ava

I was wondering if someone could tell me the easiest way to get from Heathrow airport to the Chelsea area - I am staying with friends who have a flat there and am arriving at 9 in the morning flying American. Thanks in advance for any help!

ron

The easiest way is to take a taxi -- door to door service, no hassle. It's also the most expensive and possibly not the fastest. If you want something more economical, you will need to tell us where in Chelsea you are going.

MFNYC

I just researched this from transportation to So. Kensington. The cheapest way is to take the underground, and it sounds pretty easy as well. I don't know exactly the line or stop, but I'm sure someone else, or your friend, can help you. Another option, but not all that great, is taking the train to Paddington Station, then a taxi, but that's out of the way. What we decided to do (but there are 4 of us and 2 are kids), we arranged for car service using justairports.com. If you pay cash, it's less than if you use a credit card. I found their rates fairly reasonable (as compared to a taxi). JustAirports had been recommended several times on this board.

MFNYC

You can also take a regular taxi but that can be pricey, especially if there's traffic.

MFNYC

I beleive a taxi costs somewhere around 40GBP (more if slow go), JustAirports for roundtrip to and from So. Kens. is 51GBP.

ava

I guess I should have been more clear - I am hoping for a cheap (and hopefully easy) way to get from the airport to Chelsea. I wish I could tell you where in Chelsea I will be staying, I know that would make it easier to tell me what to do. I guess I was just hoping for some basic cheap ideas

ron

The cheap and fairly easy way will involve taking the tube from Heathrow and getting off at one of three possible stops, depending on where in Chelsea you are going. From there you may be able to walk or you may have to take a bus.

For example, the time I stayed in Chelsea, I stayed near the Battersea Bridge on the southern end of Beaufort Street. To there, it was a 20 minute walk from each of the three tube stations, Gloucester Road, South Kensington and Sloane Square. Getting there from Heathrow, if it was a nice day and I had rolling luggage, I would take the tube to Gloucester Road and walk. Otherwise I would take the tube to South Ken and take a bus. But if where you are staying is close to Sloane Square, I would transfer from the piccadilly line to the Circle & district line and go to the Sloane Square station. You can see all this on the transport for London site, http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/content/tubemap/default.asp

ava

Thanks Ron- this is exactly the type of information I was looking for. I am just a little overwhelmed by all the transportation issues and am glad to have advice from someone who has actually been there and done it themselves!

janis

Before you decide on the tube - you need to know WHERE you will be staying in Chelsea. Chelsea is a fairly large area and some parts are a VERY long ways from any tube station. Other parts of Chelsea are not far from the Sloane Square or S. Kens. stations.

So if you will tell us what street you are staying on we can make more reliable suggestions. (Or just ask your friends how far they are from which station)