12 hours Heathrow - worth visiting London?
 

We have 12 hours between arriving in Heathrow and catching return flight to Sydney in October.
I don't know London but wonder if it's worth trying to visit for a few hours - or is this a silly question? I tried searching at Heathrow here but couldn't find the answers.
How much does it cost to get into London from airport? Is transport reliable to get back in time for a 10pm flt? We arrive in terminal 2 and depart that night from terminal 4. Is it hard to get between the 2? I guess we'd leave our hand luggage in a locker at terminal 4.
Any ideas or experiences most welcome...

Hi,
check this site: http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/heathrow.htm
It probably answers your question better than I could. But in short: Yes, it's worth doing and doable.

I would definately make a trip into London - 12 hours is a good amount of time - either catch a taxi or the superfast Heathrow Express in to London. Grab a Big Bus tour which will take you to all the sights and you can hop on and off at will. The Heathrow Express is about 11 pounds per person but gets you into Paddington in about 15 minutes - taxi cabs way more expensive and take a lot longer, then you can either catch a connecting underground train or a taxi into London. I'm not sure about lockers anymore at Heathrow though (due to terrorist concerns). The Heathrow Express runs every 15 minutes from Heathrow to Paddington and back.

Try this link for info on Heathrow
http://www.baa.co.uk/main/airports/h...ere_frame.html

Good idea.
Here are the links to some of the tours:
http://www.bigbus.co.uk/
http://www.theoriginaltour.com/
http://www.frogtours.com/

You might want to see if you could check your bags (and get boarding passes) for your ongoing flight to Sydney before leaving the airport. It would make your return to the airport much quicker. If you can't & find luggage storage, I would try to get it at terminal 4.

While you certainly have time to go to London, another option would be to go to Windsor which is closer to Heathrow. You could do the castle & have a walk to Eton. There are plenty of shops & restaurants in Windsor as well.

The last time I past through Heathrow I had to go through 7 layers of security which included questioning and inspection of everything in my carry-on luggage. And that was pre 9-11. I was so stressed out about making my flight in time. If they tell you to be at the airport 2 hours ahead of time don't ignore it!

12 hourd will be long enough - Most of the time folks ask this about a 4 hour layover. That isn't doable, but with 12 hours you could see a lot.

I also think you might enjoy a shorter trip over to Windsor - especially if it is a noce day. You could tour the Castle, walk along the river, eat a nice meal and visit shops in the town.

Or, since you are arriving mid morning you could get into London when things are open (many flights land a 6AM and it doesn't make sense to go into town since nothing is open at that hour).

Be sure to check your bags straight through. Then you would not have to worry about getting between the two terminals. Simply leave from term 2 and return to term 4 - both have train stations (for the Paddington Express) or taxi ranks (for the trip over to Windsor).

If I remember correctly, you can catch the train at the airport (am I right anyone?). Can't remember the cost, but I think it took about 40 minutes to get into London. We did the Big Bus tour, and it was good; you can hop on and off. Windsor was a very pretty town, even though we had our shopping bag full of gifts stolen - so beware - don't take your eyes off of your purchases!

No - the train into London takes lightly less than 15 minutes. The Tube takes between 40 and 50 minutes.

I'd do it just to see London. The Big Bus tour gives you a great overview and they have 3 routes so you can do as many as possible. Your ticket will be good for all routes (about $15). Otherwise, grab a taxi into Windsor and see Windsor and Eton. You could stay for dinner but definitely be back at the airport 3 hours ahead of departure. At least Heathrow is interesting if you happen to go thru check-in quickly. Don't know anything about stowing your carry-on luggage.

FYI - there is a 'left luggage' service at Heathrow (http://www.excess-baggage.com/airport.asp) at y4 per item for each 24 hours and y3.50 for deposits withdrawn within 0-6 hours ... I used them last October and had no problems ...

Z

Assuming your incoming airline can't give you a through boarding pass (I think LOT-Polish are the only T2 airline that can do this for BA or Qantas, though obviously all airlines will see that your hold baggage is checked right through), check with the ongoing airline about MAXIMUM check-in times. I think BA do 24 hrs,and that BA share facilities at LHR with Qantas, so you can check in when you arrive at T2. IF so, on landing, follow signs for the Flight Connection Centre, which is pretty much inside T2, before Immigration. Check in for the Sydney flight. Now, without going through Immigration, take the airside bus to T4 if you want to leave your hand baggage at the airport. If you don't, go through immigrstion now and go into London

For full details of terminal facilities, including left luggage, go to www.baa.com and follow Heathrow. The reference above to the Excess Baggage site is to a different company that operates some, but not all baggage facilities at LHR. There is left luggage at all four terminals.

When you arrive at T4, follow arrivals, go through immigration and check your hand baggage. You now need to be back, at the gate, at whatever time BA insist. Security at 9pm can be slow at T4 (lots of overnight flights), but the UK has no outgoing immigration or customs, and even we queue-conscious Brits are tolerant of queue jumpers at security sometimes. Personally, I'd not bother getting to T4 any earlier than 60 mins before take-off, and my wife would regard that as deeply anal, and think we were being hyper-cautious getting to the airport 30 minutes before the flight time.

Now take the Heathrow Express or Tube into London and have fun. I strongly suggest you don't check your hand bags at T2 because of two quirks in the transport system: the Heathrow Express is the only real option landside from T2 to T4, and the tube from the centre to T2 takes longer than the tube to T4. So going back to T2, then on to T4 at the end of the day will eat into your time a lot.

To repeat about inter-terminal transport. There's an airside bus from T2 to T4, or, landside, you can get the Heathrow Express for free. THere is no tube from T2 to T4.From T4 to T2 there is an airside bus or, landside, the free train or the tube, for which you have to pay. These two terminals are several miles apart

flanneruk
You have given a great answer to this question. Your answer alone provides everything clbc needs. Thank you for taking the time to post this, as it will be useful to many people that have long layovers at Heathrow.

I believe from Heathrow, in addition to Windsor, you can also take the Tube to Kew Gardens. You could even have afternoon tea at the Maids of Honor tearoom.