5 hours between heasthrow and gatwick
 

Hello all
We will have at least 5 hours to tour some of london and need advice on best way. We arrive at H. at 7:am and going through immigration and customs I figure we shold be on our way 10:am. We need to arrive at Gatwick by 3:30 for our 5:pm flight to Venice. With one carry on and one checked luggage each..(there are 5 of us)..we need a place to stash our bags. We could take the H. Express to Paddington then to Victoria station, get a room for the day
$102.00 (the cheapest I found) leave our luggage in the room and head off to see some sights.
Back to hotel to pick up our luggage and freshen up and take the Gatwick express to the airport. Does that make any sense or does anyone have a better idea. Your comments are appreciated.

I don't think you'd need a room in London - if you wanted a day room you could just got straight to LGW and get a room there.

You can leave your bags at left luggage at Victoria station and pick them up just before catching the train to the airport.

In your case I also would not take the LHR Express to Paddington. True, it only takes 15 mins to Paddington - but then you'd have to take the tube or an expensive cab to Victoria.

I'd take the tube from LHR to Victoria (changing at Hammersmith) The elapsed time will be nearly the same for a fraction of the cost.

I also think you'll be out of LHR before 10:00 - probably closer to 9:00 or even earlier.

So: tube to Victoria arriving between 9:30 and 10:30 depending on how long it takes you to get out of LHR. Drop the bags at left luggage. If you really need to freshen up there are showers at Victoria (clean and not "iffy" at all)

Then you can walk to Buckingham Palace/St James Park/Westminster, or jump on one of the open top double decker tour buses. Then back to Victoria by 3:00 to pick up the bags and catch the train to LGW.

Report how this changing turns out.

I think it sounds crazy but I did the same for Paris. I only had the first chance to visit Paris and I thought I would have bags of time. The bottom line was I missed my flight. Yet, I still remember my first visit to Paris. It was magic.

So, please report how this turned out.

Blackduff

Re getting to Gatwick at 3:30pm for your 5:00pm flight - I'd be aiming to get to Gatwick for 3:00pm AT THE LATEST, doubly so if you are travelling to Venice by low costs airline.

As for GEX, whilst you can get a 4 adults for the price of 2 ticket for £40 BUT it's still cheaper to get a Southern Trains service (£9 per adult) to Gatwick instead.

See www.nationalrail.co.uk

i would agree not to get a hotel room. that adds a significant amount of overhead to an already very tight timeframe. people always underestimate the time to find/get to hotel, check-in, check-out, get bags and self up to and back down from room, etc.

as for the overall planning, on threads like this you often get people quoting hypothetical, best case times that assume no delays and that the traveller knows exactly where he is going.

just looking at train times can be misleading. you cannot get from LHR to london in 15 min. it's 15 min (add 8 min for T4 arrivals) from the time the train departs LHR to the time it arrives in paddington (if no delays). what about the time it takes you to get your bearings in the airport, get to the platform, and wait for the train? add the time to alight at paddington, get your bearings, and get to a taxi or tube, etc and that 15 min journey can look more like closer to 1 hour. equally, you must add continency time into your trip to gatwick, in addition to the time added to navigate to and from stations, waiting for train, etc. the less familiarity you have with our airports and train stations, the more time you must add.

listen to blackduff...you really don't have a lot of time. unfortunately, we rarely get reports on how these quick visits turn out and whether the traveller was able to stick to ambitious time schedules.

Oh - I didn't make the effort to suss out your flight time from the :p

But now see you meant 5:00 p.m. -- so you definitely need to be at LGW before 3:30. 2:30 might not be too early. So now you need to be on the train at Victoria by about 2:00 p.m.

This whole expedition will only give you a grand total of about 4 hours in central London. Still doable - but you need to decide if it is worth the hassle.

Since you each have only one checked bag and one carry-on, another strategy (one that obviates stashing your luggage) presents itself:

Buy an open-top bus tour, and take your luggage with you. There's plenty of room under the seats for your bags, and people do it all the time.

Ride the Piccadilly Line to Piccadilly Circus.
Buy your tickets at the office on Coventry Street.¹ (Or on line.)
Board The Original Tour red line on Haymarket¹ and ride all the way around the circuit to Victoria Station.
Take the Southern Train to Gatwick. (You can bail out at London Bridge Station if your time is getting too tight.)

Here is a map of your itinerary: http://www.theoriginaltour.com/files/uaocpjzcpy.pdf

¹See detail 3 at bottom of map for locations.

