I will be arriving in Heathrow at 6:25 AM; then I need to go to Elephant & Castle.
I believe that I will need to take the tube to St. Pancras; and then is it best to take a bus or train to Elephant & Castle??
If I should take the train, which one?? Northern Line or the Thames Link??
If I need to take the bus, which one??
What is the difference in cost? I will be in London for 6 days; should I buy the Oyster card??
THANKS!!
YES get the Oyster Card!!
Right now go online and get tickets for the Heathrow Express.
When you arrive at Heathrow and have gotten thru immigration follow signage to the Heathrow Express.
Board the train. 15 minute ride to Paddington Station.
Exit train at Paddington. Walk towards the exit
( follow the other passengers) looking for the Underground Logo Red Circle with Dark Blue Horizontal Bar with White Letters that say UNDERGROUND. Go down the stairs and with your credit or debit card get your Oyster from the machines. Put 15 pounds on the card.
Then use your Oyster to take a Bakerloo Line train to Elephant and Castle. 20-25 minutes. Exit and either walk or taxi to your accommodation.
Or Contact a car hire to transport you from Heathrow to Elephant and Castle.
If you arrive at Heathrow at 6:25 am, i’m going to estimate that it will be 7:25 by the time you actually leave the airport. I am assuming this is a weekday and worry that you will be tired from travel and headed into crowded rush hour cars on the tube with luggage. You seem a little confused on routing and I don’t know that this will start your trip off well.
What is your budget like? Could you pay a little more or are you committed to doing it all by tube?
Or you could save yourself a lot of money by taking the Underground. Piccadilly line from Heathrow to Piccadilly Circus. Then change to the Bakerloo line to Elephant and Castle.
The fare from Heathrow to Elephant and Castle using the tube the entire way is. 5.10 GBP
The fare on the Heathrow Express and the tube assuming you can buy the ticket 90 days out and it is a weekday will cost 18.90 GBP.
The difference is 13.80 GBP or about $18.
The total journey time for the two will be about the same.
Get the Oyster Card. You can always turn it back in to get both your deposit and whatever is left on the card returned.
I expect that your actual destination isn't the Tube station at the Elephant.
If you share your exact destination we can get you closer. I expect that bus mentioned by Emma may be the best choice, but you need to tell us where you want to go.
First of all, I just can't believe how KIND & in-depth you all are!! You are all AWESOME!!!! THANK-YOU for all of your advise!!
OK, now, I was asked for the exact place I need to go......in my original post, I kinda combined a few things (I shouldn't have done that).
So, on this leg of our trip, we are coming in via the Eurostar, which ends at St. Pancras; so I need to figure out how to get to my Airbnb from St. Pancras. The address of our Airbnb is: 6 Sayer Street, Baldwin Point, Greater London, England SE17 1FG.
So I thought that I could take either the Northern Line or the Thames Link & get off at Elephant & Castle; or is there a bus that goes from St. Pancras? (I travel LIGHT--each of us only have a back-pack!!). We arrive Saturday evening at 19:10.
Any advice on how to get there??
THANK you in advance!!
Ok ignoring all references to Heathrow, yes if you come in to St Pancras via the Eurostar the Thameslink would be a very straightforward and easy option to get to Elephant and Castle. Buy and Oyster card and add maybe £20 each to start with.
Just want to flag to you however that this area is halfway through a 10 year redevelopment programme. Locals might be able to best advise on the current state of play but you may feel like you are in the middle of a building site.
I'd say the bus is fine if you know where you're going, but I would find it stressful not knowing your route and when you get off and I wouldn't rely on a friendly driver giving you a heads up. The train/tube will be very easy to identify your stop.
While I don't take a lot of buses in London, all the ones I've taken in the last few months have an electronic board that announces the next stop. All you have to do is look at the bus schedule online to find which are the one or two stops before the one you need so you are ready to get off when your stop arrives. And able to signal the driver to stop.
Ooh sounds fancy Emma! Might have to give it a go next time I'm in town!
TFL: See for yourself:
Enter point of departure and destination, and you will find detailed instructions.
Google Maps offers a similar interactive service.
If you are new to London, please understand that street names must be precise. Bond Street is not Bond Place is not Bond Parade is not Bond Square, to give a made-up destination as an example.
The Oyster, an electronic wallet, is the easiest way to handle the fares, which change according to zone. Tap once to go through the turnstile; tap at your destination to exit. The correct amount is deducted from your card. Faster than fumbling around with the old paper tickets, too.
