Busy and easy train station to navigate Quickest way to…read morecentral London from here Trains can be delayed on and off Clean and enough food stalls and shops for the size

I won't say that this station is huge, but compared to a lot of other stations that I've visited,…read moreit is still pretty massive. Well, that probably should be surprising considering that Croydon is a pretty major metropolitan hub, so of course there is going to be a pretty large station here. Like a lot of stations, it's not bad at all, and reasonably easy to get around. Oh, and there are lots of shops there as well.

Southern Railway are the train company who operate most of the services from London Victoria,…read moretowards Croydon and onwards to Brighton and the South Coast, serving the area once covered by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway from Hastings to Chichester. Since last July they have also operated the Gatwick Express service to the airport. They are part of Govia, itself a the partnership of Go-Ahead, one of the UK's leading transport groups, and Keolis, a European leader in public transport. The distinctive white, pale and dark green livery has now become a feature of south London services. My general experience of them has been pretty good, as since taking over the franchise they have certainly improved punctuality and reliability, as well as modernising a number of stations. When they started, they introduced new rolling stock on the long-distance services, which were a big improvement, although it took them a while to sort out teething troubles that kept many toilets 'out of order'. But they seem to keep them pretty clean. That said, the new timetable introduced in December has a number of features I don't like: the through Watford Junction to Brighton services have been truncated at East Croydon, meaning I (and my other half) have to change trains at Clapham Junction, which we didn't have to do before. Another major feature since December has been the extension of Gatwick Express services to Brighton in the rush hours to provide more trains: this is great for those going from Brighton to Victoria, but less good for those who used to alight at East Croydon and Clapham Junction, who now have fewer than half the services they had before (the new service stops only at Gatwick Airport). Teething troubles with the 'new' stock for this service has also led to some service disruption, but hopefully this is now being sorted out. My biggest complaint is the habit of their trains leaving early: posters announce the possibility that the doors may close up to 30 seconds before departure, but some over-zealous platform staff sometimes wave away the train even earlier than this. It's terribly frustrating to arrive with half a minute to spare, to see the train disappearing in the distance. Overall, though, it's not a bad service, but things do sometimes go wrong, so I realise that the 4-star rating may be controversial!

Went to a teller. Told them where I was going. They told me what train to go on and how to…read moretransfer. Got on the train and still owed more money?

This tram stop connects you to East Croydon, West Croydon and even Wimbledon. The Wellesley Tram…read morestop is just outside the Whitgift Centra entrance from Wellesley Road. This tram stop is a great addition to exploring Croydon without having to walk everywhere with your bags of shopping. You can not get to Wimbldon from this stop but take it to East Croydon and switch there. There is no ticket office but you can touch in with your Oyster Card or buy a paper ticket from the machine on the platform.

South Croydon station has recently enjoyed a refurb, and has been painted all over a lovely shade…read moreof grey. Just perfect for the miserable grey mornings stood forlornly on its platforms. But my favourite thing about the refurb is this: they dug up a great tract of the car park to make a ramp up the kerb to the ticket office for disabled access. Which is all well and good. Only, you can't get on to the platform without going down a flight of narrow stairs into a tunnel, and then back up again. And, once on the platform, it's one of those stations which sits a good couple of feet away from the train doors - a menace to anyone with less that perfect agility and anyone wearing a pencil skirt. Still, hurrah for the ramped kerb.

Good location for HSBC's Sports and Social Grounds, and access to the Crystal Palace Training…read moreGround, Goals - Beckenham, Gambado Childrens Soft Play Centre. There are no toilet, waiting room or cafe facilities at this station. During peak M-F morning rush, there is a small tea/coffee stand which sells daily newspapers and snacks. The ticket desk is only open at certain times, all other times you need to use the 1 ticket machine which is located outside the main entrance (HSBC side). You can queue to use this machine, so don't expect to buy a ticket for a train due in 2-3 minutes!

wao probably the easiest transportation system i've ever navigated zzz very easy and all you need…read moreis to tap your credit card if you're a foreigner

Did worry about getting around London with 2 children in tow as had only ever done it with friends…read moreor by myself before. There were no problems at all, we had to wait at times to get through the barriers as children under 10 were free they had no tickets to get in or out themselves. Not many people pushed or got in our way, we stood to the side to let people over take us when it was appropriate and those in a rush did just that. They also enjoyed the buskers at the various stations, and got used to it by the end of the first day. I think it helped we were in Paris and used their underground trains 2 weeks before as when at home we rarely if ever use public transport!