Hello,
We will be leaving Stratford upon Avon first thing in the morning on Saturday June 10 and will be going to Heathrow Airport. What is the fastest way to get there by train or bus? I have been trying to look on the internet but am confused! Thanks for any advice.
The train is quicker than a coach/bus. SuA to London Marylebone, then get a tube to Paddington to catch the Heathrow Express. Journey time c 3 hours.
If flying to the States, you will need to be at Heathrow 3 hours before your flight or 2 hours for other flights.
Since there is more than one of you, and you say you want early morning consider getting a local private hire car to take you there directly. The earliest you can get there by train is around 11am at a cost of at least £79 each (may be cheaper by splitting tickets). Coach is 12:15pm although much cheaper (£20 or so).
Some cities have dedicated airport buses that will take you straight to Heathrow, which can be extremely convenient. Stratford-upon-Avon, it seems, is not one of those cities. The coach (bus) that Marco mentions has you transferring at Victoria coach station, which means you have to ride all the way into central London and all the way back out again. That's why it takes so long.
It would help to know what time your flight is. You say you're leaving first thing in the morning - hopefully that means that your flight is well into the afternoon. If your flight is in the morning, you probably need to spend your final night somewhere closer to the airport.
And to amend what Jennifer said: Heathrow's official guideline is that you should aim to be there 3 hours in advance of a long-haul flight. That's not the same thing as saying you must be there 3 hours in advance (which may mean aiming for 4 or 5 hours in advance to allow for travel delays). Last time I flew out of Heathrow, due to circumstances beyond my control, I arrived about 1 3/4 hours before my flight, and I still made my plane in plenty of time. While I wouldn't recommend this as a general course of action, it does mean there's less reason to panic.
Some of the coaches to Heathrow require a change at Cheltenham rather than London - although this is an even greater way round.
Stratford-u-Avon is not really that well connected for public transport as it isn't on a main line railway (I think Chiltern is a bit half-hearted about its few services), nor is it that close to a major town or city either.
Other options might include:
Take a cab to Leamington Spa (only about 10 miles away, so should be much cheaper than getting a car all the way to Heathrow), where trains start running much earlier in the morning, and you can get to Heathrow as early as 9:00-ish.
Or take the train to Oxford (starting from either Stratford-upon-Avon or Leamington Spa), walk the 1/4 mile from the train station to the bus station, where there's frequent bus service to Heathrow. This takes approximately as long as the train via central London but may be cheaper.
And by all means, if you want to take the train all the way there, split your ticket to save money. Most of the train routes have you go to London Paddington and then take the Heathrow Express, and they want to charge you 70+ pounds for the privilege. But you can get a ticket to London Paddington for about 30 pounds, which saves you money even if you pay the walk-up fare for the Heathrow Express. (And since you're traveling on a weekend several months from now, you can pre-book your Heathrow Express tickets and save a lot of money there too.)
Yet another way from Leamington Spa is train to Reading, then Railair to Heathrow, particularly for T5.
Being the OPs first post, there is nothing else to go on regarding itinerary (such as how early), or indeed expertise in navigating things, apart from being 'confused'. This could be important in setting up the cheapest round trip etc.
A car to Heathrow could be from around £110 doing a quick quote, which again not knowing how many could even be cheaper than many of the public transport possibilities let alone being the most direct.
Thanks very much to everyone who has replied! These answers are quite helpful and confirm the impression I had that there is no one obvious route but a number of alternatives. My husband and I are traveling back to the U.S. from Heathrow but our flight isn't until 17:20 so we have plenty of time to get to the airport. We do like getting to airports early -- there are so many unforeseen things that can happen when you are traveling.
Ah, OK. With a late afternoon flight you have plenty of time. So just go to http://nationalrail.co.uk and book any train route from Stratford-upon-Avon to London Paddington, arriving in the late morning or early afternoon. (Note: If you just put "London" as your destination, it may send you into a different station, and you'll have to pay to take the tube to Paddington. But if you put Paddington as your destination, your tube fare will be covered.) Then go to http://www.heathrowexpress.com and book an advance ticket on the Heathrow Express (you don't need to commit to a specific time, just a specific day).
