Where to stay night before Heathrow flight, is Canterbury too far?

Definitely stay closer and get rid of your car the day before your flight.

You should be OK if you left Canterbury c 6.30/6.45, to allow time to return the car, but I wouldn’t risk it, as if there are any delays or road closures, you may miss your flight.

If you are very lucky you can drive via the south loop of the M25 in around 2 hours (from where in Canterbury, to where at Heathrow?) or somewhat longer via the Dartford Crossing (tunnel, toll, toll must be paid in advance online or within 24 hours online) and the north loop of the M25.

To that you have to add traffic - you are going from beyond one side of London all the way to beyond the other side - and how long will it take to turn the car in?

The reason to know about the routes you will need is so that if you become aware of a long delay in one direction you could swap to the other. The M25 is renowned for its long traffic jams.

On an early Saturday it might go swimmingly or a whole section could be stopped if some uncareful bod has made an oopsie. It can very easily add an hour or more.

Going straight through London east to west looks simple but it isn't. No Congestion Charge on the weekend, but road works and road closures and traffic lights and roundabouts will get you. Better to go around.

There are apps that can give you up to date traffic but they all eat data. Will you have access to data?

All of that leads me to a conclusion - your risk averse threshold must be lower than mine. I wouldn't do it with a long haul flight depending on it and unknown delays returning the car. You may be more of a risk taker than I am.

It could be done by train - high speed train from Canterbury into St Pancras International and Piccadilly tube to Heathrow. An hour on the train and an hour on the tube - and add a little fudge time (and make sure that there is no scheduled strike or engineering works on your travel) and you can predict the arrival at Heathrow - and no car to return that day....

I wouldn't want to go all that far either, but at least there are fewer known unknowns.

As long as nobody takes the time of your train to sadly attempt to end their life - reasonably rare, but possible, and if successful it will add 2 to 3 hours to your day.

Thanks for all the replies! The car return is not a problem, other couple with us is returning it later.
If we skip Canterbury and come in from a town WEST of Heathrow on Sat. am, would that be better traffic wise?
Or still too risky?
Thanks!

In my opinion, flying long-haul is stressful and tiring enough not to add additional stress and getting up early by driving from Canterbury.

where, west? Are you talking Bath or Windsor? Reading or Salisbury? How far west?

Hi, sorry, not too far West. Just really didn't want to stay in the airport area. Any small areas within 30 miles West of Heathrow you'd recommend? Would that be a bad drive on a Saturday am? Thanks.

I'm sure there are options since you don't have to worry about returning the car yourself. Windsor is very close to Heathrow.

Just in case you decide to stay near the airport, I highly recommend the relatively new and usually extremely bargain-priced Premier Inn near Terminal 4 at LHR. You can walk from that hotel to T4 through an enclosed walkway in about 15 minutes. You can use the tube to get from T4 to other terminals--I believe at no cost, and I think there are other means of moving around the airport. I've used that hotel twice before flights home and love not worrying about how much time to allow to get in from the city. I booked a non-refundable room a few months in advance for one night last month that cost me £37.50 for single occupancy. Closer in and for refundable reservations the rate is higher, but it usually remains shockingly low for a nice airport hotel.

Windsor would work, so would anything on the M4 this side of Basingstoke, unless there was a problem. Henley on Thames, Maybe High Wycombe (M40 to M25 but if broken A404 to A404(M) to M4). All sorts of choices.

Wow, thanks everyone!!!
Really appreciate it.

Not sure why you don't want to stay near the airport. There are many very affordable ones near Heathrow. Whenever I have a morning flight, I like to be as close as possible to the airport. Lets me sleep a few minutes more, and most of the traffic issues are elsewhere. And if I had a rental car I would have already turned it in the night so one less detail. Boils down to ease of access.

Thanks everyone, for fear of traffic, I did book a hotel close to the airport. Thanks !!!