Time to get from LHR to Hotel near Victoria

It will depend on several factors- 1- How many planes have landed at about the same time as yours -therfore how many people will be lined up at immigration 2- Whether you have baggage to collect (and if so, how quickly your plane is unloaded)
3- The tube from Heathrow to Victoria Station will take about an hour and then you have about a 10-15 min. walk to the hotel. Assuming you clear immigration and don't have to collect baggage, you MIGHT get on the tube by 11:45- that would put you at the hotel around 1:00ish. That is probably to most opptimistic estimate.

Thanks Toni. I forgot to mention, we will just have carry-on luggage, so won't need to wait for baggage to arrive. I was trying to figure out if we could make a 2pm London Walk ('course their Summer schedule isn't out yet, so it's too early to plan much in that regard).

You will need to switch lines. Make the change at Hammersmith. It is the easiest stop to change because the lines are just across a platform...a matter of a few yards. Some of the other places you can change involve stairs,etc. I can't remember exactly how long it takes, but it is a bit of a ride. Add in the fact that it takes awhile to walk to the tube station from where you get off (the airport is huge) and it could be awhile.

Is the venue for the Walk near your hotel?

I stayed at the Luna Simone in Oct 2010. It's very easy to take the tube from Heathrow and much cheaper. Take the Piccadilly line from Heathrow (the only choice you have) get off at Hammersmith, simply walk across the platform to the other side and then take the District/Circle line and get off at Victoria Station. Takes about 45 minutes. This was a great tip from this wonderful helpline. Now is the tricky part. Look at google maps to familiarize yourself with the Victoria Station surroundings. The station is big and there may still be alot of construction going on right now. Bus #24 takes you from Victoria Station to the stop right in front of Luna Simone. I believe it was only 2 stops from Victoria Station. When we first arrived there, we had a hard time finding the bus stop so we ended up just walking to the hotel, it took about 10 minutes once we found the right road. Again, it really helps to look at Google maps to familiarize yourself with the streets so you have a good idea of where you are when you get out of Victoria Station. So if your flight gets in on time and you have carry on luggage it may take less than an hour to clear customs. Get your oyster card at the tube station at Heathrow and you should be at LS about 2 hrs after you land at the airport, if all goes as planned.

To me 2pm seems a little tight. however, you could save time by taking Tube from Heathrow to Victoria (as explained above) leave your luggage at Victoria station and go directly to the Walk. (dont check into hotel). however, i would do the WWalk on another day. On first afternoon, there s a very easy walk from Pimlica station along the thames (past the tate), you pass some lawns (sunbathing in Summer) and you are at Westminster Abbey and surrounds. I always enjoy this walk, you can do it at your own pace

Connie and Claudette: Thanks very much for the tip re: changing at Hammersmith as well as the pointers about finding the LS. I was thinking to change at Green Park which would been much more difficult I'm sure.
Brian: I think you're right about leaving the Beatles to another day. I know it's something my husband definitely wants to do, so I was kind of viewing it like the Flying Dumbo ride at Disneyland (for those of you without little kids, that is "gotta get it in the rearview mirror ASAP") but think I'm better off working it in another day. Is the walk you mentioned one that there is an RS audioguide for? I thought he had a Westminster walk. Thanks All!!

Nigel, I'm not sure yet where the Walks will be leaving from because the schedule may change when they switch over from Winter to Summer. As of now, they are showing a Beatles walk my husband is interested in leaving from Tottenham Court at 2pm on Wednesday (they day we arrive).

I don't think you have to pre-pay for the London Walks - just show up. So you can plan on trying to make the 2:00pm walk and if you don't, then take it another day. It should take you about 25 min. on the underground to get from the Pimlico station to the Tottenham Court station. You take the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus, then change there to the Central line. You might find this site helpful journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/
It is the Journey Planner site for Transport for London (they run the Tube and busses in London).

I think it could work but I think you will likely be puffing as you run outside Tottenham Court Road tube station. I think it will be tight. You'll probably be fine as long as you don't dawdle and your flight's on time (or maybe a little early?). That Walk looks pretty set in stone to me. Do you have your Oysters already or do you need to queue at Heathrow? £ Sterling or do you need to find an ATM? B&B host expecting you or do you have to find them? Good luck...

i think you are already convinced- but the advice to change Tubes at Hammersmith is "golden". On a work assignment west of London I noticed all the London commuters doing this. Eventually I cottoned on and followed their example. At most other stations East of Hammersmith, the Piccadilly line is very deep and not on the same level as other lines you may want to transfer to

Thanks, everybody, for your help! One more question: after we get to Victoria Station and before we head out for the Luna Simone, we need to buy our Travelcard passes so we can use the 2-4-1 offers. I know those need to be purchased at the rail station. Is this the same building where we will exit the District/Circle tube?

Thanks, everybody, for your help! One more question: after we get to Victoria Station and before we head out for the Luna Simone, we need to buy our Travelcard passes so we can use the 2-4-1 offers. I know those need to be purchased at the rail station. Is this the same building where we will exit the District/Circle tube?

NO! That is the TfL Underground station. You will neeed to go into Victoria Station proper. As you enter it will look a bit like a shopping mall. There are fast food stands, Boots the Chemists, jewelery stands, even a Thortons Chocolate stand. The National Rail ticket booths are to your right as you face the shushi stand - or sort of diaginally across from the WHSmith bookstore/news stand.

On your way out of the Underground/tube at Victoria (and while you are still "underground") there will be signs directing you to the railway station and also to various street exits. Follow the signs to the RR station, you will not leave the complex

Interesting because the Heathrow site itself recommends 2 hours for intra-European flights and 3 hours for long haul. I'm surprised that BA gave you shorter info. www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/checking-in You can check in with BA 24 hours in advance and I recommend that you do this. Even if you don't have access to a printer, BA lets you check-in online and print your boarding pass at a kiosk at the airport. When I am flying back to the States, I usually cut it down to 2.5 hours in advance if I have checked in online as that saves the wait in the queue at checkin.

I'm surprised that you are flying from Paris to Heathrow. So many people don't now. By the time you have journeyed out to the airport and waited the 2 hours before you can get on the plane you could be already in the centre of London using the Eurostar. 30 minute checkin, in the middle of Paris and just 2:15 on the train. You won't even have pushed back by then. Interesting. I wonder if more folks are flying now...

Thanks! I think I've got it. Here's my next question: we have a few flights involving LHR on this tripfrom LHR to Rome prior to the start of our RS tour, and then from Paris to LHR and from LHR back to the states (the following morning) after our tour. All these are on BA. I called BA to ask how much in advance of the flights we needed to show up at the airport and they said just 1 hour for the flights within Europe and 2 hours for the flight back to the states. For some reason, I thought it was longer than that. Does that sound right? We are staying at the LHR Yotel (T4) for the nights prior to the Rome and states flights so will have a quick trip to get to the terminal, but still don't want to push it and be late. Thanks!!

@Nigel: Yeah, the flying from Paris to London certainly wouldn't have been our first choice. It's the result of using AA frequent flyer miles. As are the Houston to Dallas to Austin connections we get to endure after we leave London. If I hadn't been buying 4 tickets in the high season, I might have elected to forgo using the FF miles. :-/

That's a lot of flyin'! And you have to go to Inter-Planetary, too!! You poor folks...