Heathrow to gloucester tube station
Mar 10th, 2005 | 09:03 AM
#1
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Joined: Jan 2004
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Heathrow to gloucester tube station
Arriving in three days (about noon), staying at Millenium Gloucester hotel, and need to decide if we should book a car service. If we use subway or Heathrow Express, are there many stairs? elevators available? Any idea how much taxi from Paddington station to Millenium would be? DH and I usually travel light but this time are hauling an extra suitcase for our daughter who is studying here. Thanks in advance.
Mar 10th, 2005 | 09:12 AM
#2
Joined: Jan 2003
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Gloucester Road is on the same tube line as Heathrow, so you wouldn't have to change which makes a BIG difference. Even with stairs, you may find it more convenient, in this case, than taking the Express, which drops you off still a fair distance from your location. The tube is by far the cheapest option.
You can find details on ease of access - elevators (or rather 'lifts' to us) and escalators on this site:
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/
Alternatively, if you prebook a car service, you'll find it quite reasonable and very comfortable with heavy luggage. With your bag problem, I'd be tempted to do that.
You can find details on ease of access - elevators (or rather 'lifts' to us) and escalators on this site:
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/
Alternatively, if you prebook a car service, you'll find it quite reasonable and very comfortable with heavy luggage. With your bag problem, I'd be tempted to do that.
Mar 10th, 2005 | 09:20 AM
#3
Joined: Feb 2003
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Either go cheap (Tube) or book a car service. Heathrow Express x 2 plus cabfare will cost more than a pre-booked mini-cab. There's a small risk that you'll have to pay for a bit of waiting time if you experience significant delays at Customs & Immigration (the car service checks your arrival time, but you could get tied up between landing and clearing customs).
At which Terminal do you arrive? There is some construction going on, so that if you arrive at T4, you will have to get bussed to Hatton Cross before catching the Tube. T1-T3 aren't affected.
Another option would be an airport bus. If it drops you off at your hotel, this will probably be somewhat less expensive than a mini-cab.
At which Terminal do you arrive? There is some construction going on, so that if you arrive at T4, you will have to get bussed to Hatton Cross before catching the Tube. T1-T3 aren't affected.
Another option would be an airport bus. If it drops you off at your hotel, this will probably be somewhat less expensive than a mini-cab.
Mar 10th, 2005 | 09:22 AM
#4
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 759
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Gloucester Rd is on the Picadilly tube line which is the same as Heathrow Airport.
If arriving at Heathrow Terminal 4 you need to be aware that T4s underground station is closed due to engineering works - the station for terminals 1,2,3 is operating normally. If arriving at T4 you will be bused to nearby Hatton Cross tube station.
When travelling back to Heathrow make sure you board the train going to Heathow as not all trains traverlling west from the city go to Heathrow (the line splits). Heathrow I think has escalators. All stations that are underground (as Gloucester Rd is)should have a lift or escalator (there may be a few steps though)
Heathrow express and Taxis are quite expensive. If there are a couple of you 2 Heathrow express trips and a taxi from Paddington will probably be not too different from a single taxi journey from Heathrow to your hotel. Make sure you only get a bonafide taxi from Heathrow there are a lot of Touts operating in the terminals.
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/content/image...ps/pic_big.gif
These two tube links may prove useful
If arriving at Heathrow Terminal 4 you need to be aware that T4s underground station is closed due to engineering works - the station for terminals 1,2,3 is operating normally. If arriving at T4 you will be bused to nearby Hatton Cross tube station.
When travelling back to Heathrow make sure you board the train going to Heathow as not all trains traverlling west from the city go to Heathrow (the line splits). Heathrow I think has escalators. All stations that are underground (as Gloucester Rd is)should have a lift or escalator (there may be a few steps though)
Heathrow express and Taxis are quite expensive. If there are a couple of you 2 Heathrow express trips and a taxi from Paddington will probably be not too different from a single taxi journey from Heathrow to your hotel. Make sure you only get a bonafide taxi from Heathrow there are a lot of Touts operating in the terminals.
