all 15 Islington stations, plus the two zone 1 stops with no Night Tube at all.
Islington does not commute into London. It is already there, and the questions people actually ask here are narrower: which zone am I in, which line gets me to my desk fastest, and what does a year of it cost.
The borough has 15 stations, and every one of them sits inside the borough boundary. Three are in zone 1, eleven are in zone 2, one is zone 2+3 and one is zone 3. Nothing in Islington is more than half an hour from anywhere in central London. This page sets out the real journey times, the zones, the 2026 fares, and the one thing that catches people out on a Friday night.
The quick version
- Fastest into the City: Old Street to Bank in 4 minutes, or Essex Road to Moorgate in 6.
- Fastest into the West End: Highbury & Islington to Oxford Circus in 8 minutes, direct on the Victoria line.
- Fastest to a mainline: Angel to King’s Cross St Pancras in 2 minutes. Caledonian Road and Highbury & Islington are 3.
- What a year costs: a zone 1-2 annual Travelcard is £1,788, the same price as zone 1 alone.
- The Friday-night trap: Angel and Old Street have no Night Tube, despite both being in zone 1.
Which zone is your station in
This decides the fare, and it is the thing people get wrong when they move here.
| Zone | Stations | Lines and operators |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Angel, Old Street, Farringdon | Northern line, Elizabeth line, Circle, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City, Thameslink, Great Northern |
| 2 | Highbury & Islington, Finsbury Park, Caledonian Road, Holloway Road, Arsenal, Essex Road, Drayton Park, Canonbury, Caledonian Road & Barnsbury, Upper Holloway | Victoria line, Piccadilly line, Mildmay line, Windrush line, Suffragette line, Great Northern, Thameslink |
| 2+3 | Archway | Northern line |
| 3 | Crouch Hill | Suffragette line |
One boundary worth knowing. Tufnell Park station is in Camden, not Islington, even though the Tufnell Park end of the borough sits right beside it. Crouch Hill is the opposite case: the station is in Islington, on the boundary with Haringey, and it is the borough’s only zone 3 stop.
The Underground: three lines, three different jobs
The Northern line runs down the western and eastern sides of the borough and splits at Camden Town, which is the single most important fact about travelling from north Islington. Archway and the High Barnet branch feed the Charing Cross side: Archway to Tottenham Court Road is 13 minutes and Oxford Circus 15. Angel and Old Street sit on the Bank branch: Angel to Bank is 7 minutes, Old Street to Bank is 4, and Angel to London Bridge is 9.
The catch is going the other way. Archway to Bank takes 21 minutes, because you are on the wrong branch and have to go round. If you live in Archway and work in the City, the honest answer is that the Northern line is not really your line.
The Victoria line is the fastest thing in the borough. Highbury & Islington to King’s Cross St Pancras is 3 minutes, Oxford Circus 8, Victoria 12. Finsbury Park is 5, 11 and 15 for the same three. Both stations are zone 2, so a West End commute from Highbury costs the same as one from Angel and takes about the same time.
The Piccadilly line serves Caledonian Road, Holloway Road, Arsenal and Finsbury Park along the Holloway Road corridor. Caledonian Road to King’s Cross is 3 minutes, Holloway Road to King’s Cross 5 and to Piccadilly Circus 13. It is also the borough’s Heathrow line, though from Farringdon the Elizabeth line reaches Heathrow Terminal 5 in 40 minutes without changing, which is quicker than anything the Piccadilly can do.
The lines people forget
Great Northern to Moorgate is the most under-used route in Islington. It runs from Finsbury Park through Drayton Park, Highbury & Islington, Essex Road and Old Street into Moorgate, and it is the fastest way into the City from the middle of the borough. Essex Road to Moorgate is 6 minutes. Drayton Park is 10. Highbury & Islington is 8, faster than any Tube route to the same place. Essex Road and Drayton Park have no other service at all, which is why they feel like village stations in the middle of London.
The Elizabeth line at Farringdon turns a zone 1 Islington station into the best-connected stop in the borough: Paddington in 9 minutes, Canary Wharf in 14, Heathrow Terminal 5 in 40, plus Thameslink north to St Albans and south through the City to Gatwick.
The Windrush line from Highbury & Islington and Canonbury runs south under the river through Shoreditch, Whitechapel and Rotherhithe. Canonbury to Shoreditch High Street is 9 minutes. For Canary Wharf, changing at Whitechapel onto the Elizabeth line gets you there in 22 minutes from Canonbury and 24 from Highbury & Islington, which beats going into town and back out.
The Suffragette line at Upper Holloway and Crouch Hill runs across north London to Barking rather than into the centre. Upper Holloway to Barking is 29 minutes. It is a useful orbital route and a poor central-London one: for the City from Upper Holloway, the bus to Archway and the Tube is quicker.
What it costs in 2026
Fares below took effect on 1 March 2026. Peak means Monday to Friday, not on public holidays, between 06:30 and 09:30 and between 16:00 and 19:00. Journeys from outside zone 1 into zone 1 between 16:00 and 19:00 are charged at the off-peak rate (TfL).
Single fares, from TfL’s journey planner:
- Within zone 1 (Angel to Bank, Old Street to Bank, Farringdon to Paddington): £3.10 peak, £3.00 off-peak.
