15 hr layover at Heathrow in March, need advice
 

I will be traveling from Madrid to London (landing at 6:30p) then have a 15 hr layover and am flying out at 9:30am back home to Houston. I'd like to get into the city, but just want to make sure I have everything covered, logistically speaking. It would be myself and my 10 yr old daughter - we've both been to London, on separate occasions, but as the destination, not on layover. It's been over 6 years for me (early October), so I recall getting the tube into town. I guess I'm just wanting to make sure it's ok to leave the airport and get back and do I take my luggage and then check it back in? I read something about the yotel that sounds interesting. I'm trying to sort out a realistic timeline - if I land at 6:30, is 8pm the soonest I would get to central London? Then would it make more sense to get a room there and take the tube at 6:30am to get to Heathrow at 7:30 and be there 2 hrs before my 9:30 flight? Or go into town from 8pm-11:30 (whenever the last tube is back to Heathrow) and stay at the yotel? How late can you check in at the yotel?

Thank you so much for any information and advice!

Georgianna

I'd probably sleep at a LHR hotel, but you could stay in london. Unfortunately your times are not great for heading in to the city. With a 6:30 arrival you can likely be in the center somewhere by maybe 9:00. That is Assuming your luggage is checked through and you only need to drop your hand luggage at Left Luggage.

So it will be pretty late but you could see something - say Big Ben or maybe ride the Eye before heading back to LHR.

Yotel is only a good idea if your departing flight is out of T-4, and even then I probably wouldn't because they charge by the hour. Good for a short rest, not so good for a full overnight stay.

If you do stay at LHR, where mostly depends on which terminal you leave from.

If you decide on staying in the center, either make it a hotel directly on the Piccadilly line, or one at Paddington so you can take the Express (not my favorite place to stay but could make sense here), or book a car service back to the airport. If you do stay at Paddington you would be farther from sites but only have a 15 minute ride to LHR.

While not directly answering your question, a comment on this kind of itinerary. I don't know how much latitude you had on the Madrid departure. When I see this kind of itinerary a booking site offers, I don't take it. I work with itineraries to see if I can stretch the layover to more than 20 hours and cover more useful part of the day. Depending on whether the booking site decides it is a layover (cheap) or a stopover (expensive) I can usually do this without adding cost (same airfare, same accommodation cost, but usable itinerary). A stay over 24 hours is usually interpreted as a stopover.

I want a layover to be less than 3 hours or more than 20 hours. Layover duration between them, especially across evening, which is usually the case, just adds time and possible accommodation cost that I cannot amortize over a useful visit. It becomes a wasted lodging cost.

I really agree w/ Greg. Your 15 hours is mostly over night so almost useless for seeing any thing. If you were landing at say 6:30 AM and flying out at 9:30 PM it would at least give actual usable time in London. But this way is really 4 or 5 hours in transit (counting airport time) 6 or 7 hours of sleep and a couple of hours max out and about

Since you have to overnight anyways, you might want to go to booking.com, pull up accommodations for that date, then click on the map that is located middle-left on the booking.com display page - - and ZOOM IN to stops on the Piccadilly line (Piccadilly Circus is pretty central!); or, as JanisJ suggested, at Paddington for the Express; and see if there is anything affordable where you can get right off the tub/train and check in. Earls Court is a stop with plenty cheaper accommodation close to the station, but it is pretty far from center (though that makes it easier for the return the next morning). Once you think through the tube/ the hotel drop / the nightly wander / and the tube times back, then decide if it's worth it for a night.

Agree with Greg or book the trip to spend a few nights in London if the cost is not too much.

With a ten year old child, don't drag her into London at night and make her rise early. Take a hotel at Heathrow, have dinner, rise at a reasonable hour and catch the connecting flight. I realize the temptation is there, but if it were me, in your situation, I wouldn't put a 10 year old through this. Imagine the exhaustion.

Amen to menachem's comment! I wouldn't put a 10 y.o. through this either.

I wouldn't stay at an airport hotel, plenty of places to stay a few stops down the Piccadilly Line which will give you options on what to eat

I laid out how you could manage this, but it really isn't a great idea IMO simply because you'd get in to towns pretty late, no attractions will be open (except the Eye) and you must leave the city very early in the AM.

I'd book a LHR hotel and eat there, watch some Telly, and get a good night's sleep. But we need to know which terminal to recommend any hotels.

Take the Hoppa Bus or a taxi to a Premier Inn, Ibis, Radison, etc. at London Heathrow. You really don't have time to do much in London and it is easier to stay near the airport with an early departure.