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/content/image...ps/pic_big.gif
These two tube links may prove useful
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Mar 10th, 2005 | 11:37 AM
#9
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Joined: Jan 2004
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Thanks for the info. We are flying AA and get into Terminal 3. Will try to talk DH into taking tube. Would you believe that when we visited London 2 years ago for a week, we never took the tube once!!! It was a last minute deal and we didn't do our research. I know better now.
As for daughter, we are bringing her warm weather clothes and hauling back winter clothes, which means an extra suitcase to lug on the train to York and Edinburgh (where we are staying at Castle View B&B, 4 flights up!) She is traveling with us and will do her share of lugging. <smile> DH is taking the extra suitcase with him on BMI flight to Heathrow and then on to home. A BMI agent said he could exceed max weight allowance as he is continuing on. I hope so.
As for daughter, we are bringing her warm weather clothes and hauling back winter clothes, which means an extra suitcase to lug on the train to York and Edinburgh (where we are staying at Castle View B&B, 4 flights up!) She is traveling with us and will do her share of lugging. <smile> DH is taking the extra suitcase with him on BMI flight to Heathrow and then on to home. A BMI agent said he could exceed max weight allowance as he is continuing on. I hope so.
Mar 10th, 2005 | 12:04 PM
#10
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 139
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Just returned yesterday from London (will post trip report soon, working on it!) and we did this exact thing. Very easy to take the tube from Heathrow to Gloucester Rd tube stop.
Arriving from Terminals 1-3, follow signs to the underground. We were staying for 6 days so we bought 7-day travel cards for Zone 1 & 2 (cost: 21.40 GBP. In the end we would have been fine with a Zone 1 card only. But the price difference wasn't much. Zone 1 was 18.40 GBP. A single trip one-way ticket for Zone 1 is 2 GBP). Then we needed an extension (about 2 GBP) from Heathrow to Zone 2 where our passes began. You have to buy the extension from the ticket booth at the Heathrow station, you can not buy it from the machine. FYI: You can only buy the extension passes on the day of travel. We wanted to buy our return pass in advance but were told we couldn't. The ride from Heathrow to Gloucester Rd is about 45-50 minutes. The line you need is Picadilly. You do not need to change trains. There is plenty of room at the end of the cars to place your luggage. There are elevators at the station and some steps. We managed fine.
We used the tube extensively, many many times a day. Very easy. However you do walk about a lot underground if you are changing lines. We also used our travel cards for the buses but we found the tube easier. The stations are everywhere, easy enough to navigate and we never waited more than 2 minutes for any train. (Except when we had to catch an early morning train to Waterloo for the Eurostar to Paris. The first train we needed departed Gloucester at 5:42 am) If we had checked on this in advance we wouldn't have arrived at 5:30
Another FYI: there is constuction on the District & Circle lines on some weekends in March. Including when we were there. A bit inconvenient. You have to plan a little more with your tube map to navigate around that line.
The tube website is helpful: tfl.gov.uk
Weather warning: It was VERY COLD!!! We had snow flurries, hail, sleet, some rain (not much really), sun, overcast skies, just about everything. Sometimes all in the same day! No day warmer than 45 degrees. Hopefully you catch a warming trend. Another plus to the tube over the bus, it got you out of the cold for a few minutes.
Every picture of our group we will look the same- black wool coats, scarves (different colors at least), gloves and warm shoes or boots! Even hats some days.
I will post a report soon. Lots to tell. Trying to get some work done and the house & kids in order. But it was a great trip. Thanks to all you offered advise and suggestions to my questions.
