London Tube

Firstly, it's not called a section. NW3 is the postcode for Hampstead/Belsize Park/Swiss Cottage area, I'd imagine you're staying at the Marriot "Regents Park"?

When you say best - what do you mean? Best is to take a private car, but it isn't the cheapest method. You will probably buy a travelcard, as for which one I've no idea, tubes are awful, you're much better off walking or if you have to use public transport, take a bus.

Hi poop,

See http://www.heathrowexpress.com/

Yes, we are staying at the Marriot. We planned on taking public transportation during our stay. I thought the tube would be a decent means of public transport, based on your comment it seems we would be better off taking buses.

There are millions of buses that pass your hotel, and you won't be in a rush, it's about a mile and a quarter from Regents Park. I don't know if you're a walker, but I'd walk from the property, down Avenue Rd. into the park, then take a right on to the Marylebone Rd. down the High St. to Oxford St. This is a forty minute walk and will get you into central London avoiding public transport.

daisypoop -- PLEASE don't let m_kingdom's post scare you off. He is our resident snob who always gives out this sort of advice. Unfortunately sometimes newer posters don't recognize that he is just being silly.

Don't worry a bit about the tube -- millions of people take it every day. the buses are also good.

Your hotel is in zone 2 so you can buy a zone 1-2 weekly travel card from any tube station.

Unfortunately your hotel is not a terribly easy tube journey from Heathrow and would involve a line change. You could take the Heathrow Express to Paddington and a cab to the hotel, but this would be pretty expensive.

I would probably book a car service that will pick you up right at the terminal and cost about £30 give or take to Swiss Cottage.

Please understand that m_kingdom2 is a Person of Consequence who does not rub elbows with hoi polloi in public transport.

The fact that millions of Londoners and thousands of visitors of all economic strata do it every year without a problem speaks for itself.

Most Londoners find the tube is the best way of making journeys in and out of central London. Try playing with the journey planner on www.tfl.gov.uk to find the quickest way of getting to and from places. If you're staying for a week, it's easiest to get a Travelcard which covers trains (including tube trains) and buses.

And by all means -- IF you have time for a leisurely 40 minute walk into the center, go for it. But understand the tube will get you there in about 10 minutes.

Thanks so much janis!

Daisypoop:

Dpending on when you get in I'd suggest Heathrown express into the city and either tube it or taxi it to your hotel. Depends on whether you are on a budget. You can get various tube travel cards..ask at the window what would be the most appropriate given your length of stay. I've lived here for a year and say I do a lot of walking as it's quite easy. The tube works if you want to get from one area say NW3 - Swiss Cottage (where I actually live) to say Harrod's or Oxford St or Piccadilly. They have weekend passes or day cards which might be your best options. Also I have the number of a car company - they will pick you up at Heathrow and take you to NW3 for approx 35 quid. Email me if you need more info.

Enjoy!!!

Daisy, If you do opt for a hired car to take you to/from the airport, a cash payment will usually yield you a much lower price.

Heathrow to your hotel:
1. Taxi or car service would be most convenient--and most expensive.
2. Heathrow Express to Paddington (14.00 GBP). Taxi to your hotel. Fastest route and the taxi portion wouldn't be too costly.
3. Tube - Picadilly Line to Green Park, then Jubilee Line to Swiss Cottage. Walk to your hotel. Cheapest (3.80 GBP) but not great if you don't want to schlep your own luggage.

A seven-day travelcard for zones 1-2 would serve you well. It's good on the tube, the DLR, and National Rail trains within those zones and also on the entire London bus system. Cost: 21.40 GBP. Or if you want to walk a lot and take the bus more than the tube, you could buy a seven-day bus pass for 11.00 GBP. Then buy single tube tickets when you need to get somewhere in a hurry.

There is also a combination Heathrow Express/Visitor Travelcard that makes the LHR trip a little less expensive:

http://makeashorterlink.com/?U2202176A

Also: if you will be acquiring a BritRailPass, the LHRX is included in the price, making the round-trip virtually free.

When we go to London, we take the tube in from Heathrow and buy a 7-day travelcard. We use a pleasing combination of the tube, the buses and walking (trust me, you will do more than your share of walking in London.)

