London to Bath

I can't vouch for their kid-friendliness, but have a look at the National Express coaches (buses), which run directly from Heathrow to Bath: http://www.nationalexpress.com/en/airports/heathrow-airport.aspx

It may depend on the terminal. the direct coaches run from the 'central' area, ie close to 2/3. If you are arriving at 5 the coach to Reading and train will beat the coach alternative from there via Bristol or changing to 2/3. If you are arriving at 4 you would need to transfer anyway.

The easiest way is hiring a private car. After a long flight, some jet lag, not being familiar with the area, there is nothing better than having your private driver meet you inside the terminal and whisk you to your destination. It is not the cheapest way, but it is definitely the best. However, if there are four of you, the price of the car might not be that much more than a bus and or train. We recently used one based in Bath to go to another airport and were very pleased with their service and will not hesitate to use them again. Contact James O'Neill at Chauffeur Travel and get a quote. Tel. number is 44 1225 463 404 from outside UK or go to www.chauffeurtravel.co.uk. Believe the email is the email is [email protected].

I took the National Express Bus from Terminal 3 and it was easy. The bus terminal was easy to find. But the bus was pretty full when I got on and you can't reserve seats. Getting seats together could be tricky which could be a problem if your kids are young. Hopefully people would move around for a family but I suppose this isn't guaranteed.

We also took the National Express bus and found it very easy, convenient, and comfortable. I enjoyed watching the countryside go by after a long flight from LAX. We had to wait an hour or so for the bus, but that gave us some time to stretch our legs and snack.

You may want to look at the train. Heathrow Express to Paddington station (frequent departures, maybe 15 minutes journey), and from there trains to Bath (departures every 30 minutes, about 1.5 hours journey). Tickets for Heathrow Express are easy to purchase right at the airport and we bought out tickets at Paddington, no reservations and no problems. Trains offer a little extra legroom and you can get up and walk around a bit easier with kids (may be important depending on how young your kids are).

Another option is taking the Heathrow Express train to Paddington and then heading out via rail to Bath. Depending on their ages, the kids in particular might really dig taking the train through the lovely English countryside.