Heathrow Airport Transfers to Central London and London's
Airports
This article is aimed at the independent traveller whose
itinerary includes arriving at London's Heathrow Airport. This
article will help you make an informed choice about the
appropriate transfer. The document also covers travellers
wanting to make a transfer to London's other major airports,
Gatwick, Stansted and Luton.
Heathrow is 15 miles from the central area where most people's
accommodation is found. Quite close by modern standards. As a
result, Heathrow passengers do use taxi cabs extensively for the
transfer into London.
At Heathrow the taxi ranks are outside the arrivals hall of all
four terminals. It will come as a relief to many travellers that
these are managed with military control. Only London's regulated
black cabs are allowed anywhere near you, you will not be
pestered by touts and a controller will make sure there is an
orderly queue and boarding procedure. There is always an ample
supply of cabs waiting for your custom. Fares are complex, but
should be around 45-50 GBP depending on distance, time and time
of day.
You can save yourself a few pounds by booking a private cab in
advance on the web. The cab will park in the terminal car park
and the driver will be there to meet you as you exit the customs
hall. The cheapest operators will save you around 10-15 GBP. Do
scrutinise the agreements for hidden charges which soon
escalate. Most common extras are a 'Heathrow pickup fee', a car
parking charge and waiting time. Most contracts stipulate an
hourly waiting charge if you do not clear customs within a set
time after touch down. At Heathrow you'll normally pass through
customs with luggage in around 30-45 minutes after touch down.
Just Airports are a proven operator with some of the lowest
fares, you'll find them searching on the web.
The defacto public transport option you'll probably end up on if
you follow the flow is the Heathrow Express train. This has to
be one of the most expensive train journeys in the world, mile
for mile. A single fare for 2006 is 14.50 GBP, (slight reduction
for return). The Heathrow Express runs every 15 minutes for most
of the day whilst flights are operating. There are two stations
at Heathrow. The train terminates at Terminal 4 and then stops
at Heathrow Central for Terminals 1,2 and 3. From Heathrow
Central to London's Paddington station takes just 15 minutes.
Do take care do find out where Paddington is in relation to your
accommodation. Unless your hotel is in Paddington it will
normally be cheaper to take a cab direct to your hotel if there
is 3 or more of you.
Something the airport authorities somehow fail to communicate is
that there is a cheaper alternative to the Heathrow Express,
called Heathrow Connect. The Heathrow Connect train starts at
Heathrow Central station and makes 5 stops on its way to
Paddington, taking 10 minutes longer than the Heathrow Express.
Frequency is also every 30 minutes, not 15 minutes of the
Heathrow Express. For this small inconvenience you only pay 9.50
GBP, a substantial discount to the Heathrow Express. If you are
flying into Terminal 4, the Heathrow Express is free between
Terminal 4 and Heathrow Central station.
The cheapest transfer option into Central London is to use the
London Underground. The Piccadilly Line runs out to Heathrow.
Like the Heathrow Express there are two stations, one for
Terminal 4, another central station for terminals 1,2 and 3.
Journey time is about 45 minutes into Central London and there
are countless stations on the way the trains stop at. There is a
train about every 3-4 minutes. There will be an Underground
Station somewhere very near your destination. The cost for 2006
just 4 GBP, easily the cheapest option. This fare is valid to
any London Underground station. The downside of using the London
Underground is that invariably the carriages will become very
crowded as you get into London. All Central London stations are
deep underground and you will have escalators and/or steps to
negotiate with your luggage. There is a ticket office at
Heathrow where you can also purchase the various travel passes
for Central London that most visitors find very attractive.
These give you unlimited travel on London's bus, rail and
underground network.
National Express operates coaches to London Victoria. These are
very comfortable coaches with toilets onboard and a proper
luggage hold. One way fare is 10 GBP, 15 GBP return. The coaches
depart from the central coach station above the railway station
in the central area of Heathrow. The coach station is well
signposted from Terminals 1, 2 and 3. There are 3 or 4 coaches
an hour making the journey. Journey time varies with traffic
conditions, scheduled time is 50 minutes.
Hotelink run a hotel shuttle from Heathrow. The service is a
shared mini bus service. The bus takes about 10 people maximum.
You may be lucky and get the whole bus to yourself, but normally
you'll share with others. The service will deliver you to any
hotel in Central London. It's a lottery how long the journey
takes as the route depends on the locations of all the hotels of
your fellow passengers. Cost is 16 GBP per person. If there are
more than two of you its cheaper to just get a taxi.
On flying out, all of the public transport options work on the
principle that nobody wants to check-in until 05:30 or later. If
that is not the case you have a problem. Your only viable option
being taxi services. There is a night bus, route N9 that runs
out to Heathrow every 30 minutes all night. You can pick this up
at Piccadilly, Hyde Park Corner and Kensington High Street. This
is a normal red London bus.
If you are wanting to travel to another London Airport, National
Express coaches run frequent direct services to Gatwick,
Stansted and Luton. On the most popular route, Gatwick, there
are around 100 services a day.
For more details of the above and links to all the operators
mentioned:
Heathrow
to Central London transfers
Heathrow to Gatwick, Stansted and Luton transfers