Travel from Heathrow Help

[Asvan]

Hi everyone,

Need some help and advice please.

I've booked some flights from London Heathrow for April. The flights are at 3pm on a Sunday afternoon. I live 4 hours away from London so will be travelling into London Kings Cross the day before, via train.

Now this is where I need some advice please:

I'm on a really tight budget and never travelled from Heathrow before.

Am I better off staying in central London the night before and then travelling to Heathrow on the day of the flight or shall i just stay at one of the Heatrow hotels?

Are there direct trains from central London to Heathrow and how often do they run?

I booked from Heathrow because there are 5 of us and we are saving over £2k.

I would get the Picadilly line to Hatton Cross and then walk to the Hilton Garden In and stay there for the night. They have family rooms that will sleep 4 (3 if both dc are over the age of 6) and there is a buffet breakfast and a shuttle to the terminal

if the whole point of going the night before is to de stress the journey, then dont do a halfway job and stay in central London when you still have to worry about making it to Heathrow the next day

if you prefer another hotel, pick one with a shuttle..then get the underground to heathrow, and get on the shuttle collecting people from the terminal and taking them to the hotel..then reverse it the next day

I don't know what your budget is but I've just booked a premier inn at Heathrow and it was really reasonably priced.

Just remember that Sunday is the day that mainline rail is often disrupted for maintenance works, so your initial journey via the mainline station might not run to time.

@Asvan
Premier inn terminal 4
Connected to the terminal by a walkway.
If you're flying from a different terminal you can pick up the underground for free between terminals.
Two under 16s eat free with a paying adult for breakfast or dinner.
We've used it a few times - we leave home after dinner and arrive when we arrive. No stress of check-in closing.

Not worth the stress of rail replacements on a Sunday.

Also worth looking into parking as it might be cheaper than multiple train tickets.
Purple parking and VIP Heathrow do a pick up service that ive found to be cheaper than actual carparks.

Which terminal are you flying from?

There are lots of options for local hotels but it makes sense to get one convenient for the terminal you will be using.

Hotel Hoppa was £6.80 when I stayed near Heathrow last week. So if you end up booking a hotel that “offers” this service, check for alternative TfL (London) buses instead, and don’t pay £6.80 for the official Heathrow shuttles. They used to be free… but not anymore. For £1.75 you can get there on a less crowded bus that will also take half the time!

Thanks to everyone for your suggestions. I'm going to have a look at them all and then figure out what the best option will be for us.

Nobody should be using the Heathrow express now. The Elizabeth line or the tube.

I think people are gradually getting the message.

That said there might be a few niche circumstances where using the Heathrow Express over the other links makes sense and I’m sure they catch a few who arrive and are unaware of the other options.

www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/rail-train-journeys-passengers-increase-heathrow-express-elizabeth-line-b1164112.html

I’m a local. The Piccadilly line is a nightmare at the moment because of train shortages & engineering works so if you decide to use it, give yourself plenty of extra time & keep an eye on tfl / citymapper.

Hopefully that will have improved by April but I’m not confident.

Another option. The premier inn in the kings road between Hammersmith and Chiswick is usually pretty cheap.

You can just walk 10 mins alone one road and get the Piccadilly line to Heathrow direct. Or you can get on District line at Ravenscourt Park opposite hotel and change after 2-3 stops to the Piccadilly. I

That would mean your on Chiswick high street so lots of options for a wander to have breakfast the Sunday morning. It’s also close to Kew Gardens ( few stops on bus) if you want to option on the Saturday of arriving at lunchtime and going there for the afternoon after dropping luggage at hotel.

i seem to recall last time I came back from Heathrow, the Elizabeth line was shut at Liverpool street, which is my onward out-of-London station. That was a total pain.

Lots of ppl are still taking Heathrow Express. They must have their reasons.

@lljkk

Lots of ppl are still taking Heathrow Express. They must have their reasons.

