We will be laying over for thirteen hours (8:30 pm to 11:00am) at Heathrow at the conclusion of a five week trip so we will be in the need of a nights sleep. We land at terminal five and depart from terminal five. The cost of the Sofitel Hotel located in terminal five is outrageous and very few of the other "Airport" hotels provide a "shuttle" to the airport. Any ideas or suggestions.
Thanks,
Ken
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
Probably your cheapest hotel would be the easyHotel. Local bus service costs £2.00.
A more comfortable choice would be the Jurys Inn near Terminal 4. You are close enough to LHR that local bus service is free.
Posted by
Freedonia
16283 posts
Yotel
Located in Terminal 4, the Yotel charges by the hour so you only pay for the hours you use it.
Posted by
Virginia, USA
5850 posts
If you want to stay near the airport at a cheap price, you might consider bidding on a Heathrow airport hotel via Priceline. If you do this, check out www.biddingfortravel.com for tips. On biddingfortravel, you will see winning bids in the $50 to $60 range for the chain hotels at LHR. Hotwire is also an option. In both cases, you won't know the name of the hotel until after you book, but the amount you save would cover your costs to the airport. I have used Priceline many times when I needed to stay overnight near an airport (although not at Heathrow) and have always gotten a cheap rate at a quality hotel (typically chains like Sheraton, Marriott, Hilton, etc.).
While many hotels don't have a shuttle, there is a "hoppa" bus that serves a number of the Heathrow hotels.
I've stayed at the yotel at Gatwick and the standard cabin is not really designed for 2. The bed is just slightly larger than a twin. I'm not sure that I would want to be in a room this size for 13 hours. It is great for a short duration (I stayed for 6 hours before a 6am flight) and if you are basically just sleeping and showering. Read the reviews on tripadvisor if you are considering yotel to see if it works for you. You'd have to get over to terminal 4.
Finally, you could also consider taking the tube into London. Stay somewhere on the Piccadilly line. Earls Court or Gloucester Road would both be convenient.
Posted by
OP
Healdsburg, CA, United States
7 posts
Thanks to all for the assistance. I think I can find a place to stay the night.
Ken
Posted by
Seattle
44 posts
We had almost the exact same "layover" situation in Frankfurt last summer after five weeks of travel; arriving from Greece at 8:30 pm. and leaving for the states at 11:40 the next day for our familiy of 4.
I started off looking for somehwhere to stay right next to the airport; but was talked into something more adventurous by a Helpline poster. We ended up traveling into the city and spending one last wonderful night in Europe. We stayed at a hotel a half block from the train station; so travel between the hotel and airport was a snap. We found a wonderful restaurant nearby, and were even lucky enough to hook up with my niece who had a job as an au pair in a nearby Germany city last summer.
Not sure if it's as easy travelling into London from Heathrow; but it's something to consider. Even though we were only there a little over 12 hours we all feel like we can say we've "visited Frankfurt".