We'll be in London in early June. Could you tell me how to buy a ticket and get to the Heathrow Express to Paddington (from Terminal 3)? Also, is the Express an underground and will I have to climb up some stairs at Paddington to get outside to pick up a taxi? We are staying about 10 blocks away, but may have some luggage to haul. Many thanks

You simply follow the signs at the terminal for the HEX station and buy a ticket at the ticket office. You can buy it on the train, but there's a surcharge. Some posters on this board have complained about the walk, but it's truly hard to understand why. 5 mins max from exiting T3 customs.

The station at Heathrow is underground, but is entirely approached by lift or ramp. Escalators are an option at some points.

Paddington Railway station is above ground: it's a competely flat journey from train to cab rank.

There is a Tube station there too, which can be horrid for anyone who has problems with stairs. Access to the Bakerloo line, from the main entrance on the station concourse, avoids stairs.
But all other tube lines, and the Bakerloo from any other entrance, get you into seriously nasty stairs.

There is an escalator to take you up the stairs at Paddington. You say "we" so I assume you are talking about at least two people.

Is your mind set on the Express? If you check out a car service such as "just airports" you are likely to find that a private driver will meet you at the airport, help you with luggage to his car and take you door to door to your hotel. The total cost will probably be about the same or possibly even less than two tickets on the Express plus a taxi ride to your hotel from Paddington. What's more you will avoid the transfer and waiting in line at Paddington for a taxi (I've seen the Express come in and the line for taxis get very, very long). In addition, while the Express itself may be quick, if you add in wait time for the next one (up to 20 minutes), add in the time for transfering to a taxi at Paddington, and add in the time for the taxi ride to your hotel (this is usually the most traffic-laden part of the whole car trip) you may easily find that door to door, the time will be shorter by a car service all the way. In addition, it is certainly a whole lot easier.

Ooops. Two points. First of all, I now see you mentioned how close your hotel is, so the total cost may actually be a little less by Express plus a taxi.
And secondly, the escalators I was referring to in Paddington are from the tube up -- which doesn't affect you.

I just returned from London and used the Heathrow Express. It was pretty easy to get to and use. There are signs pointing the way, as well as elevators and escalators. It cost 25 pounds round trip per person. With the taxi ride included (which added another several pounds), the whole trip took about 50 minutes (to get to Bloomsbury). The main reason that I took it was to avoid what I thought would be a lot of traffic on a Saturday evening. I don't know if it paid off or not.

We used Justairports.com for roundtrip Heathrow/So. Kensington. The price was 51GBPs (roundtrip paid in cash, credit card is a bit more). I thought this was great value (we're a fmaily of 4). They were right on schedule and pleasant, and there's nothing easier than door-to-door service.

You can also buy tickets from machines at the airport and they take credit cards. The last time I used it it actually took about as long to get a taxi at Paddington as it did to get from the airport to Paddington!!!..but your experience may vary.
I would, however, check out the cost of having a car meet you at the airport as well.

Hi Pennez,
I have never used the Express INTO London as we always stay on the Picadilly Line and enjoy the slow ride into London while we discuss our next move, BUT, we did use it ONCE to go to Heathrow when we still had the whole day free after checking out of our hotel - NEVER AGAIN! Fist of all we had to queue to check the luggage in and upon returning in GOOD time were met with a bomb scare, so the whole of Paddington was sealed off. Eventually the police allowed us to venture in and what a scramble! We ran hell-for- leather to get to the front of the queue to retain our luggage so that we would get on the train and not miss our flight, only to find Heathrow in a shambles. Our flight was on time but we were exhausted just with the strain of it all. Our motto is "start off early and relax at the airport" from now on!

There are many reasons for not taking the HEX - mostly to do with its outrageous price.

But reliability isn't one of them. All travelling in London is liable to be disrupted by security scares or by the endless nonsense that's inevitable in a highly congested city. The HEX seems a lot less vulnerable to any of this than the tube or road links to Heathrow.

Anyone who uses Heathrow a lot will have missed a flight, or shared tod's trauma, by using the tube. Most of us have missed flights while relying on road links, since one broken-down bike on the Hammersmith Flyover can halt traffic for 10 miles in every direction.

The HEX not only is, by British standards, stunningly punctual. It's almost unheard of for it to stop in its tracks, leaving you stuck, motionless and unable to make other arrangements (a real risk on tubes and in cabs). If Paddington's closed, you just get on a tube at Lancaster Gate or hail a cab.

The HEX is always the most reliable link - which is presumably why its operator, BAA, gets away with charging what it does.

We took the HEX from Heathrow a few years back during a trip to London and loved it. The cost is kind of high but its punctual, convienent, and over twice as fast as the regular subways. Just follow the signs for HEX. They are all over the place and its very easy to find. As far as buying tickets, you can either purchase from a ticket booth or from an automated machine.