Heathrow to Waterloo Eurostar
 

What is the best/fastest way to get from Heathrow to the Eurostar station with four hours from landing to departure?

If you don't have a lot of luggage, take the Heathrow Express and then the Tube. You'll have plenty of time, but I'm pretty sure you have to change at least once. If you have lots of luggage, then you might do better with a car service. People on this board have suggested some. But I find cabs in London scandalously expensive (well, everything actually), and I'm a big cheapskate.

What time of day?? What day of week? Are you checking luggage??

Unfortunately there is no fast way to do this transfer -- and a car service will take longer than just about any other mode. A cab is just silly since if you were going to try it by road a car service would take exactly the same times for much less money.

One way is tube to Leicester Square, change to Northern line to Waterloo. But this would be a hell of a slog w/ luggage w/ quite long walks At LHR and at Waterloo.

Assuming your flight is on time you will need about an hour from touchdown til you get on the tube at LHR - and it could be quite a bit longer. Then an hour+ on the tube. You need to be at Waterloo 45 minutes before your train. So if you land on time you will have about 75 minutes wiggle room. But any little thing can mess things up -- loooong immigration lines, slow luggage retrieval, trouble on the northern line (a definite possibility - especially on weekends)

There are other options - like a bus to a suburban train station and then train to Waterloo - but that wouldn't be any faster/easier than the tube)

Or you could take the HEX to Paddington (15 mins plus walking/waiting time) and then a cab to Waterloo. This will work - except during the morning rush hour when you might need to wait 15 minutes just to get to the front of the taxi queue.

4 hours is certainly doable - but you really don't have room for any glitches.

The easiest way - which involves the least changes / least schlepping of luggage - is bus to Feltham, train to Waterloo - this takes an hour assuming no problem

The cheapest way with luggage is tube to Hammersmith, walk across platform, District line Tube to Westminster, use the elevators, Jubilee line Tube to Waterloo - this takes 40 minutes assuming no problems

You could take the HEX to Paddington then the Bakerloo line Tube to Waterloo - this takes about 35 minutes assuming no problems but requires you to walk for several minutes & negotiate escalators with luggage

Checkin for Eurostar closes 30 minutes before departure and it's unlikely you will be out of Heathrow in under an hour, possibly a LOT more depending on time of day / week

We REALLY do need to know travel date / time / amount of luggage / size of party

We are arriving on a Tuesday at 8:00 am; there are 4 of us (2 healthy and athletic teenagers and their parents)and I'm trying to limit everyone to 2 small duffel bags.

I recently took the bus from Heathrow (from terminal 1,2,3 unified bus station, does not service terminal 4, which is very close to the Feltham station) and found it easy - small station and ended up in Waterloo - also very cheap.
If landing in terminal 4 a short taxi ride takes you to Feltham station, which has about two trains most hours to Waterloo and Eurostar check in.

&quot;<i>Tuesday at 8:00 am</i>&quot; You will be setting out right in the thick of the morning commute. All of the trains/tube cars/tube stations will be packed to the gills. Plus lots of long haul flights land in teh a.m. so immigration lines can be really long.

The bus to Feltham, train to Waterloo is probably your best bet. 4 hours is OK - but again - a glitch anywhere from arrival time to slow luggage to long immigration queues to security alerts could mess you up. Try to get everyone to pack LIGHT and keep your fingers crossed . . . . .

Do you already have the Eurostar tickets in hand?? If you bought them but are picking them up at Waterloo be sure to allow extra time. And have the same credit card to use in the ticket machines. If you have to use a staffed ticket window, that alone could take 15-30 minutes on a weekday morning.

Thanks everyone. After more research we're considering killing the trip to Paris, and staying the entire time in London. I'm concerned that six nights is too much...but I've never spent any time in London. Paris will have to wait. :)

&quot;<i>I'm concerned that six nights is too much...</i>&quot; 6 <u>weeks</u> wouldn't be too much, let alone 6 measley night :)

You will run out of time long before you run out of things to see/do.