Heathrow to Bath

Doing this as well so would also love to get this info. We are arriving at Terminal 3 mid day.

If you purchase train tickets in advance, please leave yourself plenty of time between the expected arrival time at Heathrow and the train departure time. Planes have been known to be late and immigration can be fast or slow. You probably wont be able to check in at you hotel in Bath until mid afternoon so why not build in enough time to allow for contingences. Better to have extra time and not need it than the other way around.

There is National .Express coach (bus) service from Heathrow to Bath. Saves you from going into London.

... and if ultimately using the train don't go to Paddington, buy tickets online on the Railair coach to Reading 2-3 months in advance and join the train there rather than backtracking to London. I can't recommend the Heathrow Connect to London because of its infrequency too. The only reason to do that would be if you were arriving at Heathow's transport backwater, ie Terminal 4.

Thank you. Reading is familiar to my husband so it would also be a chance for me to see a bit of it by taking the coach there. Thank you for explaining how that works. He had many business trips there and someone else always did the driving from Heathrow.

i figured that I could look at when we can check into our hotel in Bath and work backward from there. If we check in at 3PM than we could take the train from Paddington at 1PM. That would leave us about 3 hours between landing and getting to Paddington. Does that seem to be enough time? As an alternative, how far a walk is it from Terminal 3 to the bus depot? And do we save time or money by taking the bus to Reading? And will we have to change trains going from Reading to Bath?

The walk from Term 3 to the bus depot is about 8 minutes, if I am remembering correctly. You can use your luggage trolley (free at Heathrow) for the walk. It is well marked and an easy walk.

I would suggest that your estimate for customs would be too short. It took me 2.5 hours once to get through border control at Heathrow and my parents took 3 hours last year. I think I have flown into Heathrow 5 times, and 3 of those times I distinctly remember being at border control well over an hour.

You will probably save both time and money by taking Marco's advice -- coach from Heathrow to Reading and then train to Bath. Why spend time and money going into London just to turn around immediately?

Here's the link to the Railair service to Reading, and here's the link to the National Rail website where you can plan train travel. As others have suggested, if you're going to buy an advance rail ticket, allow lots of time for possible late arrival, deplaning, immigration, and the connection to Reading (or Paddington if you choose).

I would take the Railer coach to Reading. Purchase in Advance for a specific train from RDG > BTH and you can get the fare down to £10 one way. Pre book tickets at www.gwr.com

Firstly find fares at www.nationalrail.co.uk (Note that pay on the day is dearer - test it for say 10 weeks ahead on a Sunday).
If you pre-book and show up early at Reading station - look at the board to find the next train to Bath & Platform. Go to the platform & stand where the rear of the train will be. When it arrives - you will find the guard at this position - ask if you can use this train without penalty as you are pre-booked for a later service. He/she may well let you board but they could say no.

Just for variety I'll toss our experience in - We had a quick stop between Heathrow and Bath, so we hired a car through Blacklane that picked us up at Heathrow, took us to our intermediate stop (Oakley Court Hotel) and dropped us off at the Maidenhead train station. Worth every penny.

(And for balance: we arrived on a Sunday morning and cleared customs in 30 minutes)

Sounds like you are set on the train, but I just wanted to mention that my wife and I took the bus direct from Heathrow to Bath in 2013. Our plane was late and we missed the bus for which we had prepurchased tickets, but for a few pounds more they gave us tickets on a later bus. We did not have to pay full price for the replacement tickets.

Like VS, last May, I took the National Express Coach from LHR to Bath. It was very easy. I didn't pre-purchase my ticket because I was concerned about getting through all the arrival hoops in time to get to the LHR coach station. It was a wise decision because I would have indeed missed my first choice of coach departure. As it turned out, I had plenty of time to have some coffee, a snack and toilet break(s) before boarding the coach. The coach station in Bath is right next door to the train station.

If you go to the link, and scroll down the page, you'll see lots of options for discounts, including ones for families.