Connections to Bath from London Airports

Use this site for rail connections.
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/default.aspx
You can put in your Heathrow arrival terminal as "From" and Bath Spa as "To"

You have a few choices:

National Express coaches direct to Bath with no changes. Where you pick it up depends on your arrival terminal. (There are four at Heathrow.)

Coach to Reading then change for the train to Bath.

There are no trains at Heathrow except those into London which is the opposite way if going to Bath.

Absolutely nothing wrong with using the bus or train to get to Bath. Having said that, however, in my opinion a private car service is the best option. Not the cheapest, but the best. We've used car services in different locations and our experience has been that using a service based in the destination city works well as they always seem to know "the best way home". We used one based in Bath to go to the Bristol airport but we would not hesitate to use them from Heathrow to Bath. The web site is chauffertravel.co.uk and the email address is [email protected]. We sent an email detailing our needs and had a reply within 24 hours. Not sure about the price since we didn't actually take that trip, but by the time you total up bus / train fares, the hassle factor, time involved, all while being jet lagged on unfamiliar turf, it's a small luxury we feel is well worth the price.

I would recommend taking the Heathrow Express train from London Heathrow airport to the London Paddington Station. Then at the Paddington station take the train to Bath. We did this a few years ago though we stayed overnight near the Paddington station at Hotel Indigo and then continued on. We got our train tickets online. www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk or www.nationalrail.co.uk

Thank you for your suggestions! Very helpful.

If you can still change your flight, note that you could fly into Bristol, which is a short bus ride from Bath.

We did look into flights to Bristol, but from our departure location, the cost was significantly higher. I think taking the “coach” (bus?) makes the most sense. Much less expensive than hiring a car, as wonderful as that sounds!

I am finding this thread very helpful! I will piggyback and add a question. If taking the National Express bus from Heathrow to Bath, how much time would you suggest I put between our scheduled arrival and the departure of our bus? Scheduled arrival is 10:30. There is a bus that leaves at 12:20 or 2:20. Would love to hit that 12:20 but realize Heathrow is huge, customs, etc. etc.

Lukew...No one knows how long it could take--flight late, lines at immigration, which terminal to see how far it is to the bus stop, etc.

American and Canadian passport holders can use the egates at Heathrow. Assuming the machine can read your passport it should be quick. But it does have problems.

Customs is most often nothing. ( Remember, immigration is for you and your passport and customs is for your stuff.)

With two hours you should make it. And your ticket should be good on any bus that day.

"Coach" in British English means a long-distance inter-city bus.

TC - Hope you see this post. Thanks so much for suggesting the car hire idea. After figuring out our Britrail flex pass options, we realized we only needed the 4 day flex pass if we took the chauffeured car to Bath from Heathrow. Rather than spending the roughly $200 on our rail passes for 8 days (the next jump up from 4), we are using that money to hire a car. I could not get your link to work from your post, but was able to contact the Bath-based chauffeured car service by phone from their website. They responded immediately. I think this option will be best for two travel weary companions!

If TC doesn't respond here, you can send them a private message. Just make sure you're signed in and click on their name.

"Thanks so much for suggesting the car hire idea."

To avoid confusion, "car hire" in the UK means a self drive car, TC was suggesting a car service.

Thanks for your clarification about terminology. We are indeed getting a chauffeured ride from the airport. I’ll try to remember not to call it a “car hire!”

It appears you have already made the arrangements you need. But if you still need the car service info here it is. The one we used based in Bath is chauffeurtravel.co.uk and the email address is [email protected]. I'm sure you'll be pleased with them.

Thanks. The issue with the link was that chauffeur was missing the second “u”. Once I put that in, I found it on the web!

Ooops! So much for spell checker. Thanks for the info. I'll change my records so no one else is frustrated.