- Zone 2 into zone 1 (Highbury & Islington, Finsbury Park, Holloway Road, Essex Road, Archway into town): £3.60 peak, £3.10 off-peak.
Caps and Travelcards, from TfL’s adult fares table:
| Zones | Daily cap | Weekly cap or 7 Day Travelcard | Monthly | Annual |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Zone 1 only | £8.90 | £44.70 | £171.70 | £1,788 |
| Zones 1-2 | £8.90 | £44.70 | £171.70 | £1,788 |
| Zones 1-3 | £10.50 | £52.50 | £201.60 | £2,100 |
| Zone 2 only | £8.90 | £33.50 | £128.70 | £1,340 |
Three things fall out of that table.
Zone 1 and zones 1-2 cost exactly the same. £8.90 a day, £44.70 a week, £1,788 a year. So living in zone 2 Highbury rather than zone 1 Angel saves you nothing on the fare, which is unusual: in most of London the zone boundary is a price step. In Islington it is not, because zone 1 is the destination either way.
The daily cap rarely bites. Two zone 1-2 peak singles come to £7.20, under the £8.90 cap. The number that matters to a five-day commuter is the £44.70 weekly cap, which you reach after about six peak returns, so a five-day week plus one weekend trip gets you there and a plain five-day week does not.
Staying out of zone 1 is worth £448 a year, but almost no Islington journey does. Zone 2 only is £1,340 against £1,788. The routes that qualify are the orbital ones: Canonbury to Shoreditch or Whitechapel on the Windrush line, and Upper Holloway east on the Suffragette line.
Night Tube: the Angel problem
Night Tube runs Friday and Saturday nights on the Central, Jubilee, Northern, Piccadilly, Victoria and Windrush lines (TfL). For Islington that produces a result most people find surprising when they first hit it:
- Highbury & Islington and Finsbury Park: the Victoria line runs all night. A 03:00 Saturday check put Highbury & Islington to Oxford Circus at 7 minutes and Finsbury Park at 9.
- Caledonian Road, Holloway Road and Arsenal: the Piccadilly line runs all night. Holloway Road to Piccadilly Circus is 13 minutes at 03:00, the same as in the morning peak.
- Archway: the Northern line runs all night on the Charing Cross branch, which is the side Archway sits on. Oxford Circus takes 20 minutes at 03:00, changing at Euston.
- Angel and Old Street: no Night Tube. The Northern line’s night service runs on the Charing Cross branch only, and both these stations are on the Bank branch. At 03:00 the journey planner sends you to a night bus, the N73 from Angel and the N205 from Old Street, and Oxford Circus takes 17 and 23 minutes respectively.
That is worth planning around, because Angel and Old Street are the two stations closest to the borough’s late-night drinking. The nearest all-night trains are Highbury & Islington on the Victoria line, about 20 minutes’ walk up Upper Street from Angel, or a night bus.
Frequently asked questions
What zone is Islington in?
Mostly zone 2. Angel, Old Street and Farringdon are zone 1, Archway is zone 2+3 and Crouch Hill is zone 3. Everything else in the borough is zone 2.
How long does it take to get from Angel to the City?
7 minutes to Bank and 9 to London Bridge, direct on the Northern line’s Bank branch. From Old Street, Bank is 4 minutes.
What is the fastest station in Islington for the West End?
Highbury & Islington, on the Victoria line. Oxford Circus is 8 minutes, King’s Cross St Pancras 3 and Victoria 12, all without changing.
How much is an annual Travelcard from Islington?
£1,788 for zones 1-2 at 2026 prices, which is £171.70 a month. Zone 1 alone costs the same. From Crouch Hill you need zones 1-3, which is £2,100 a year.
Is there a Night Tube at Angel?
No. Angel and Old Street are on the Northern line’s Bank branch, which does not run at night. The nearest all-night Tube is Highbury & Islington on the Victoria line, or the Piccadilly line at Caledonian Road and Holloway Road.
What is the quickest way to Canary Wharf from Islington?
From the south of the borough, Farringdon on the Elizabeth line, 14 minutes. From the north, change at Whitechapel off the Windrush line: 22 minutes from Canonbury, 24 from Highbury & Islington. Angel via London Bridge and the Jubilee line is 22 minutes.
Related
- Islington house prices: what a zone 2 postcode costs, area by area.
- Islington roads and roadworks: what is dug up now, and the local rules drivers get caught by.
- Things to do in Islington: almost all of it is walkable from a station on this page.
Sources
- TfL journey planner and StopPoint data for zones, lines and journey times. Times are the fastest returned for a weekday 08:00 departure on Tuesday 11 August 2026; night-time results are for a 03:00 departure on Saturday 15 August 2026. Checked 9 August 2026.
- TfL adult caps and Travelcard prices, from 1 March 2026 for the caps and Travelcard table.
- TfL Tube and rail fares for peak and off-peak definitions and single fares.
- TfL Night Tube for the lines and nights it runs.
- Station locations checked against postcodes.io to confirm which borough each station falls in.
Fares and timetables change. Check your own journey on TfL’s journey planner before relying on a figure here.
Have your say
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