Absolutely have to be at Paddington in 15 min?
Can put the journey on expenses?
Are not aware of all the options and have been talked into using HE by the vendors who try to trap to you exiting customs (T5 I’m looking at you…🤔)

But yes it at least gives another a option if the Piccadilly line or Elizabeth aren’t running as advertised

I'd put good money on it being because it can go on expenses more easily TBH. You can't exactly expense your 'contactless tapped' journey on the tube.

I'd put good money on it being because it can go on expenses more easily TBH. You can't exactly expense your 'contactless tapped' journey on the tube.

Of course you can, all journeys are logged in your oyster account.

All my colleagues just use the Heathrow Express as it's simpler to claim - saves the hassle of sorting an Oyster card/account. My company won't take a screenshot of my bank account charge from using contactless.

I was going to suggest this too. You can get the RailAir bus from Reading Station. It takes about 30mins to Terminal 5, and runs frequently during the day. It's very comfortable and reliable, and costs about £30 but you can use Railcards to reduce the price.
As the PP said, it very much depends on where you're travelling from though and is only really a sensible option if Reading is easier to get to than KX.

Now is the time of year to be booking hotel rooms for the summer at the airport - I booked our Premier Inn room about this time last year and got it stupidly cheap(£49ish?), by the time August came around the same PI was showing as rooms for £150+!
If you go for the Barth Rd one (called T2/T3 I think), the TfL buses go from the main road outside, and the stop is about a 5 min walk. Be warned the Hotel Hoppa from the various hotel car parks is £6.80 each.

If you go for the Barth Rd one (called T2/T3 I think

Prem Inn Bath road?…Yes, there’s the one that sort of covers T2 &3, just east of the airport as you head into Hounslow.

Just be aware (because I know some aren’t) that there’s another Prem Inn on the Bath Road but at the western end of the airport , that one is “called” T5.

I used to stay in the T5 one a lot and it was common to see guests arrive there and find they’d got the wrong Prem Inn.

Hi all.

Thanks so far for all your suggestions.

I have now decided that we will travel to London on the Saturday and as soon as we get into London we will stay somewhere that are just 2 or 3 tube stops away from Heathrow. So the next morning we can have breakfast and head to the airport without worrying about time.

Are there any Travelodge or Premier Inns along the Picadilly or Elizabethean tube lines which are within walking distance of a Tube station and also a few stops away from Heathrow? Ideally we wanted somewhere where there are food places etc nearby.

Also in terms of travel, would I need to buy an Oyster Card for the 2 days I will be using the tube? We are 2 adults and 3 kids so I am thinking of what would be the cheapest option.

I have looked at the Premier Inn on Bath Rd but there doesn't appear to be any food places or tube stops within walking distance.

Thanks for all your help.

Ealing is really nice with lots of cafes and places to eat, I think there’s a travelodge etc? But it’s quite a fancy area so not sure if it’s cheapest option or not.

Premier in bath road has a bar and a restaurant- you can also get food delivered. It's a few stops on the bus into Heathrow. To get there take the Elizabeth line to Hayes and Harlington then get the H98 bus and get off at 'Oxford road'

How likely are you to visit London again?
You can get Zip Oyster cards online for your DC, the discount they get will vary depending on age. If this is the only time they're likely to visit London before 18 it's probably not worth it though!

@Asvan

I have looked at the Premier Inn on Bath Rd but there doesn't appear to be any food places or tube stops within walking distance.

OK, before I get to addressing that I’ll reiterate what I put in a pp, there are two Prem Inns that have Bath Road addresses so if you book with “a” Bath Road Prem Inn make sure if you use a bus or taxi you go to the right one.

The officially labeled Bath road Prem Inn one (aka T2/3) one is 15 Bath Road, the other one, “T5” is at 420 Bath Road.

Both have adjacent’ish bus stops but neither are anywhere near tube stations.

Both have restaurants and bars in house

The T5 Prem Inn has a McD right next door, and there used to be a good Chinese and a good Asian restaurant within 5 minutes walk but I haven’t stayed there for quite some time so don’t know of the current situation.

There wasn’t (when I used it) anything similar close by at the T2/3 Prem Inn, you’d probably have a 10-15 minute walk to find anything other than the restaurants in the other Bath Road hotels and (I think) another McD.