Our family of 6 is traveling to London end of June, beginning of July. We have airbnbs for all of our stay except for our last night in London before heading back home to the USA. We will be traveling to London from Northern England, and will need to stay just the one night before a morning flight home. I'd like to stay in a hotel for that night because I don't want to clean an airbnb when we have to get up early to head to the airport. We can stay in two rooms as we have three adults. I want somewhere clean, safe, and close to the tube so we can get to Heathrow easily. We have a budget of around $800, but are willing to up the price if necessary to $900. We are also willing to stay close to Heathrow, possibly Windsor, and are open to suggestions there. Thank you for your help! I greatly appreciate it!
Posted by
Freedonia
15012 posts
Why not stay at Heathrow and save yourself the hassle of traveling to the airport the following morning.
If you know which terminal your plane departs, we can tell you the closest hotels. If you don't know the terminal, tell us the flight and we can figure it out.
Posted by
Huntsville, AL, USA
8145 posts
The Premier Inns in the U.K. are often mentioned on RickSteves.com as good middle of the line places to stay.
We stayed at Premier Inn Paddington Basin which is a short walk from the train and underground stations. That's behind St. Mary's Hospital which is next door to the train station. You can get to Heathrow Airport in 15 minutes, and trains leave every few minutes.
They also have a really good restaurant onsite. Our granddaughter often preferred to eat fast foods across the street from the train station.
Posted by
SE Washington, USA
366 posts
For morning flights, we stay at a hotel next to the terminal (our May trip will have an in-terminal hotel stay) or within a couple of miles. With 6 people to wrangle, I'd definitely stay close to the airport.
Posted by
Portsmouth
5264 posts
I'm in the airport crowd too. What time is your morning flight? You'll need to be at the airport a minimum of three hours before your flight so depending on the flight time it might be very tight having to get out of London. If I'm flying from Heathrow then I'll stay at the Sofitel as it's a nice hotel with a covered walkway to the terminal, no need to get a shuttle. However for rooms that will sleep three adults then you'd have to get a suite as they're the only rooms that contain a bed and sofa bed, there are no rooms with three dedicated beds.
Posted by
Preston UK
876 posts
I would stay at Heathrow if your flight is early in the morning taking into account the need to be there 3 hours before. But if it is mid morning onwards I would stay in the city overnight, as staying at an airport hotel is a fairly dispiriting experience.
Are you coming into London by train? If so you will presumably come into either Euston, St Pancras or King's Cross. I would recommend that you stay in that area as you can then get a direct tube to Heathrow on the Piccadilly line or a simple tube to Tottenham Court Road for the Elizabeth Line. I wouldn't stay at Paddington as it means another journey to get there from the other stations. The Heathrow Express, which is the one that takes 15 minutes to Heathrow is very expensive and only goes every 15 minutes. The Elizabeth Line is cheaper, almost as quick and serves several other more central stations and the Piccadilly line is cheaper still.