Getting from Heathrow to London

[Julofhiddenacres]

Our family is traveling to London next month. DH and I have visited England before, but flew into Manchester. This will be our first visit to London, and the first overseas visit for our three teens. I'd welcome some advice on the best ways to get from Heathrow to our hotel on the South Bank.

I'm wondering if it would be easiest, though expensive, to hire a car to take us straight to the hotel, given that we will be arriving on an overnight flight from the US, and dealing with jet lag. I checked the price of train tickets, and for 5 of us, it adds up. It's been a long time since DH and I used the subway anywhere, and our kids have never tried it. I think we'd be game, but maybe not first thing!

That might be more information than anyone needs, but I wanted to avoid the dreaded drip feed. Again, any suggestions welcome.

Heathrow express to Paddington will be your fastest option then Uber/taxi from there if you can’t face tube.

hiring a car is a faff as is parking in central london

I was going to say that when you look up Heathrow to London, the Heathrow express train comes up as the main train option- BUT, its also the most expensive!!! Its £25 each way, compared to £13.30 one way on the regular tube (subway), each, depending on the time of day.

I don't know the cost of hiring a car/taxi for that journey. You can use this site though to work out the journey costs/times etc.
https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/

Either get the Elizabeth line to Tottenham Court Road and the northern line south to embankment/Waterloo wherever is near. Or Piccadilly line then change onto district. Heathrow express is expensive and not that quick. You’d have to pay the congestion charge in a car and no one drives in London. Get a cab if you’ll be tired but don’t drive.

Hire a car? What do you want a hire car for in London? You'll spend your entire holiday driving round in circles looking for a parking place every time you go out. Do you mean get a taxi/minicab? That's what I always did to get to/from airports, even when I owned a car. It's the least faffy option. You can book one in advance. That or the train. The tube is easy enough to use too, no worse than busses or trains. Easier really, there's always a map on the wall showing all the lines. I don't know how it compares to US subway, maybe that's more complicated?

When it comes to finding your way around - you can walk between tube stations in 10 minutes, so if you pick the closest one to your destination, get off there and then find yourself walking past another tube station, you've gone too far and have missed a turning somewhere.

As other said, there is the Heathrow express but that is quite expensive.

I would suggest getting the Elizabeth Line from Heathrow to Bond Street, and from there either the northern line down to the south bank, or leave the station and get a black cab.

Equally, for the 5 of you, the cost of that is going to add up, so I would actually get a mini cab (not a black cab) for not that much more, although will take longer as a journey with the traffic. If you google airport transfers from Heathrow, you should be able to find a company. It should cost you roughly £90 for a 6 seater.

Also, don’t hire a car. You’ll have the congestion charge to deal, as well as finding parking. More stress than it’s worth.

The Elizabeth line is very easy to work out and quick. We managed with two kids and the mega jet lag off an Australian flight.

Hiring a car is a massive pain in the butt, don’t do that

I mean Jubilee Line from Bond Street. Doh!

I've lurked on here for years, but this is my first post - was not expecting responses so quickly!

Should also have been more clear about "hire a car." There is no way we would consider driving or parking in London. I meant hire a minicab from the airport that would hold all of us plus luggage. We plan to use bus, train, or subway once we've reached our hotel and found our feet a bit.

I presume other posters have misunderstood your enquiry as you said “hire a car to take you”, not that you intended to drive yourself.

Rome2Rio puts the cost of a taxi at £100-120 so I’d be tempted to go for that as opposed to the hassle of changing tube lines, unless you’re really desperate to save money.

Well I was right about the car then!

Time of day is also a factor. First flight in at 6am, taxi will be fine. Between 8am or 11pm, train will be quicker.

Don't get a black cab at the airport, book a cab in advance! Cheaper and just as easy. I've used Just Airports in the past and they'll give you an online quote.

