Heathrow to Bath

hikemike, even if you arrive mid-morning, check-in time at a hotel could be in the afternoon. I'd just keep moving and take the National Express coach from the airport direct to Bath. Painless.

Thanks!

Hikemike

I agree with Stan. I arrived at Heathrow the morning before my Best of England tour in September 2017. I had booked that night at the tour hotel in Bath, along with the bus to Bath. My choice of bus departures allowed for my flight to be slightly late, which it was not, so I spent an hour or so in the bus station while an earlier bus departed for Bath. The buses appeared to have enough space that I could have easily bought my ticket upon arrival for the next bus departure, but you never know. In Bath, I took a cab from the bus station to the tour hotel, checked in, and had the remainder of that day and much of the next to explore Bath on my own while adapting to the new time zone. It's a pleasant city to wander in, and I easily found things to see that were not on the tour itinerary. I don't see much to recommend the Heathrow approach.

-Ben

Thanks, Ben.

Go directly to Bath.

You have a few choices.....take the bus like the previous posters stated or you can take a bus to Reading and then a train to Bath. For first timers, the bus is easier.

Now, there may be posters who are madly in love with the Heathrow Express. They'll tell you to backtrack into London Paddington station and then switch to a train to Bath.

Here's the National Express Bus website:

http://www.nationalexpress.com/en

The bus station is next to the train station in Bath.

If you're staying at the Brooks Guesthouse it's about a 15 minute walk from the bus station. But I'd suggest a taxi.

4th vote for going directly to Bath!

I love Bath and although many seem to "do" Bath as a day trip from London, there is much more to it than that, plus you only have a full day in Bath on the Best of England tour.

I see the Holburne Museum is having an exhibition feature work by Rodin and Degas if you are interested.

If you all are Jane Austen fans the JA Festival is from Sept 9-1. That's kind of fun because people wander around town in their Regency dress! There are some special walks and exhibitions associated with the festival.

https://janeausten.co.uk/pages/festival

(PS The Jane Austen Centre is NOT worth seeing - she didn't live there and they have nothing original of hers so for me it was a complete waste of time. I DID do one of their sponsored walks during the Festival several years ago and it was very good!)

If you are a garden person or enjoy architectural features, Prior Park is neat although it is an uphill walk to the entrance gate,lol. Fortunately then you can walk downhill thru the gardens!

Here's the website for the TI office.

https://visitbath.co.uk/

The Best of England does not go to Stonehenge so visiting there is an option and there are several ways to do it. There are day trips with MadMax, a local company using small vans for day trips. It's also really easy to take the train to Salisbury, pick up the shuttle out to the stones from the train station and stop by Salisbury Cathedral after Stonehenge and before you catch the hourly train back to Bath.

AND there is literally nothing at the airport, well except the airport and a bunch of hotels. IF you decide on this course, I'd stay in Windsor - take a cab there and back to the airport to catch the National Express coach.

BTW, long distance buses in England are nothing like the dismal Greyhound buses here! They are comfortable, safe, clean.

Also check out the trains - which are quicker though doing the cheapest way - you will have to swop trains twice. Go to the following site(s) and put in for Heathrow (but NOT Terminal 4) to Bath. Click ADVANCED OPTION & tick Not via London.

Then check the prices for today for a one way ticket but if coming back in a few days, select the return as well. Note the prices and check the instructions about the change locations. Then do the same thing again for your dates. Note that if you go for Advance tickets - then these are train specific for the Reading to Bath section. If it says off-peak return or Anytime Return - then you can catch any train that is off peak or anytime - as the case may be. (Peak is normally weekdays before 9.30am).
https://www.traintickets.com/?/
https://new.trainsplit.com

If intending to return to London at a later date, it should work out cheaper to purchase return tickets - which will get you as far as Reading on the way back. You would also need to then purchase a ticket from Reading to London. If just going back to Heathrow, then a return should work out cheaper than just one way Heathrow to Bath. A Railcard (£30) will get a discount of around a third.

Please note that train strikes are possible.

Ditto to everything Pam said. My sister and I took the bus to Bath after landing and loved it. They are so much better than in the US and your welcome to England is the lovely countryside. When you get to Bath, drop off your bags and go for a walk to try to keep awake. Bath is the perfect walking town and is so lovely. I will be on the tour that starts on Tuesday after yours. I have been in Bath a couple times and am SO looking forward to it. PS. I have scheduled the Mad Max tour Pam mentions and it looks really good.

We are doing the Best of England which starts 6/19….we also arrive 2 days ahead on Friday - our flight departs 9:30 pm and arrives 12:45 pm. Anticipating being exhausted we decided to use Celtic Horizons based in Bath and does airport transfers …yes it is more expensive but it is door to door and private sedan so it is worth it for us…price was 175 pounds.

Just another option.😃

Also on Saturday we are doing a ½ day tour to Stonehenge with Scarper Tours also out of Bath. We also have a 2 hour time slot at Thermae Spa @ 5:30 Saturday.

Frank II (and others). Thanks for the link (bus) and the advice. Bus sounds like a great place to snooze post flight and will get us into Bath in the Early afternoon.