Due to a frequent flyer ticket restriction I have to wait from 10am (arriving in Heathrow) until 10.30pm for a flight out of Heathrow back to Sydney.

My mum and I have never seen London. I was desperately hoping for some good advice as to how one would go about using this time for sightseeing. I would love to see at least the Tower of London and Westminster Abbey. Does anyone know the best way to go about seeing these? Is it easy/quick to catch the train in to London? Do we ask for available tours in Heathrow Airport?

Thanks in advance for any advice!!!
Regards,
Jade

The Heathrow Express will get you to Paddington Stn from the airport in 15 minutes. It's expensive at 13 pounds per person but since you're on a time crunch it's worth it. You can take the tube from Paddington to anywhere in London.
Once you get to central London, a suggestion is the open air double decker tour bus. It runs in a loop and hits all the main tourist attractions and you can get on and off as many times as you like.
When you go to the Tower of London be sure to take the tour that is included in the admission.
Have fun in London!

That's not much time, and you need to be very careful. Heathrow is very security minded, so you need to be there at least 2 hours before your flight, and since your flight is international, I would go 3.

The London subway (aka "The Tube" or "The Underground" can get you into the best parts of London ("the West End&quot, which includes Picadilly, Covent Garden, Trafalger Square and The Strand, in about 45 minutes. The subway from Heathrow is the Picadilly line, which is the correct line to get you into Picadilly without a change in subway. The restaurants are among the best in London in that area, as are the bars and people watching. You can take the direct tube to Paddington Station, about 15 minutes non-stop, but the location is out of the way. You would still need to take a cab or Tube to some place worth seeing. Warning: Unless it is after 9:00 p.m. or before 6:00 a.m., or on a weekend, do not try and cab it to and from the airport. The traffic is horrible.

As for the Tower of London, it is amazing. However, it is WAY out of the way. It is worth seeing, but you will have to take 2 tubes to get there, and there is nothing else around except for the Tower Bridge, which is also amazing, but its just a bridge (albeit a great one). You can also take a short 1 hour Thames cruise. Boats ("Bateaux London", I beleive), depart regularly. You can catch them at the dock by Charing Cross, which is also walking distance from West End.

Good luck, and have fun.

Thank you so much guys!!!

That's exactly the sort of thing I was after!

Keeping in mind that I am going to be with a middle aged mother, do you think that the travel involved in getting to these attractions will be too much for her?

I am assuming that getting to Westminster Abbey is not as difficult as getting to the Tower of London then? Is Westminster Abbey on the Double Decker tour bus route?

Thank you!
Jade

"middle aged" is not very old! Does your mother have special health issues? If not, she probably has as much energy as you do.

Normally the tube is a great way to get into London - but it takes 45+ minutes each way. You will only have about 8+ hours free time in London taking into consideration the time it takes to navigate through immigration and security.

So take the Paddington Express and once in London take a taxi to Westminster Abbey. After touring the Abbey, you can catch the bus tour just up the street. And the bonus is the the abbey is just across the street from Big Ben/Parliament and a block from the river. So in less than a 2 block walk you could see Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the Thames and catch the bus.

From the bus you will se a lot of the othere major sites and can get off anywhere. The bus goes past the Tower, St Pauls, the British Museum, Hyde Park, Buckinham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Harrods and a hundred other places.

Now - this plan only works if it is nice weather. If it is pouring rain you won't want to be on the open top bus. In that case - you could take a cab or the tube to other indoor sites - the National Gallery, V&A, British Museum etc.

Then about 6:30 or 7PM catch a cab back to Paddington for your train trip back to heathrow. Don't cut it too late - even a short cab ride can take longer than you expect due to traffic.

Thank you Janis. I should have clarified that my mother has rheumatoid arthritis, so even though she is not really that 'old', her bones often feel ancient! ;-)

Your advice sounds really useful and I will use it as my basis for researching.

You mention that the Tower is on the Bus Tour route but Psykes' response suggested to me that it was not en route and was in fact 2 train rides away (which sounds a bit tedious?). Is it definitely on the bus route?

Thank you.
Jade

There are many tour buses, and several "hop on, hop off" operations. Google "London hop on hop off", or try www.bigbus.co.uk, or www.theoriginaltour.com. Believe me they stop everywhere you're likely to want to see. Or less conveniently www.frogtours.com. But it's amphibious.

