We will be transiting from Vancouver to Nairobi via Heathrow in May. We will have a seven hour layover - arriving at 13:35, leaving at 20:35. I'm looking for advice on whether to hang about the airport for that long, or should we go out and explore something? We have been to London for 2 days prior, but not since the Eye, is there enough time to take the train and do the Eye and get back without stressing ourselves out? Or to do something else maybe? We've done the hop on hop off bus, but only got off at Victoria Station and London Tower (loved poking around the tower so much we stayed the rest of the day until closing!) Any suggestions? We will also be staying for a day and half on the way home, for the full day I have my heart set on the Sherlock Holmes Museum and Little Venice.

You could do it via the Heathrow Express, which will get you to Paddington Station in 15-20 minutes from Heathrow, but I wouldn't plan on a long say in London, maybe 4 hours tops. Probably need to plan to be back at LHR minimum 2 hours before departure, assume 30 minutes transit time each way to account for waiting time, and expect 30-60 minutes from landing until you clear immigration and get to the train station in the first place. That cuts your 7 hours down to about 4 hours, I would assume 3.5 so you don't cut it too close.

Andrew

You'll have plenty of time to ride the Eye, and probably to stroll around Westminster as well.

According to thetube.com, the HX will get you to Waterloo in 42 minutes, and the Tube in 55 (with a change at Green Park).

£26 for 26 minutes? Your call.

Thanks Andrew, that is exactly the type of advice I was looking for. For 3.5 hrs I don't know if it would be worth all of the possible stress, I think maybe we will just hang out at the airport, or maybe we can go see Legoland which I understand is close by. Sounds like a good place to have lunch...

How about a trip to Windsor/Eton? Not sure about transportation but a couple of hours or 3 would allow you to see the two areas - all walking. I'm pretty sure if you do a search on here you will get suggestions for Windsor. Seven hrs in an airport is a long time even when you're tired from the flight. Unless you get a hotel dayroom what are you going to do? Heathrow is the best airport I've been in but.......

I would probably be inclined to do it, if anything just walk around London for a few hours. Of course, if it was nasty weather or something, maybe not.

Andrew

First, don't exaggerate the messiness of getting out of Heathrow. If your flight's on time and you got you and your bags through checked at YVR, it's 20 minutes from T4 to Paddington station and at that time of day you can get from your gate to the HEX station in 10 minutes. Which is not to deny the possibility things won't go quite that smoothly.

For a good review of most options, including bits of greenery on the Piccadilly tube line, , http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34709119. The weekday Windsor bus timetable is at http://tinyurl.com/bttl3

Little Venice is a bit of a shlep from most other places you're likely to want to see on your way back. But it's virtually at Paddington Station, which practically nothing else is. At the street end of Platform 8, there's a sign pointing to the Marks + Spencer head office. Follow it to the canal. Go NW along the canal towpath for 5 mins, using the map at http://tinyurl.com/at5a7. You're in Little Venice. Can't see how you couold spend over an hour there (the phrase "Little Venice" does gild the lilly more than somewhat)

Legoland is VERY difficult to get to by public transport. You have to change to very infrequent buses at Windsor, so why go any further? Getting taxis to and from places outside Greater London (like the Windsor area), but near Heathrow can be an expensive and argumentative process: taxi drivers aren't required to take you, can't ply for hire in Windsor once they've dropped you and need to go back to the beginning of the hours-long Heathrow queue and pay the Heathrow taxi charge again. So they expect you to pay for all this, and fares outside Greater London are unregulated - making cab journeys within the 15 miles west of LHR some of the costliest on the planet. And it takes about as long to get to the car hire places from the terminals than it takes to get to Paddington or Windsor.

Why not take the bus to Windsor/Eton? It's not difficult to do, and sure beats sitting in the airport for 7 hours. It's a fun place just to walk around and have lunch.

The Heathrow Express offers a "Visit London £ 16 Return" fare valid for departures after 13:00 and if you return before midnight the same day. If it were me, I'd combine this with a bus pass instead of the tube - only about £ 2 - and enjoy a cheap bus tour of the city.

Thanks everyone, this does give me something to mull over. It sounds like we should go into London, especially if the HEX has a special one day return fare - 16 GPB sounds like a good deal.
Just to make sure I have this right though - it's 10 min to the HEX station from the gate, then 20 into Paddington. If we want to try and do the Eye from there, should we change to the Underground there?
Based on flanneruk's post we are going to scratch Legoland - not really into Lego anyways, LLC and Nancy's advice to go to Windsor/Eton sounds better. I will do a search on the Windsor option later today, and also take a look at the thread flanneruk mentioned for both the Windsor bus and the Picadilly tube line.
One plan though I came up with this morning from these posts is to take the HEX to Picadilly and wander around Little Venice for an hour or so on the 7-hour layover day and save the Eye and the Sherlock Holmes museum for the full day we will on the return. What do you guys think, would that work better?
This board is incredible for the wonderful useful advice people give - thanks again to all!

I'd add an hour to your flight arrival time. For whatever reason (British Air) we always seem to sit on the tarmac at Heathrow waiting for a gate to open up for us to deplane (30-40 mins.)

we have a 12 hr stop over in london on dec 26th on our way from T.O. to Dubai, eventually to Nairobi - we plan on doing some shopping, pubbing etc. not sure how we'll get there - HX or tube, but we're definitely not staying in heathrow for 10+ hrs! Rain or shine, but most likely rain - we'll be in the city Go for it!

Lynda, here's the basic problem. The HEX is quick, but it drops you off at Paddington, on the Northwest corner of the Circle line (the Circle is the one in yellow on the tube map.) To get to the Eye, on the other hand, you want to get to the ***south/central*** perimeter of the Circle line, or in other words, cross town on the Circle, which is not exactly renowned for its speed. Then you must either cross the Thames on foot over the bridge near Westminister or change to the Jubilee line to take you to Waterloo. Alternatively you take the Bakerloo line (brown) directly from Paddington to Waterloo, which I'm guessing will take you at least 30 minutes. What I'm trying to say is, on a fast stop through London, the Eye might not be your best bet. You might even have to wait in line to get on.

I have to admit that the South Bank is a great place to view the London skyline. Tip: if you're up to walking, the Jubilee pedestrian walk follows the shore of the Thames. You'll see a lovely view of London without the expense of and lineups for the Eye. On the other hand, you mentioned the Sherlock Holmes museum. The tube stop for that is Baker St, which not too surprisingly is on the Bakerloo line. It's much closer to the vicinity of Paddington.