We arrive at London Heathrow at 7AM and don't depart for our Rome leg until 3:45PM. We're not members (and won't join) the Admirals Club or other affinity club, and we're trying to decide how to use the time. I don't think it feasible to try to go into London because of possibly getting snagged in traffic. Does anyone have any ideas? We'd love to find a place comfortable enough to take a nap if possible or just stretch out. Also, our flight arrives Rome-FCO at 7:15PM. Can we get into Rome from FCO at a reasonable enough hour to check into a hotel in the city and go to a restaurant, or would it be wiser to stay at an airport hotel that night? We are flexible as our itinerary isn't definitely set yet. We were originally planning to go directly from FCO to Florence for three nights, but might flip order so we stay in Rome three nights instead and go on from there into Florence.
Posted by
Chicago, IL, USA
483 posts
If you were inclined, you could get a day pass to any of the affinity clubs without doing a full join. I found this list for LHR:
https://www.loungebuddy.com/LHR?source=wdgt-www-loungebuddy&filter_access=select
But wife and I spent 5 hours profitably at Heathrow, just exploring shopping areas, having a bite to eat, sitting in a cafe and watching folks, and then realizing we were in the wrong terminal and booking it pell mell to get to the Alitalia flight. Heathrow is maybe the second most interesting airport for people watching I've been in to 'Stanbul (I could throw Narita, Ho Chi Minh, Bangkok, and Kuala Lumpur on that list , but 'Stanbul at the end of Hajj was the most interesting people watching).
But also, faced with a long turn now, we checked our bags in Berlin, got a cab, saw the B-burg Gate, walked down the main drag, got a coffee and Berliner, and cabbed back to the airport with plenty of time to get to our flight to Munich. 6 hours might be wholly sufficient to go spend an hour or two in London... pick one thing and do it. But the airport is a wonder of people in and of itself.
As to the FCO-Florence in the evening, nah. Do the Rome 3 first, and you have time as long as you don't mind eating late. Since your internal clock will be all sideways anyway, I find that having dinner on arrival at whatever hour in the evening is a good idea to help crank my clock around). IIRC it's about an hour from FCO to Termini.
Posted by
OP
5 posts
Thanks, Max. I've been to London previously, but traveled via Gatwick. I spent almost two weeks in London and in Oxford and don't want to risk heading there with London traffic. On another website I saw some posters responding to another's query suggesting Windsor as a nearby destination that might be worthwhile with enough time.
Posted by
NYC
490 posts
Hopefully your flight won't be delayed, that 7 hour layover could shrink easily in summertime, if that is when you are flying.
Given recent security issues I personally would be inclined to stay in the airport, mainly because of traffic delays and added layers of security getting back into the airport; but that is just me.
Posted by
Atlanta
4901 posts
Re: "We'd love to find a place comfortable enough to take a nap if possible or just stretch out." Unless I'm mistaken there is a "mini hotel" in terminal four (?) where you can shower, nap, watch tv and etc. Google it and see what you think.