Arriving in London 9:55pm on Jan 26. What is the best way to get to the Mariott-West India Quay,Canary Wharf. Heathrow express to Paddington. What would the cost of a taxi for that portion of the trip. Or a quote from justairports is about 38pounds. I will be traveling alone. Thanks in advance.

There is no "best way" to traverse London, only varying degrees of frustrating.

The distance is 13km and it's a 20-minute ride according to the Michelin man.

I once paid £10 for Paddington to Waterloo, so I would estimate your trip to cost about £30.

Best is relative. Cheapest? Fastest? Easiest? Which is your preference.

If you don't have much luggage and want to take the least expensive trip, you should take the tube from Heathrow to Canary Wharf. It'll involve a minimum of three station changes but you'll be travelling post rush hour so that would work in your favor.

38 GBP from HR to CW sounds in the ballpark for a hired car. You might consider checking with the other car services that get mentioned here (Ray Skinner's London Transfer & Swiss Cottage are the two that come to mind) to do some comparison pricing.

The cost of the Heathrow Express to Paddington and taxi to CW will almost certainly exceed the price of hiring a car. Paddington Sta is not on the way to Canary Wharf.

Regarding the taxi from Paddington, this past spring we paid about 25 pounds for a taxi from Paddington just to get to Liverpool Station in heavy traffic. It could be a whole lot more from Paddington to Canary Wharf. I think I'd go for the justairports quote and do it the easy and comfortable way.

the route from LHR to Canary Wharf crosses all of London - if you can get a car service for £38, take it. That is a real bargain IMHO.

The tube would be much cheaper but by the time you collect your bags and clear immigration, it could be 11 p.m. or later.

The only thing I would consider at that time of night for such a long journey is a pre-booked car service.

Expensive though it might be for one person, the car does sound the better option for that time of night.

By train and tube, it would be:

Heathrow Express to Paddington, Bakerloo Line to Waterloo, then Jubilee Line to Canary Wharf.

At Waterloo you would have some steps and a long-ish travel on a moving walkway (you could change at Baker Street, but there's a lot of ups and downs on staircases). And at Canary Wharf underground you would have to get from one side of the estate to the other, again with quite a few steps and stairs and a walk of several hundred yards.

Another vote for the car service, it's only a little more than the cost of the tube in real terms. Arrive in relative comfort, and book it.

Thank you to all who responded. Great advice. I will certainly take a car service. Out of the three mentioned, justairports,Ray Skinners London Transfer and Swiss Cottage which is the best service. Thanks

I'd go with the quote from justairports for 38 GBP cash.

All three services get almost exclusively good reports here.

Ray Skinner charges a flat rate of 39 GBP for an airport pickup. I'm pretty sure that Patrick, who posted below, says he's received very competitive rates from Swiss Cottage.

Actually Ray Skinner charges a MINIMUM of 44 pounds for Heathrow pickup to Central London. You're leaving off the 5 pound surcharge for all airport pickups, obxgirl. And the real trick is, I wouldn't consider Canary Wharf as Central London. I'd be very surprised if Ray Skinner would either. I suspect it will be considerably more than the usual 44 pounds to get out there.

>You're leaving off the 5 pound surcharge for all airport pickups, obxgirl.<

You're right, Patrick, I inadvertently omitted that piece of information. Thank you for correcting me.

Since Canary Wharf outside central London, I'm actually surprised justairports rate is only £38. I'm sure the other services you mentioned (all 3 get good reviews BTW) would be in the £50 range or maybe even more.

Actually, janis, since other posters have been quoting prices from justairports for around 25 pounds from Heathrow to Central London, that 38 sounds about right. (I'm also assuming that is a cash, not credit card, price which justairports gives a large discount for. Several people have mentioned the big difference between quotes from Ray Skinner for 44 pounds and justairports for 25 pounds to central London hotels.

There's a serious discount for paying cash. The fare to E14 from Heathrow on a CC is 55GBP. That's based on the "instant estimate" feature at the website.