My family will have a layover in London of 7.5 hours a week from Sunday. Our flight arrives in at 12:35pm and departs at 8:05pm. Is it possible to get out of Heathrow, have lunch, see something, and get back in that timeframe?

I'm traveling with my husband & 3 kids ages 16, 13, and 8. Most of our luggage will be checked through, but we'll each have a small carry-on bag.

Thanks for any suggestions!

Hi megapax,

if you allow an hour for getting through passport control amd 2 hours for check-in, then an hour each way to get into and out of london, you're down to aabout 2 1/2 hours actual time.

so IMHO, the answer to your question is no, though I suppose that theoretically, you could get to the Natural history museum and back, though i'd be looking at my watch every 5 minutes.

personally, I'd find a hotel near heathrow with a shuttle service and a swimming pool, and take off for there with your cossies packed in your hand-luggage. after a swim and late lunch, you can stroll back to heathrow refreshed and replete. how many people can say that???

according to hotels.com, the thistle, novotel and crowne plaza fit the bill.

regards, ann

If you were traveling solo or even a couple - i'd say go for it but only if you got through immigration relatively quickly.

But w/ 5 people and one of them being a small child - nope - I wouldn't. Some will tell you to take the Heathrow Express "its only 15 minutes from London" - but it costs a lot and only gets you to Paddington Station which is quite far from most sites. So if you take the 15 min. Express or the 50 min. tube - it will still take you an hour to get most anywhere.

But what you <i>could</i> do is take a taxi over to Windsor - it is only 15 mins from LHR by car and is a nice town. Castle, riverside walks, restaurants. You could spend a couple of hours there and have plenty of time to get back to LHR before 6 PM.

That sounds like a great idea, janicej. How much would a taxi from LHR to Windsor cost? We nearly always have a long layover in LHR when we travel.

I'd figure on about &pound;20 since it will be a Sunday and there shouldn't be much in the way of traffic delay. Could be a bit more.

Actually, according to tfl.co.uk, Piccadilly Circus is only an hour and a half round trip and you can see Big Ben and the Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, maybe Trafalgar Square, and back to the airport in good time.

If you don't, you can get back home and wonder why you didn't see one of the world's most interesting and exciting cities when it was 45 minutes away.

Actually, according to tfl.co.uk, Piccadilly Circus is only an hour and a half round trip and you can see Big Ben and the Eye, Westminster Abbey, Buckingham Palace, maybe Trafalgar Square, and back to the airport in good time.

If you don't, you can get back home and wonder why you didn't see one of the world's most interesting and exciting cities when it was 45 minutes away.

One hour in London is better than no hours in London.

Hmmm - the edit-o-matic is negative function today.

A few London residents (who fly a lot) have told me we can absolutely get to London and back, and every one of them has said to go see the Tower of London. If our flight arrives on time, and we're out of Heathrow at 1:45, we can be there by 3:00 and head back to the airport at 5:00. If our flight is late, the question is moot, but I'd like to know we could try it if we have time.

I feel like Robespierre said, &quot;one hour in London is better than no hours in London.&quot; Even riding the tube beats sitting in an airport for an additional 5.5 hours, I think.

Thanks!

megapax - You may be able to head out to London and see <i>something</i>, but trying to see Tower of London during your layover is not practical.

1) Are you planning to take the small carry-on with you to head out to London? If not, it'll take you at least 10 minutes at least just to find the left luggage facility at Heathrow.

2) It'll take at least 1h 15 mins to 1.5 hours to get from Heathrow to Tower Hill (by Heathrow Express then tube).

3) Expect waiting in lines to get into Tower of London (this is peak tourist season)

4) Have you considered the cost of this? Perhaps it doesn't matter to you, but spending &pound;80 or more on transportation alone, plus another &pound;60 for admission to Tower of London, is a lot - given that you will have at most 2 hours at the Tower.

5) When will you have time for lunch?

I really do think Windsor Castle will be an excellent choice, esp if all you want to do in London is go to Tower of London.

Thanks, I appreciate the additional input. We'll be coming in from Ireland, and the 8yo will probably have had enough of castles by then, but I did a little noodling around about Windsor and it does seem like an excellent idea.

Our next family trip will probably be to England, anyway, so perhaps we'll save the Tower for then.

Thanks for the suggestions.