Airports (travel to and from), London

Updated July 2011

With the exception of one trip when the tube wasn't running and another where I was staying close to Paddington, I have always used the tube to get from Heathrow to central London. It is the cheapest form of public transportation and usually quicker than the bus. The Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect are quite a bit faster to Paddington Station but depending on how far away from Paddington you are staying, you may not be saving that much time if you have to connect to the tube or catch a taxi.

You can buy a ticket just for the journey, £5 cash fare, £2.70 off peak or £4.50 peak with an Oyster, before 9:30am pay the cash fare and get a zone 1-2 travelcard when you get to London or get an Oyster. On average the journey is about an hour, less if you are on the west end of London, so budget at least 2 hours to get into London between customs, luggage retrieval and tube ride. My latest experience was more like 2 3/4 hours to get to Paddington Station.

There is a change booth at the underground station at Heathrow, get change and use the automatic machines, it's much quicker than waiting in the long queue. In Terminal 5, there were a bunch of machines where you can purchase your transport ticket.

You can take luggage on the tube, just make sure that you can handle it on your own and that you can manage it up a flight of stairs if you have to.

Ifyou need to transfer from the Piccadilly Line to the District Line, a good place to do this is at Hammersmith where the trains leave from the same platform and you don't have to negotiate stairs with your luggage. Just make sure you're jumping on the right train!

One note of caution-if you have an early flight, you may not be able to use the tube and on Sunday mornings, the tube starts running later than other days so check the schedule

Updated May 2011

If you are staying near Paddington Station then you may want to try the Heathrow Connect, a train that runs from Heathrow to Paddington Station. The current fare (May, 2011) is £8.50/£16.50 return and the journey takes about 25-30 minutes, trains run every 1/2 hour. I used the service most recently in May 2011 and it was very easy to use, if you come in at Terminal 4 or 5 you need to use the Heathrow Express to get to Terminal 1,2,3. Heathrow Connect is on the side of the train and it is also listed on the overhead boards.

In Terminal 5, there are machines that say express trains to London just outside the customs area, you can buy both Connect and Express tickets from it. I used a US non chip card to purchase my ticket.

Another option convenient to Paddington Station is the Heathrow Express, the current fare is £18/ £32 return (£16.50/£32 if purchased online), and the journey takes roughly 15 minutes, trains run every 15 minutes. If you are not traveling to Paddington, you also need to factor in the time and expense of getting to your hotel, either on the tube, bus or taxi.

By bus-National Express £5, £9 return, 45-85 minutes

The most expensive option is probably a taxi which costs about £45-50, journey around 45-60 minutes, if you book a car service in advance you will probably spend less money. There are shared van services as well but I don't have any personal experience with any of them. I created a separate tip for Simply Airports, a private car service that my husband used.

The fastest way of getting to the London City Center is by Heathrow Express. It takes 15 min from Heathrow London Airport Terminal 4 and stops at Paddington Station. From there, change a tube that connects to the different parts of London. Modern, new, and fast train.
E-ticket can be printed at home or at the office, so you don't need to queue at the ticket station.

With low cost flights, you'll certainly arrive to Stansted airport, located about 50 kms from the centre of London. The cheaper transport for moving to London is the bus.

Some advises: (Terravision bus)
1. Service frequency: about every 30 minutes during the day, less frequent at night (check out the website for details)
2. Two destinations: London Victoria or Liverpool street (I recommand this one as it's a more direct line, avoiding some of the traffic jams in the city)
3. Take a return ticket (if applicable)
Prices: One-way Adult £ 9.00, Child (5-12 years) £ 4.00
Prices: Return Adult £ 14.00, Child (5-12 years) £ 7.00
4. Online booking is possible (see website)

Bus stops in Stansted: bays n° 13 and 14, west side of the coach station at the airport

The fastest way to travel to Stansted Airport is to catch the Stansted Express train. It departs every 15 minutes from London Liverpool Street station, with an average journey time of 45 minutes. One-way fares start at £15.

There are also numerous coach services to Stansted, which offer a more economical trip, but travel times are significantly longer. Coaches depart from such locations as London Victoria, London Liverpool Street and London Stratford, with some services operating 24 hours a day.

Bassingbourn Road, Stansted CM24 1SE

Two trains service London Heathrow from Paddington:
Heathrow Connect and Heathrow Express

Heathrow Connect is the better deal. Although it has 5 stops, it takes only 10 minutes longer to make the journey, and is less than half the price of Heathrow Express

Heathrow Connect http://www.heathrowconnect.com
Frequency: 2 times/hour
Duration: 25 minutes [goes to/from T123; from there you can take Heathrow Express to T4 for free].

5 stops:
Hayes & Harlington
Southall
Hanwell
West Ealing
Ealing Broadway [connection to tube's Central and District lines]

One-way second class Heathrow Connect fare:
ticket office/machine: £6.90

Heathrow Express http://www.heathrowexpress.com
Frequency: 4 times/hour
Duration: 15 minutes (23 minutes if going to/from Terminal 4).
Nonstop

One-way second class Heathrow Express fare:
Online: £14.50; ticket machine/office: £15.50 ; onboard: £17.50

Heathrow Express can be a good deal if you have 4+ adults and it's a Sat/Sun/Bank Holiday, because you can get the Heathrow Express "Group Weekender" ticket, which gives half-price fares at £7.75 per person.

Stansted is one of the smaller london airports and is not actually located in london... which is great for me because it takes me about 15 minutes to drive there... but for those not fortunate enough to know someone close to this airport or want to pay a taxi fee that would make Saudi Royals blush the Standsted express is for you.

Comfortable air conditioned trains with room for you to put your luggage will get you to liverpool st station (zone 1 central london) in 45 minutes. If you're staying in north london or need to catch the victoria line, some of the trains do stop at Tottenham Hale Station (zone 3 on the victoria line) trains are depart every 15 minutes and the tickets can be bought at the website below or at the station.

The Stansted express train to London (Liverpool Street) is a disgusting rip-off at TWENTY SIX pounds 70p return in cattle class. (or express class as they laughingly call it).

It certainly is not the sleek, aerodynamic, high-speed train you might expect to get either.

There are now a few more journeys in the dead of night - but they are sporadic and the dreaded 'engineering works' (Oh no it doesn't) may mean you have to use a coach.

It is at least clean and convenient. Some Low-cost airlines offer tickets whilst on the way to London that will give you a bit of a discount, but remember that the road links are far cheaper.