Stefanie

Upon landing in London (Heathrow), what is the best and fastest way to get to Bath? How much and where to book tickets/see schedules? Would you book the tickets before you got there or after you land? <BR>Then, from Bath to London, what is the best way? We will spend our first night in Bath and then the next three nights in London. <BR>We will be there second half of November, how cold will it be? Will there be snow?

janis

It isn't easy to get from LHR to Bath without renting a car. There are coaches. Or the train, but not directly from the airport to Bath. Any specific reason you are doing it this way? There are several convenient ways to get from London to Bath. (organized tour, train, caoch, car, etc.) <BR> <BR>If you don't have a definite reason to be in Bath your first day, I'd think aboout going into London and then taking a day or overnight trip from London to Bath and back. <BR> <BR>Otherwise you can rent a car - the drive from LHR to Bath takes about 90 minutes by motorway, more by scenic back roads..

Escritora

Actually, it's not all that difficult. If you catch the Heathrow Express to Paddington, you can get a train to Bath right there. A little bit of back and forth, yes, but the Express is just 15 or 20 minutes, and then it's 90 minutes' transit to Bath. If I recall, the trains run reasonably frequently, but of course your wait time depends on when you get in to Paddington. The tickets can be purchased right at Paddington, so no need for advance purchases, and the round-trip fare this March was £31 (regular adult fare--more for first class, less for children, students or seniors). That will get you right back to Paddington and from there to your London hotel. I did the trip in a day and was sorry I didn't make it an overnighter--you'll love it.

ron

It is my experience that the National Express coach service , (www.GoByCoach.com for schedule, fares and tickets), from the Central Bus Station at Heathrow direct to Bath is more convenient and less expensive than the train. <BR> <BR>Car rental seems pointless, since the car becomes an expensive handicap once in Bath.

janis

Escritora: That's exactly what I meant - to take the train you have to go into London and then turn around and go back west to Bath. An awful lot of to-ing and fro-ing

SteveJames

Hello Stefanie, <BR> <BR>As a local I would second Ron's advice to go by National Express coach. There's a direct service from Heathrow every 2 hours. It's best to book in advance. <BR> <BR>Steve

Nigel Doran

Coach is good, but lengthy compared to the train. But the coach is certainly cheaper. <BR> <BR>If you take the coach from the airport to Bath, you might want to consider taking the coach from Bath to London. Otherwise, you would have to buy a single (oneway)train fare from Bath and these are never half the price of a return (roundtrip), so you end up paying dear for travelling one way. <BR> <BR>Look at www.thetrainline.com for more information. I do not think they will post to a foreign address, but there is a phone number on the site for you to ring. Don't bother with first class, and with both modes - train and coach - don't take too much luggage or you will have few places to put it.

henry

The fastest and most convenient way to get from LHR to Bath would be to hire a taxi. This may seem like an extravagance but consider the following: <BR> <BR>About 5 years ago I was traveling in England and France with my wife and her parents. We had landed LHR at the start of the trip, then gone on to Paris the first day by the Eurostar. Later in the trip we travelled back from Calais to Dover by the hovercraft mainly because my father-in-law wanted the hovercraft experience. <BR> <BR>My plan was to taxi from the Dover hovercraft terminal to the train station and travel back to London by train. As we rode in the taxi to the train station I got to talking with the cabbie and he ended up offering to drive us into London directly and said he would be lower than 4 2nd class train tickets. We in fact stopped at the train station where I priced the tickets at about 20 pounds each for a total of 80, whereupon he said he would take us for 60. I had not booked a room ahead in London, so I called the Elizabeth Hotel by Victoria Station (where we had stayed a couple years before), and made the reservation. <BR> <BR>The cabbie dropped us at the hotel door about 90 minutes later. That worked out pretty well for us. <BR> <BR>I don't have a map in front of me but the LHR-to-Bath trip can't be too much longer than Dover-to-London and it is all motorway. Remember long distance taxi fares can be negotiated if the cabbie is independent. In your case this will not be the low cost option but considering your one night only in Bath the time and hassle saved may be worth it. <BR> <BR>Incidentally, I have also traveled more or less directly from LHR to Bath by taking a bus from the airport to Reading station (I recall about a 20 min trip), then catching the train to Bath from there which took about an hour. However, this was about 15 years ago and the connection might no longer exist. <BR> <BR>Best of luck whatever---

henry

Sorry for the last post rambling so long, but I forgot to add somewhat obviously that taxi to Reading station train to Bath might also work out quite well.

David

If you book train tickets in advance on www.thetrainline.com you can collect the tickets at paddington station

ron

David, tell me how. I was just on Thetrainline.com trying to buy a ticket from Paddington to Carmarthen; the only London terminal that is listed as a ticket collection point is Euston.

Chris

Stefanie, some have asked why you're going directly to Bath upon landing. Is it because of Rick Steves' recommendation in London 2001? I just read that he recommended this approach -- spending the first night in Bath as it was "the perfect jet lag pillow." Then on to the Big City. However I just couldn't imagine having an all-night flight, dealing with luggage etc. at the airport, and then travelling another 2 hours in the condition I imagine I would be in from all that, rather than just getting into London and collapsing. What say the others?

frank

The 1st night in Bath is a very good idea if your plane arrives early morning, like most from the U.S., because many London hotels won't let you check in early. It's better to get some rest on the train than wander around London. Not a big deal to have to go into Paddington station to get a train to Bath...good idea! <BR>

janis

This is another one of Rick Steves' ideas that thousands and thousands of US tourists have glommed on to - like putting a green L on the car to indicate you are a novice driver. <BR> <BR>Most of his suggestions are fine but a few are silly. If one wants to spend the first night outside of London, great, but to travel the convoluted route to get to Bath only to travel back to London makes no sense. Why not Windsor - only 7 miles from Heathrow, or Kingston, or any number of other places closer to London. <BR> <BR>Steves' also suggests going out from London to Bath to pick up a rental car - that is nuts - driving and parking in Bath can be as hard as in parts of London. Just pick up the car at the airport - you will miss the London traffic, the rental agencies are outside of the LHR ringroad so you miss that mess, and you are right on several motorways so it is convenient to any direction you are going. <BR> <BR>Rick Steves is a good source - but use your common sense and don't just follow blindly.