MK is lucky enough to live in London so he's not doing the tourist thing - schlepping from one tourist site to the the next. We don't have the luxury of leisurely walking everywhere.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking the tube..I think it is probably the most convenient mode of transportation in London. In fact, I wish we had good public transportation like that in the US!

To help you see what's available in both bus and tube:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/tourist.pdf
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/spiders/pdf/hampstead_heath.pdf
http://map.tfl.gov.uk/map.asp

just to clarify (or maybe confuse? ) a bit more. A taxi WOULD definitely be the most expensive. But a car service would not be.

The Heathrow Express @ £14 each comes to £28 just to get to Paddington (that is IF there are just two of you). Then you'd have a £10 or more taxi fare up to Swiss Cottage. Plus you'd have to queue at Paddington for a cab.

Whereas a car service (justairports, Swiss Cottage, Ray's, etc. - do a search you will find MANY threads about all three of these) will be less than £30 if you pay cash and probably less than £35 even if you use a credit card.

Daisy, If I'm not mistaken you said on another post that there were 4 people travelling. If so, taking the Heathrow Express to Paddington and a cab to your hotel will definitely exceed the cost of hiring a car service to pick you up at LHR.

I used justairports this week to get from central London to the airport and we paid 19 GBP cash from a W1 address. Their onliine estimator (www.justairports.co.uk) says it'll run you 30 GBP for airport pickup and 25 for drop off for an NW3 address. That's for an estate car which should handle 4 people with a bag each.

Thank all of you for your helpful responses. My family greatly appreciate it.
- The DPoop

If my memory serves right, the Marriott is a block from the Swiss Cottage tube station. I stopped by there one day to see if I might want to use my points to stay on a future trip. In fact, I'm heading that way this spring, but chose the Renaissance Chancery Court instead. The hotel, by the way, looked very nice.

airlinks, a bus service, goes directly to the swiss cottage marriot. The 13 and 113 buses stop just around the corner from the hotel. Both will take you down oxford street and the 113 will take you down to Trafalger square.
THere is a marks and spencer simply food in swiss cottage that would be great for snacks.
The hotel also has a list with map of places to eat near the hotel. A great place to grad breakfast is Camomile on England's Lane- a 10 minute walk from the hotel. Probably less than the hotel and much better. The High Street in Primorse Hill is 15 (max) walk away. It's called Regent's Park Road.

forgot to add taxi from Paddington Station to the hotel will run 7-8 pounds.

The tube is an excellent way to get around London and a great opportunity for people watching. Depending on how many people you are travelling with and how far you intend to go each time, taxis can actually be more economical (for four people, assuming moderate traffic, it works out cheaper than the tube) though if you have passes for the tube, its obviously best to just use those.
I will say that when I'm in London, I never take the tube past 11:30 or 12:00 at night, but then, I'm 21, female, and usually travelling alone, or with another 20 something female.
Also, be sure you check the delay boards at each station, so you know which lines you need to avoid. Even if their are delays, its not usually too bad, except during rush hour. If any of the lines experience major delays, just hop on a bus.

Thought I would jump in with a question:

We are staying at the Mil. Baileys for 5 nights and the Mayfair Holiday Inn for 3 nights. Why two hotels? We decided to stay in London the entire time we are in England, and by the time we decided, it was too late to add on to the Mil. Baileys reservation for the rate we got, so we did another Priceline bid and got the Holiday Inn. I know the hotels are not too far apart. Would it make sense to get a tube pass? Could I get one that included the tube stops close to both of these hotels? Anyone know the approximate price?

TIA!

Sorry, I didn't mention the the first hotel is in the Kensington area.

Both of your hotels are in zone 1. The closest tube stop to the Millenium Bailey is Gloucester Road and the closest stop to the holiday Inn is Green Park. Both are on the Piccadilly Line. Most places you're likely to visit are within zones 1 & 2. A seven-day travelcard for those zones is 21.40 GBP. For three days it is 15.00 GBP and for one day it is either 6.00 GBP or 4.70 GBP (off-peak, travel after 09:30 on weekdays, no limits on weekends). All cards are good on the entire London bus network (all zones).