Our flight is scheduled to arrive at Heathrow at 8:45 in the evening. Should we take the Heathrow Express and the Tube to our hotel (Copthorne Tara) or should we splurge on a taxi?

If anyone has any other suggestions, I would appreciate hearing them.

Thanks!

I have yet to figure out the advantage of taking the Heathrow Express plus a taxi. Add up the time (however short) to get your tickets and wait for the Express (one would always be leaving just as I arrive, so it means a 15 to 20 minute wait for the next one), the transfer to a taxi, then the traffic clogged taxi ride to your hotel (this last segment of the trip is always the slowest traffic) and you've spent as much time door to door as if you hired a car service to meet you at the airport and take you right to your door. Plus you avoid the handling of the luggage yourself and the figuring out where you're going. In addition the cost of two Express tickets plus a taxi (if more than a block or two) will probably be as costly as the usually quoted 24 pounds or so from someone like Just Airports car service. I just don't get the advantage of the Express unless you are a single traveler.

Hi,

As a travel agent, I always tell my clients that they' ll be tired after a long flight, so I recommend the taxi to avoid any long delays. It will be expensive, but sometimes the convenience is worth the cost. I like to do a private car and driver, because they are locals and give me a mini-tour as they drive me to my hotel. These drivers have often known about an out-of-the-ordinary show, exhibition, hidden gem restaurant and are usually willing to share lots of good information not found in the regular tourist paperwork.

Please feel free to e-mail me if you have any questions!

Best Regards,
Julia

Assuming there are at least two people in your party, a pre-arranged private car service will be about the same cost or cheaper than the Heathrow Express and much less than a taxi. We used justairports.com recently (24 pounds from Heathrow to W1). If you do a search here, you should be able to find several threads on this service.

If you are going to Copthorne Tara, you could just take the Piccadilly Line all the way in the first place. Then you get on at Heathrow and off at Gloucester Road.

To pick up on WillTravel's post there are always taxi's at the Gloucester Road Tube station. (I know this from having stayed at Bailey's Hotel accross the street for 5 nights.) There is a lift serving the Picadilly line at this station however you do have to mange a few stairs.

Hello. I also arrive in the evening to Heathrow. Our hotel is right by the Gloucester Road station. Can anyone tell me how long the tube would take from Heathrow? After the long flight, I'm inclined to use justairports.com unless it's really silly to do so because of the cost. If the tube takes much less time and costs a lot less, I may change my mind. thank you.

By memory, I think the journey is supposed to take about 33 minutes, but you can take a look at http://www.thetube.com and use the Journey Planner.