Hi,
We will be in England/Scotland late May and early June. Our departing flight is scheduled to leave Heathrow on a Friday at 750am. We are tentatively planning on staying in south or west London for several days before departing. So my question is, will we have time to get to Heathrow via the Tube or do we need to plan on getting a hotel close enough to take some other ground transport? Thanks.
Take a shuttle or a precalled cab. Also, staying close to Heathrow in a hotel the night before might be an option. there are several hotels close to Heathrow. Some are close to the free shuttle and some you must pay a bit to ride the bus. Or, you could call a cab or have one prebooked early in the morning to take you from the hotel to the airport. Taking a cab from Heathrow hotel to Heathrow Airport should not be to expensive.
Yotel
Pay by the hour...stay in the airport. Sleep a few minutes later.
The first Piccadilly line train from central London doesn't arrive at Heathrow until 06:00.
As Janis recommends, staying at the Jurys Inn would work well. It is close by the Hatton Cross Tube station. There is a Piccadilly line train that starts on the far west side of London (Osterley) at 04:49, leaves Hatton Cross at 04:59, arrives at LHR Terminal 4 at 05:02 and at Terminals 1-2-3 at 05:09.
The Jurys Inn is also on the H9 Hoppa Bus route that provides service between LHR and nearby airport hotels.
Several years ago, we faced the same choice and decided to stay at the Premier Inn the night before. Were very happy with the decision.
Thanks for the thoughts.
We stayed at Jurys Inn Heathrow and really liked it. It is fairly new, completely quiet, food was good, nice room, etc, etc. Weekend rates are hard to beat. I looked into Yotel but after scrutinizing it and reading the reviews on Trip Advisor decided against it. We were so pleased with Jurys Inn.
So this raises the question, would it be practical to stay at one of the Heathrow hotels, e.g. Jury's Inn, for the duration of our stay in London?
Given we only have two and a half days in London (arriving Tuesday noontime, leaving early Friday) it seems that having to switch hotels on Thursday would not be the best use of time IF we can avoid it. Thanks.
IMO, it would be more practical--as well as a lot more fun--to stay in London. It takes nearly an hour on the Tube to travel between LHR and central London. Why go to the time and expense of making repeated trips.
Your hotel or B&B in London will probably keep your luggage for you all day at no charge after you check out on Thursday. If that won't work, you can store it at a major train station like Victoria. Or go a few extra blocks and store it at Victoria coach (bus) station for even less money. In any case, pick up your luggage on your way from London to the Jurys Inn or another airport hotel.
Also if you use an airport hotel, you're stuck in the city center for the entire day. It won't be practical to return to your hotel late in the afternoon to recharge your batteries before doing some evening activities. London is a great city, but all cities wear you down, so it's best to use a hotel somewhere in the city center.
Rick,
Option 1: Stay in central London and book a car service to Heathrow. If you are there on such a short trip, it is really worth it to stay in the city.
Option 2: Spend your first 2 nights in London. Check out of your hotel on the last day and have them hold your luggage. Take the tube in the late evening (after dinner or even after a show) to Heathrow and stay at the yotel. The benefit of this is you get an extra hour of sleep since you are already at the airport. I did this once when I had a 6am flight. Yotel rooms are really small but really convenient.
Option 3: Walk, taxi, or bus (depending on where you are staying) to Paddington and Heathrow Connect train to LHR. Personally, I would not choose this option, but depending on the day of week that you are there, it is a possibility. The connect starts running around 5am. You can check the schedule at www.tfl.gov.uk and use the journey planner.
No matter what, don't stay at Heathrow for your whole trip.
I just wanted to add that for flights to the US out of London, they require you to be there 3 hours ahead of departure time. I'm sure you know that, but just thought it was worth mentioning. Hope you have a great trip (and like the others here, I'd stay in London for 2 nights, much more fun!).
If you decide to stay in London your last night, I recommend that you use Just Airports to get to Heathrow. It's a private car service which offers a good discount for paying cash and will be cheaper than a taxi.
Thanks to all for the useful info and thoughts. Seems like from your advice that the simplest way to go would be to stay all three nights in London and arrange for a very early morning ride to Heathrow.
