Desparately seeking help with one night lay over in London
 

Hi,
I will have one night lay over in London enroute to Barcelona. It is likely to on a Saturday end of March. Plane will arrive in Gatwick (sp?) and will leave from Heathow. Are these two airports far apart?
Would I have time to do a little touring and stay at a hotel overnight or should I just camp out at the airport because the morning flight is at 10am?
If staying the night is a feasible idea, where should I stay and what can I do with one afternoon and one night?
Thanks in advance.

MN

The two airports are on opposite sides of London but don't let that worry you. You have a couple of options. For a 10 a.m. flight out of LHR you need to be at the airport by 8 a.m. at least.

What I would do is take the Gatwick Express in to London (30+ minutes) and then the tube if you are traveling light or a cab if you have a lot of luggage to a hotel near Paddington Station. Then you will have the afternoon/evening to explore London and have a nice dinner. The next morning jump on the Heathrow Express from Paddington (15 minutes to LHR) by about 7:30/7:45.

But another option would be to take the direct airport coach from LGW to LHR and check in to a hotel at/near the airport. Then you can take the tube or the Heathrow Express into London to do some sightseeing and then back to the hotel.

My recommendation would be like this:

Take the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station.
Find the left luggage place - it's either there or at Victoria Coach Station, I think. (Look into this, obviously.)
Go out and explore London until about 10 PM.
Go to a Heathrow airport hotel via express bus or tube (I think there may be an express bus to Heathrow airport from the coach station) and stay there overnight. Some might say to stay in town, but personally I would like that extra bit of sleep in the morning and peace of mind.

I did a bid on Priceline for the Heathrow zone for a Saturday night in July and won a room for $40/night + taxes and fees - Holiday Inn Ariel.

Janis' idea about taking the bus from LGW to LHR and checking in at the hotel before heading out again on the tube is very good.

"The two airports are on opposite sides of London but don't let that worry you."
Gatwick and Heathrow? Which one moved since I last flew in and out of London? Last I knew they were both southwest of London, not close to each other, but essentially both on the same side of London, certainly not on opposite sides. Heathrow more west and Gatwick more south.

I too would say, go into London for the night. Are you traveling alone? If so, I would do the Gatwick and Heathrow Express. Otherwise if there are two of you, get a car service both ways. Traffic should be no problem on a Sunday morning -- leaving central London an hour before you need to be at Heathrow is fine.

Alternatively, I'd consider transferring right away to Heathrow, get a hotel near the airport, then spend the evening (sans baggage) in London, returning for a decent sleep before getting up early to shuttle to Heathrow for your 10AM flight. Otherwise, you'll need to get up awfully early in London in order to get to LHR by 8 or so for your BCN flight.

We booked some rooms at LHR for April recently using Priceline - got the Sheraton for around US$100 a night, as opposed to the £125 quoted on the hotel web.

Correction, that was US$60 a night, or roughly a third of the quoted rate.

Heathrow is almost straight West from center London, just a little to the S. - about 260-degree on the compass.

Gatwick is almost straight South from center London, perhaps just a little to the W - about 185-degree if you set your compass at say Westminster. A little more if you measure from City... :D

Patrick - please don't take it literally - my point was that the two airports are FAR apart which is what at12am01 asked. We all know they are not "opposite" each other - that would be London City and LHR. But for this question - how near they are to each other - they might as well be on opposite ends of the city. They are not near each other . . . . .

FWIW having had to do MUCH earlier flights out of Heathrow frequently, I would go with janis's recommendation and sat at Paddington. The Heathrow Express is less than 30 minutes into the terminal at Heathrow. It will take you longer to transfer from your "on site" hotel. And unless you go upmarket, you can get a more reasonably priced place at Paddington than at Heathrow.

I usually stay at the Quality Hotel, a good three minutes walk from the station. It was recommended on here, and other than one horrible night when it was far too hot and the a/c wasn't makinga blind bit of difference, I have been very happy with it.

Do you mean:

One night lay ... over in London
or
One night layover ... in London?

My husband spent one night at the Quality Hotel last week to make a Heathrow connection. The room itself was ok, small but ok, however, the staff at the front desk and breakfast room left a lot to be desired. They kept trying to make him pay for breakfast even though it was included in his room rate (he showed them the voucher several times before they grudgingly admitted he was right, no apology).
It won't make any difference for this poster's trip, but the check out time at the Quality Hotel is early--10:30 am.
Next time, he will stay at the new Hilton in the same neighborhood.