How long do people allow for a simply Heathrow to Gatwick transer? I thought that was ~2-3 hours, no?

At least 5 hours between landing & take off between any 2 London Airports (except City)

Then I guess my "better idea" is to just make your airport transfer successfully and wait until you hit Venice to start vacationing!

>>>>
Then I guess my "better idea" is to just make your airport transfer successfully and wait until you hit Venice to start vacationing!
>>>>>

if we agree on 5 hours and add 1 hour for final remnants of security mayhem still being experienced in UK airports (could be delays getting baggage after flights and the need to add more time for getting through security in gatwick), then the OP has 4 hours to "enjoy" london (he has 10 hours total from landing to take-off).

HOWEVER, the 5 hour (or 6 hour) "rule" refers to direct transfer between the two airports. the OP's plan requires more transit and compexity than a direct transfer (including transit within london to get to what they want to see and back) and therefore, there is a much greater overhead for transport than the "simple" (nothing is simple) direct airport to airport transfer.

still, he does has at least 4 hours. it depends how much hassle, expense, and discomfort he wants to endure to see london for a just a few hours. only he or she can decide that. it's a borderline decision but the fact that there are 5 of them would tip the scales towards not doing it, IMO. doing this with 5 people can be madness....even if they are all motivated and savvy adults. this test of wills can start your venice holiday off on a sour note.

in my experience of travelling with groups of this size, there are always one or two who do not share in the ambition and will balk at the rushing, hauling of bags, and general unpleasantness that this escapade will bring (made worse after a tiring flight).

We landed on a flight from Copenhagen and fell just behind a flight from Nigeria. It took 1 hour 30 minutes just to get through immigration. Baggage was very easy and was waiting. Customs was a breeze but all told it was 2 hours. I think on average this was longer than normal. That puts you at 9 am on your way to the tube. You could be in London by 10 am. If you buy a ticket for the tour bus you might have 3 hours. We did it in early September and traffic was very heavy. At the very latest you need to head for Gatwick at 1 pm. That's a lot of ifs. Security is always a big question. We floated through our trip to Copenhagen but every passenger on the American 777 to JFK was individually searched. Seems like there out to be a tour around Gatwick around the countryside which you could do after checking in.

Plan as if you are going to do a spot of sightseeing, just don't make firm plans until you know how much time you do have .

So go to Victoria THEN decide what to do.

Note if the weather is lousy getting off the Tube at South Kensington for the Museums may be a better option. However I don't know if any of the musuems will take anything bigger than hand luggage.

Thanks to all,
Tell me if I understand this.
Ok Great, no hotel room.And I like the idea of tube to Victoria and the hop on hop off (with luggage) Even if we have a chance to see the sights and view the area from the top of the bus.Not actually going into the museums is OK we will be doing that on overload in Italy. We are packing very light, keeping space for all the goodies we buy in Italy to take home. Of course all this depends on how smooth our time out of LHR is.
Janis are you saying to use the tube
to london and the train to LGW?
Robespiere thank you for the map, I will print and study them.
If this turns out to be doable I will report back. Thanks, and if any other ideas please post.
Augstmoon

Walkinaround,
This will surly test our travel together issue. We are all family, maybe making things worse..lol
me, my boyfriend, my sister, her husband and my adult son.(my treat for him) I'm hoping we will all be so excited the rushing and schlipping of bags will go unnoticed.
Will let you know.
Augstmoon

No, not the tube to Victoria.

The tube to Piccadilly Circus.

Going to Victoria requires a change of trains, which is unnecessary if you go to Piccadilly.

Furthermore, the bus route from Victoria goes up around Mme. Tussaud's, which is a waste of time (IMO) whether you get off the bus or not. (See map.)

Starting from Piccadilly, you finish at Victoria and the only thing you miss is Marble Arch which, although interesting, doesn't justify the ride.

walkinaround, thanks for clarifying. obviously i lost my way on this post!

Sorry about the delay getting back to you - been away for a few days. IMHO it is a dreadful idea to take the tube to Piccadilly Circus. Even IF you pack as light as you do P. Circus is a hectic/crowded/confusing tube station w/ many exits. I am very comfortable negotiating P. Circus - but I wouldn't do it jet lagged and toting luggage on a bet.

The Hop-on-hop-off buses will allow you to take small bags on board. But the ebb/flow of passengers getting on/off makes toting luggage a problem - ofetn every seat is full and you will end up w/ your bags on your lap.