Arriving from Terminals 1-3, follow signs to the underground. We were staying for 6 days so we bought 7-day travel cards for Zone 1 & 2 (cost: 21.40 GBP. In the end we would have been fine with a Zone 1 card only. But the price difference wasn't much. Zone 1 was 18.40 GBP. A single trip one-way ticket for Zone 1 is 2 GBP). Then we needed an extension (about 2 GBP) from Heathrow to Zone 2 where our passes began. You have to buy the extension from the ticket booth at the Heathrow station, you can not buy it from the machine. FYI: You can only buy the extension passes on the day of travel. We wanted to buy our return pass in advance but were told we couldn't. The ride from Heathrow to Gloucester Rd is about 45-50 minutes. The line you need is Picadilly. You do not need to change trains. There is plenty of room at the end of the cars to place your luggage. There are elevators at the station and some steps. We managed fine.
We used the tube extensively, many many times a day. Very easy. However you do walk about a lot underground if you are changing lines. We also used our travel cards for the buses but we found the tube easier. The stations are everywhere, easy enough to navigate and we never waited more than 2 minutes for any train. (Except when we had to catch an early morning train to Waterloo for the Eurostar to Paris. The first train we needed departed Gloucester at 5:42 am) If we had checked on this in advance we wouldn't have arrived at 5:30
Another FYI: there is constuction on the District & Circle lines on some weekends in March. Including when we were there. A bit inconvenient. You have to plan a little more with your tube map to navigate around that line.
The tube website is helpful: tfl.gov.uk
Weather warning: It was VERY COLD!!! We had snow flurries, hail, sleet, some rain (not much really), sun, overcast skies, just about everything. Sometimes all in the same day! No day warmer than 45 degrees. Hopefully you catch a warming trend. Another plus to the tube over the bus, it got you out of the cold for a few minutes.
Every picture of our group we will look the same- black wool coats, scarves (different colors at least), gloves and warm shoes or boots! Even hats some days.
I will post a report soon. Lots to tell. Trying to get some work done and the house & kids in order. But it was a great trip. Thanks to all you offered advise and suggestions to my questions.
Mar 11th, 2005 | 11:51 AM
#12
Joined: Apr 2004
Posts: 139
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susan4- I'm ashamed to say we never managed to eat anyplace near our hotel. We stayed at the Raddison Edwardian Vanderbilt, about 50 yds up Cromwell from the Gloucester Rd intersection and the tube stop.
We tended to be out all day sightseeing and not back to the hotel until after 6:00 each day. We live in the San Francisco area where there is plenty of great wine available at reasonable prices so we brought 8 bottles with us! (We are a group of 4 wine loving adults.) This proved to be one of the smartest things we did.
Three evenings we dined together in our hotel room on a meal of fruit, cheese, salami, bagettes & wine. This might sound boring to some people but it worked great for us. We were all usually tired and cold by the end of the day and this proved a relaxing way to dine, talk about the day and visit with our friends.
There is a terrfic grocery store called Waitrose right at the corner by the tube stop. Actually this corner is loaded with conveniences: a small mall with the Waitrose grocery store, a Boots pharmacy, a breakfast cafe, a Starbucks, magazine stand, ATM, post office, pizza shop and an express stop (like a 7-11 store).
On our last morning while heading to Heathrow we all expressed a little disapointment that we hadn't explored more of the area around the hotel. Oh well, another time, it was a quick trip.
We tended to be out all day sightseeing and not back to the hotel until after 6:00 each day. We live in the San Francisco area where there is plenty of great wine available at reasonable prices so we brought 8 bottles with us! (We are a group of 4 wine loving adults.) This proved to be one of the smartest things we did.
Three evenings we dined together in our hotel room on a meal of fruit, cheese, salami, bagettes & wine. This might sound boring to some people but it worked great for us. We were all usually tired and cold by the end of the day and this proved a relaxing way to dine, talk about the day and visit with our friends.
There is a terrfic grocery store called Waitrose right at the corner by the tube stop. Actually this corner is loaded with conveniences: a small mall with the Waitrose grocery store, a Boots pharmacy, a breakfast cafe, a Starbucks, magazine stand, ATM, post office, pizza shop and an express stop (like a 7-11 store).
On our last morning while heading to Heathrow we all expressed a little disapointment that we hadn't explored more of the area around the hotel. Oh well, another time, it was a quick trip.
