Looking for good place to stay close to Harry Potter studios in October

I always trust the Premier Inn chain in Great Britain to be just what you described, "clean, comfortable, economical."
The Premier Inn Watford North is 1.3 miles from the studio tour.

If you stay at a place close to Watford you won't be close to Heathrow. Although that might depend on how close you need to be. What are you going to be doing the other day(s)?

A 6.30 flight means that you need to be at the airport at 3.30/4.30 depending on where you are flying to, so I would want to stay at Heathrow the night before. I certainly wouldn’t rely on a taxi from Watford.

You mention a hire car then taking a taxi, so where do you return the hire car?

Hi Everyone, Thank you so much for your replies!

Jennifer, we are flying from Heathrow to Austin, TX, so I bet we will need to be at the airport a couple of hours before our 6:30 flight. I really appreciate your bringing this point up. I think we better plan on spending that third night VERY CLOSE to Terminal 2 at the airport, rather than in the vicinity of Harry Potter Studios.

My thought was to do the following:
1. Drive from Wells to the Harry Potter Studios area, arriving in the Studios area around 6 PM.
2. Spend night one in vicinity of the studios
3. Drive to the Harry Potter Studios with our rental car, and tour the Studios this entire day.
4. Spend night two in vicinity of the studios
5. Visit around the studios area, and return the rental car around St. Albans
6. Spend the night around the studios area
7. Taxi to Terminal 2

It sounds like a better plan might be to
1. Drive from Wells to a place in the Chilterns, arriving around 6 PM.
2. Spend night one in the Chilterns area
3. Drive to the Harry Potter Studios with our rental car, and tour the Studios this entire day.
4. Spend night two in the Chilterns area
5. Visit the Chilterns area in the morning, return the rental car in St. Albans (Maybe a different town??), get transportation (what type???) to The Premier Inn Bath Road, and spend the night. Does anyone have ideas about a different hotel very close to Terminal 2?
7. Taxi from the Premier Inn Bath Road (or other closer hotel) to Terminal 2, so that we arrive at Terminal 2 around 4:30 AM

Carol, I appreciate your suggesting the Premier Inn chain of hotels. Do you know anything about the Premier Inn Bath Road?

I don't have a reservation to return the rental car at St. Albans, it just seemed like a rather convenient place to the Harry Potter Studios. Is there another town that might be better to return an Enterprise Rental Car? Particularly a town in The Chilterns area.

Does anyone have a suggestion for a place to spend two nights in the Chilterns that would be relatively close to the HP Studios?

Carol, Jennifer, and Marco, Thank You Again for all of this very useful information!!

Virginia

Stuart,

Thank you ALSO for suggesting that it might be wiser to spend the night before the flight CLOSE to the airport!!!

We will change our plans to stay 2 nights closer to the HP Studios, and the last night as close as possible to Terminal 2 of Heathrow.

Thanks again!
Virginia

I would ditch the car after Wells, train to London, stay there and do HP and other stuff as day trips.

If flying to the States, then you need to be there 3 hours before your flight, making a Heathrow stay even more appealing.

I would either stay in London and head to HP by train or stay in the Chilterns for 2 nights - there is some awesome scenery and pretty villages such as Amersham, Aldbury and Great Missenden.

There is a Premier Inn at Heathrow adjacent to terminal 4, the buses and tube between and within the Heathrow terminals are free, you'd need to check if the Piccadilly line is running that early on departure morning. Friday and Saturday evenings is when the night tube runs.

I agree about getting rid of the car before the Warner Bros visit, maybe Heathrow has a rental depot, then have a base in London that's convenient for Euston Station, take a fast train to Watford Junction and use the WB studios shuttle bus.

Perhaps you can do the Chiltern Hills visit at the start of your stay.

If you stay in the Chilterns, and plan to spend your last night at a Heathrow hotel, could you just drive to Heathrow and drop the car there before checking in to your Heathrow hotel? Your rental car company is bound to have a Heathrow location. I’ve done this several times, there will be traffic of course, but it may be less complicated...and you’ll be driving pros by then anyway.