Heathrow to City Center

If you’re staying by the London Eye, you probably want to get to Waterloo Station. Are you staying at the Premier Inn there?

I got there by taking the Elizabeth line (Abbey Wood) to Tottenham Court Road Station. Transfer to the Northern (black) Line, then get off at Waterloo Station, and walk to your hotel.

You can also take the Piccadilly line to the District line, which will get you to the same place. You can find more information at Transport for London. https://tfl.gov.uk/

Are you comfortable using public transportation? London is a city with a great transportation system. If take just a few minutes to learn how to use it, you will find it very useful.

I encourage you to put the CityMapper app on your phone and select London as the city. You can then find the transport options for any destination. I would also encourage you watch a few you tube videos about riding the tube in advance.

I would take the tube or Elizabeth line into the city and transfer to a line that goes to Waterloo Station which is near the Eye.

Why not share the name of the hotel so we can give you exact directions? Your options are plentiful.

To add to Mardee's post you can get any Elizabeth line train from Heathrow to Tottenham Court Road, as they all go there, not just the trains to Abbey Wood. Trains to Shenfield are fine too.
If you do the Piccadilly/District line route, changing across platform at Hammersmith, that will take you to Embankment station. From there you will need to walk across the river, which will be a fine introduction to London if the weather is OK and you don't have a lot of bags.

We just did Heathrow to our hotel near The City following Rick Steves London City Guide 2024 guidance: Heathrow Express to Paddington, then a taxi to the hotel. We had significant luggage and my wife was ill, so the Tube wasn't a good option. Heathrow Express was excellent (once we navigated the complexity of the airport). The taxi ride was not up to expectations: the driver didn't know anything about the area of our hotel, so I had to direct him, he took a roundabout route across the river (probably needed to due to traffic, but he didn't tell us what was going on), and expected a big tip even though he was rather incompetent.

As Steves says, you can save quite a bit taking the Tube the whole way, but if you have much luggage, BEWARE, some transfers have long stairs to deal with! I learned this the hard way on a previous visit to London. Also be aware that schlepping luggage on the Tube during rush hours is never fun.

If you decide to go with Heathrow Express you can save a lot by booking in advance and getting return tickets. I found its website easy to navigate.

The Elizabeth line will always be cheaper than the Heathrow Express even with cheaper advance tickets, plus the fare will count towards your daily cap which it won't with the HEX. It takes a few minutes longer but is comfortable and also has the advantage of carrying right across central London opening up lots of accommodation options without the need to take a taxi as well. All Elizabeth line stations are step free.

Thanks Johnew52, that sounds like a potentially much better option that I didn't get (i.e., didn't fully understand) from the RS London City Guide treatment of Heathrow to London transport. I very much liked HEX (very fast, non=stop, and easy luggage storage) and connections were easy, but a train that is cheaper and gets one closer to one's destination sounds like a no-brainer.

A postscipt: I echo the earlier post in this thread that said "Get the Citymapper app!" It's amazing, shows step by step real time options for getting around London. I just plugged "Heathrow" into it and it indeed showed the nearest tube station, connections to the Elizabeth line, costs, current status of transport, and a whole lot more. I'll never travel without it in the future.

Thank you all! I’ve downloaded the Citymapper app and have read up on the Heathrow Express, Elizabeth and Piccadilly lines.
We plan on taking the Elizabeth line and then catching a taxi or cab from either Tottenham Court or Paddington to our hotel.
Thanks for the useful tips.

Here's a video of three people in a race to be the first to get from Heathrow to downtown London--HEX, Elizabeth Line and the Tube. From The Points Guy, March 21, 2024:

https://thepointsguy.com/guide/the-best-way-to-get-from-heathrow-airport-to-london/

kristinh, I think you will like the Premier Inn County Hall. I stayed there for 5 nights in March of this year, and it worked very well for me. It's a good location—it's a very easy and quick walk over Westminster Bridge to get to major sites, and there are lots of places in the area for food and drink, including Gail's Bakery, which offers dine-in and takeaway, and also a M&S Simple Food (urban grocery store) and much more. There is also a Starbucks nearby.

When you get there, you may have to hunt someone down to lock up your luggage. If you don't see anyone in the lobby just head back towards the dining area, and there should be staff there. You also have the option of paying £10 to check in early (at 11 am) but it's not always available. Also they generally won't offer housekeeping service unless you request it by the day before (which is not a big deal), but if you just want towels changed, you still need to request housekeeping service even for just one thing like that. :-)

ETA: Also in terms of once you're there, keep in mind that the Westminster Tube station is just across the river, so you can use that to get places as well as Waterloo Station. And walking is very easy from there.