So, yes, what I meant was tube to Victoria (changing at Hammersmith), leave the bags at left luggage, and then catch the tour bus right outside the station. Then later on get back to Victoria, pick up your bags and take the train to LGW.

I still haven't booked our trip to Barcelona because I just can't find flights that work. The one that is best going there has us, on the way back, transferring from Heathrow to Gatwick with only 3 1/2 hours between flights. That seemed like folly to me, and y'all have comfirmed that.

"Even IF you pack as light as you do P. Circus is a hectic/crowded/confusing tube station w/ many exits."

Yes, Piccadilly Circus has four exits (regardless of how light you pack), but they're all clearly marked. You will exit at the one labeled "Exit 4" (map, below) which comes out on Coventry Street adjacent to the Original Tour ticket location. The red tour line boards around the corner on Haymarket. See this map:

http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/Dow...Piccadilly.pdf

At Victoria (also has four exits) http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/Dow...K_Victoria.pdf - you will exit anywhere and make your way to Grosvenor Gardens to get your tickets and board the red line.

Then you will waste a half-hour looping up around Marble Arch and Mme. Tussaud's and not much else until the route gets back down to Piccadilly Circus, as shown on this map:

http://www.theoriginaltour.com/files/uaocpjzcpy.pdf

Actually, P. Circus has 6 exits - as your map clearly shows . . . . .

Sure. Two of them are labeled <b>Exit 3</b>, and two are labeled <b>Exit 4</b>. I still maintain we ain't talkin' rocket science here.

Actually, the map clearly shows that there are seven exits. Two are labeled <b>Exit 2</b>.

Don't you want to discuss what one sees on the Original Tour when boarding at the two stops in question? Didn't think so.

It would be a HUGE waste of time to take a route that wanders up around Madame Tussaud's.

I would personally recommend the Big Bus red route since it concentrates on the major sites like Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, Trafalgar Sq, both sides of the river, the Tower, St Paul's, etc. and has a stop right in front of Victoria Station.

A primitive map-reading ability would be a real asset in making this decision.

The Big Bus red route from Victoria doesn't get to any recognizable landmarks until it's taken you up past Hyde Park to Marble Arch and wandered back down past Grosvenor Square and Berkeley Square and Hamley's Toy Store (!) before getting to Piccadilly Circus.

The Original Tour from Piccadilly (by contrast) immediately gets to Trafalgar Square, Parliament, Big Ben, and then hits all the sights on both banks of the river all the way to the Tower, then Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace on the way back to Victoria. It gives you basically the same tour as the Big Bus except it doesn't waste your time. I can't think of any reason someone having time constraints would even consider the Big Bus.

If you are flying BA to Venice, consider taking the bus from LHR to LGW immediately on arrival (90 mins). If you are flying BA to Venice, you can check in immediately; not sure about other airlines, but there is a &quot;left luggage&quot; place if you can't check in with your airline. The you can had to Victoria station (about 30 mins).

If you can check in warly, you will be all set, boarding cards in hand and better able to time your London visit. You should be back to LGW at leave 45 mins before your flight.

The one thing I haven't seen anyone address is your reasoning of arriving at 7 AM and being on your way at 10. I've flown into Heathrow quite a bit, and including claiming luggage, customs (a non issue -- you walk through), and immigration, I don't think I've ever been more than an hour and a half to the point to get a car service or get the tube -- usually closer to just one hour.
So you are LIKELY to have an extra hour or more there.

And I agree with O'Reilly's idea. I'd love to get to Gatwick, check in, and take the Gatwick Express both ways with no luggage issues.

Neopolitan is right - you should be cleared of immigration and baggage at the latest by 9am. If you take the Gatwick option, you can be checked in at LGW by about 11am and in London before noon. If you are checked in, you should be back at the airport by (latest) 1615, which means taking the Gatwick express from Victoria at about 1515-1530.

Also, another alternative, if you want to rest up instead, is to take a &quot;day room&quot; at LGW Sofitel or Hilton (I think I paid about 60 GBP at the Softel).

I don't know...these &quot;let's see a bit of London between flights&quot; plans always strike me as overambitious, especially for jetlagged travelers arriving at from the USA at 7:00 a.m. London time (2:00 a.m. US east coast time) zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz! One wonders what the group dynamic will be when you finally get to Venice.

Good luck, whatever you decide.