noahboliver

Hello,

I will be flying into Heathrow Airport on my way home to California from a ten day Italy trip. We arrive in Heathrow at 8:40pm on Sunday, Nov 5th, and leave the following morning, Monday Nov 6, at 11:35am

So my fiancé and I will have 15 hours, and I am hoping to see even just a bit of London.

So my question is this: is it plausible to leave Heathrow and explore London during my layover? If so, what are my best options to get into London? Train, tube, taxi?

Also, if anyone has any advice on where to eat/visit, to really make the most of my stay in London, I would greatly appreciate it.

Should I check right into an airport hotel, try and get some sleep, and get up super early to see some sights before coming back to the airport to make my flight home?

I'm not sure how practical it will be, but wanted to get some input from travelers possibly with similar experiences.

Thanks a lot in advance

Noah

PalenQ

Nov sun sets very early and rises late - you hardly have time to dash into London -plane lands at 20-:40 but be 22:00 before you get ready to go to London

you have to be back at airport 2-3 hours before trans-Atlantic flight

so 11pm before you get to London and 6pm you should be at airport.

You may see more of London flying over it than during total darkness.

Stay at airport area hotel IMO - don't see any other choice really.

Oh you could grab a taxi at 10 pm- go around London and see the sights lit up but that's about it.

suze

I absolutely would get an airport hotel. I don't think you really have much time for actual "sight seeing".

PalenQ

You could go to town and hit the town - go clubbing until the early hours...and see bits of London en route and back by taxi.

greg

If you are lucky, you might be able to slide into a restaurant in London just before they close the kitchen. That time is more for drinking than eating, so if you don't like that you need to choose a restaurant carefully. However, you don't have time for anything else, so why other? I think that is the opinion of others.

The time to do something about this was when you were looking at the flight itinerary offerings. If I see an layover in this range 6 hours - 17 hours, I try very hard to design them out. When the offering is like this, it is usually difficult or expensive to find a shorter layover, so I usually look at longer layover, as close to 24 hours as possible before triggering stopover price hit. I look at layovers at other airports offering "usable" layover interval.

I presume you took this itinerary because it offered price or some other attraction? Now that it appears you have to spend overnight at LHR without getting anything in return, were there other options that would have given you something worth doing instead?

suze

I guess you could taxi around in the wee hours of the early morning (get up & out at 6am). If you were willing to see closed buildings just from the exterior.

For an 11:30am flight you'd want to be back at Heathrow at least by 9:30am latest, so now sure how much the experience would be worth the expense/hassle.

PalenQ

If you want to see a wee bit of England you could head to a nearby town - have dinner and again for breakfast. These towns aren't the most attractive places but are the real England, just like London.

janisj

Unfortunately your hours aren't really conducive to seeing much. Most bldgs in London are not illuminated in the wee small hours. But if you do want to torture yourselves staying up all night -- yes you <i>could</i> go in to town. You would have to leave your carry ons at Left Luggage and if you prebook a car service like justairports.com (much cheaper than a taxi) you 'might' be in central London by 11PM. (Or you could take the tube in) Book dinner at one of places that serves late like these:

https://www.timeout.com/london/resta...ht-restaurants

As you can see you will be cutting it close since even those considered 'serving late' generally only take orders until 11 or 11:30PM

But then what will you do? There are some bars open until maybe 2AM and then you have to make your way back to LHR -- by taxi or pre-booked mini cab/car service.

Am I recommending this - absolutely not, but it IS doable.

>>Should I check right into an airport hotel, try and get some sleep, and get up super early to see some sights before coming back to the airport to make my flight home? <<

That would almost not be possible,


>>If you want to see a wee bit of England you could head to a nearby town - have dinner and again for breakfast. <<

There won't be anything open to eat that late in a smaller town.

>>For an 11:30am flight you'd want to be back at Heathrow at least by 9:30am latest, <<

For flights to the USA most airlines say 3 hours - so if you are in central London you'll be heading back to LHR around 0730

•••• Just book an LHR hotel, have a relaxing late dinner there and get a semi-decent night's sleep.

historytraveler

****Just book an LHR hotel, have a relaxing late dinner there and get a semi- decent night's sleep.

The only sensible thing to do.

xcountry

If I had never been in London I would head into the area around Hyde Park, get up and walk around between 6-730 and then head. back to the airport. I sure wouldn't do it to find a restaurant or bar.

I did this several times in my 20s but I'm a walker. Great time to walk, even in the dark. Sunrise will be at 7:01. Mind you if the forecast was for steady rain I'd probably drop the idea.

schnauzer

In November I'd get a hotel room, have dinner and snuggle down.

PalenQ

There won't be anything open to eat that late in a smaller town>

chinese take-out?

janis is right - too late to do that. There's a Garfunkels in the airport!