(I'd do the cab route because the tube/train for 5 of you probably won't work out much cheaper, and it'll be more convenient if you have lots of luggage)

Because there’s five of you, it won’t be hugely more expensive to get a cab the whole way, which will also be worth the price to deal with the exhaustion. It should cost you £11.30 each to travel via the Elizabeth Line, and around £90 odd for a minicab.

I agree getting a car makes more sense than public transport, both for the cost and the inconvenience of lugging baggage around and changing train lines.

You'd probably need to book a mini van to fit 5 people plus luggage.

Hope OP only takes your advice about the taxi (and she actually did say “hire a car to take them”, not “hire a car”) because the advice on finding their way round is completely illogical. Where did you get the idea that all tube stations are ten minutes walk away from the next one? And what if you weren’t walking in the direction of the next tube station anyway?
I’m sure OP is sensible enough to use Google Maps like the rest of us.

Just get the tube.

Your teens will love the independent travel. And a brilliant education for them.

Too many teens being mollycoddled nowadays. I was hitchhiking (England, Ireland, Israel, Portugal, Kenya) in my teens and 20's.

And no. I would not recommend it in 2023.

Elizabeth line every time. Its very convenient, gets you right into the center of London and the stations all have lifts which is a help with suitcases. I have years of experience with arriving with dc from red eye flights. You are going to feel dreadful getting off the plane and walking to immigration, but will be picking up a bit by the time you are leaving the terminal. Some walking and sunlight will help start to reset your body clocks

@SusanMaria I’m not the one shouting insults (just as you were getting indignant with the OP when it was actually you who had read her post wrongly).

1. tube stations are not a uniform ten minutes walk apart (have you ever noticed when you’re actually on the tube that it takes longer to travel between some stops than others?) Has your “personal experience” involved walking between every adjacent Tube station in London?
2. you will only reach another tube station if you’re walking in the direction of that tube station. But great way to see plenty of London, by walking too far in the wrong direction and then having to retrace your steps.

You don't say time of travel, which does have a bearing, but for 5 people the economies of scale does make a car more attractive. I recently got the Elizabeth Line in because I had missed the window where the Heathrow Express was cheap (and it can be super-cheap, and very fast if you book 3 months plus in advance and you are staying near Paddington) but it sounds like you are travelling soon, and would have to transfer anyway once into Paddington. If you do the train route, be careful because both trains (HEX and EL) leave from the same place, and I nearly got on the HEX, yet I'd only tapped in to go on the EL (tube). It was then delayed (at LHR) for about 12 minutes, and although it made some time up, I was in later than I would have liked for a connection. Also be careful which tube map you use if you want to do tubes, some ones you google only show the Piccadilly blue line, rather than the newer and less stops Elizabeth Line. And yeah, hiring a car (for you to drive yourself) is hard work in London for all of the reasons OP have posted) so assume you mean hiring a car and a driver.

There are taxis that will take you and your family into town. I think you meant that, rather than hiring a self drive car?

My advice would be don’t ever take the Heathrow Express! Insanely expensive and only takes you as far as Paddington. From there you will need to take another train or taxi adding more cost and time in comparison to the Elizabeth Line which is likely to take you to a useful tube stop if you are staying centrally.

That said completely understand you may want the convenience of a taxi. That is also a good shout if you are likely to be tired with lots of stuff.

Just get a taxi in, much easier. You’ll need to book in advance for 5 of you plus luggage!

Don't get a black cab.

Download uber or other similar apps and check out the cost. I think probably its cheaper to get an uber for 5 people plus luggage. My uber is suggesting about £55-60 but will vary depending on time of day etc.

If you travel by undergroud/tube its worth getting oyster cards. I think you can get them at the Heathrow stations.

Check out TFL websites to calculate the fare. https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/tube-and-rail-fares/single-fare-finder

Journey from Heathrow to Tottenham Court Road is about £6 each with oyster cards.

Travelling on the Underground is straight forward. Just note at peak communiting times the trains can get very full.

Heathrow express train from Heathrow to Paddington is very expensive.