i am looking for a suggestion for a room in London near Heathrow Airport and near transportation to the main tourist sites. I want a room that is just a place to sleep that is moderately priced, clean, safe, with private bath and TV. Preferably with a shuttle to/from airport.
Any suggestions?
Why near Heathrow given that Heathrow is not convenient to most of the main tourist sites?
Last September I was very satisfied with my single room at the relatively new Premier Inn near Terminal 4. You can walk to the terminal and to whatever they call the free shuttle train that takes you to the tube station. No need to depend on an airport shuttle. The last time I checked the rate, it was under 50 GBP, which is pretty unbelievable.
However, I would never recommend that someone stay out at the airport for more than one night, planning to commute into the city for sightseeing.
near Heathrow Airport and near transportation to the main tourist sites.
You will not get both. There is good transport from Heathrow terminals into central London (Train to Paddington and underground Piccadilly line), but most hotels are not at the terminals, they are arranged around the edge of the airport on public roads, and not near any transport except local buses. It would take ~30 minutes, including waiting time, to get from one of these hotels to a station (by taxi or shuttle), then 30-60 minutes to get to central London. Airport hotels are not convenient for visiting central London.
I don't know how many nights you are staying, but I would recommend a hotel in central London either near Paddington station, or at a location on the Piccadilly line. This would give good access to tourist locations, and good transport to the airport terminals.
It makes no sense to stay near Heathrow unless you have a late arriving flight or a very early departing one, and that's just for one night. I stayed at the Premier Inn at Terminal 4 a couple of weeks ago, but that's because I had taken the day flight from Chicago and arrived at Heathrow after 10 PM, I then stayed near Leicester Square the next day.
The hotel shuttle doesn't exist in London, Heathrow is quite far away from the tourist areas of the city.
Without knowing your budget or number of people, take a look at Premier Inn, a very reliable budget chain. For a solo traveler, I find their Hub brand to be excellent, but they're really only suitable for one person or a very close couple. The regular Premier Inn hotels are perhaps equivalent to a Courtyard by Marriott in the United States and can be found all over London. Booking and prepaying in advance can get you quite a nice savings.
thanks for all the tips. Obviously I know nothing about London, only what I have learned from web sites and tour books. I think I will spend 2 nights close to the tourist area and 1 night close to the airport because i have an early flight out.
Get a map and put some pins in it. The airport is about an hour via tube to central London.
If you can forego a TV in your room, look at London School of Economics Northumberland House location - they offer private rooms with private bathrooms to tourists (singles and doubles) which are very conveniently located to many tourist sites in Central London (it's just a little over a block to Trafalgar Square). They do have some communal lounges that have televisions guests can use, but if you are looking for something to do at night, you can easily walk to the theater district from Northumberland House - check out the discounted tickets booth and see what you might be able to score a ticket to see. You can watch TV at home!
I had an early flight on the way home when I stayed at Northumberland, but really didn't want to stay out at an airport hotel and miss 1 more night in London. With all the public transit nearby, it wasn't hard to get over to Paddington to get Heathrow Express train to airport, although technically, I could have also just taken the tube but it was a long tube ride and worth the extra money to take Heathrow Express to get there faster.
I always stay at the Jesmond Dene Hotel in London. It is 2 blocks from the Kings Cross train and tube station - and the same distance from the St. Pancras Station.
It is more like a B&B - breakfast is avail. on request (full English Breakfasts).
here is a link to their site. I would book directly with the hotel to avoid any extra charges by the various booking agencies.
https://www.jesmonddenehotel.co.uk/
PS you can take the train and tube to get into London and to the hotel.
I love London too, but if I had an early flight out I would seriously consider spending my last night at a hotel near Heathrow.
With just three nights, unless it is a VERY early am flight, I think I'd stay in London itself for all 3 nights. That's just such a short time in London and it would be awful to have to waste time moving hotels. If I could get to Heathrow in time for the flight by using the first tube of the morning, I'd pick that over throwing away precious London time.
I love London too, but if I had an early flight out I would seriously
consider spending my last night at a hotel near Heathrow.
I had an 8am flight from LHR a few years back and still stayed in town. One really misses out by staying at LHR. For that flight, I took car service from my hotel which was at Lancaster Gate. It was worth it.
Near airport, Premier Inn was pretty good, really. Very comfy bed, but bring your own soaps, etc.
In London for hotel near sights, we found when we searched the Travelodge site over there
there were good deals to be found, both the one in Southwark and the one in Windsor were good, comfy, with TV, no phone, but good buffet. I can't find travelodges on any of the hotel search engines, and the prices are sometimes really low, so they are worth a separate search to see what's on sale for your dates.
With such a short trip, you'll do well to get really specific about what you want to see and do, plan out the minimum , and then add things as you feel like it. It can be tiring.
If you have any possible connections to friends, or any club or church or anything, it might be good to connect with a person over there to help with such a short trip. It can be a little daunting to figure it all out so fast.
If you take the Express train from Heathrow, into the center of London, it goes over to Paddington station I think, so you may want to find a hotel near there. Keep it as simple and low-stress as possible :) This is one of those times that spending some additional money for the best location is very worth it. Depending on the time you're going, there can be dorm rooms (nearly all en suite) for rent in the center of London too. If you book now, the exchange rate is really good for us again, so it can be cheap if you pre-pay.
For your first time out, you may want to check out the YHA youth hostel association
https://www.yha.org.uk/places-to-stay/london
You can often get a private room, and you'll also have some extra guidance with the local area and sometimes more friendly lounge rooms with other travelers. I stayed at Pax Lodge because I'm a Girl Scout volunteer, but it's in Hampstead, not the very closest to the sights you probably want to see.
Good luck, keep it fun as possible, and remember that everyone else has also had their first times visiting that they also messed up badly on :) We've all gone through it. Be willing to hail a cab if you get lost, and enjoy the rest of the time that you WILL get right :)
-Alison