If you've got a connecting boarding pass (and try not to leave Heathrow without one), don't get too paranoid about being back at Heathrow hours before. Just make sure you understand the terminals (T4, for BA and Qantas, is a long way and, different tube & train stops, from the other terminals), remember that road traffic stays busy till midnight and the tube is liable to delay at all hours - but that the train to Heathrow is about the most reliable bit of Britain's transport system. And that security queues at T4, even at 9.30 pm, can be serious.

If peace of mind matters to you, and you feel more comfortable getting to airports early, the Heathrow website (www.baa.com) has a full list of restaurants in each terminal

Hi Jade,
If you ask for a wheelchair at some of these places you may be allowed to jump the queue.

Muck

I would take the Tube (buy a 1 day Travelcard Zone 1-6 at the airport, meaning you can return on the same card and also travel on all other Tubes and buses) from Heathrow to Picaddilly, getting off at Covent Garden. It will take about 50 mins. There, I would walk around the shops and stalls (converted from the old flower market) and nip into a restaurant for a high-end but good-value lunch (Le Deuxieme and Palais Du Jardin offer lunches for about £12.50 plus tip) or Sapori on Drury Lane, Pizza Express or Zizzi for cheaper but good pizzas. After that, stroll to the newly pedestranised Trafalgar Square, popping into the (free) National Gallery and National Portrait Gallery. Stroll down Whitehall to Westminster, seeing Big Ben and Wesminster Abbey. If it's a nice day, walk to nearby St James's park and from there walk down to Buckingham Palace. Take the Jubilee Line back from Green Park station to Waterloo and have a go on the London Eye, the huge big wheel that sits on the Thames. It's about £11 a go. From there, make your way back to Heathrow. You might also have time for the (free) British Museum.
NB, if you do decide to take the Heathrow Express, the ticket is also good for going back, I think (no need to buy 2 x oneway tickets - CHECK). The Travelcard Zone 1-6 is the better bet, I think. Get back to Heathrow 2-3 hours ahead.

Nigello, that day you've outlined sounds like a lot of fun, but it completely ignores two key facts that the OP has given us: They have two priority destinations, Westminster Anney and the Tower of London; and they are traveling wtih a person who has trouble getting around, so all that scenic walking is not quit the right itinerary in this case.

Jade, I agree with the above posters who recommend the Heathrow Express. You can take either the tourist double-deckers to get around to your two key points, or you can just hop into cabs, which will save you time and walking. The Tube is very handy and fast but can involve some LONG walks underground, especially when switching lines.

Be sure to check the web sites and schedules for both these places, I'm pretty sure they aren't open during evening hours so all the more reason to get into the city as rapidly as possible. Because of the time and physical constraints you should treat yourself to the Express and cabs, IMHO.

I'd go the other way and not take the tube around, but it would cost more. The only reason I say that, is that you've never seen London and while subways are interesting in and of themselves, you can't see the town while underground.

Perhaps a taxi or car service at least one of the ways, coupled with the hop on bus around The City?

Just to clarify a point, the Tower of London is not <WAY out of the way>. It is 18 minutes by tube from Westminster, for example, or about 30 minutes from Paddington. You could easily do Westminster Abbey and get a taste of the Tower of London in the time you have. Whether you use tube or bus or taxi between Westminster and Tower Hill really depends on your budget and your mothers physical abilities.

This may be a case where you may want to consider a mini-cab (such as the much admired Ray Skinner?s London Transfers) to meet you at the Tower at closing time to drive you back to the airport.

OK - some tidying up . . .

Whether getting to the Tower by tube involves changes depends on where you are starting from. From Westminster Abbey there would NOT be any changes.

But the tube is really not a good choice for any of your journeys if your Mom has mobility problems. It is fast and convenient - but almost every station involves at least some (often very crowded) stairs and long walks.

The hop-on-hop-off buses definitely do go to the Tower - it is the 2nd largest tourist attraction in London. (After Madame Tussauds if you can believe it)

Ron's idea of having Ray Skinner or Swiss Cottage car service pick you up at the Tower at 6PM is a great one. They would have you back at LHR in plenty of time for your check-in.

With your limited time and your Mom's arthritis I would take the paddington Express and then a cab to W. Abbey. Then the sightseeing bus or a cab to the Tower, and a car service to the airport.

There is a fair walk from the terminal to the Paddington express train - but it is level and there are moving sidewalks part of the way.

Thank you guys,
A lot of info to mull over. All of it very interesting.
Kind Regards,
Jade

I would say take everyones advice on how to get into London from the airport and I would definitely suggest the bus tours. I took the Original bustour and had a fabulous time. The tour guides on the bus were fabulous. They were very nowledgeable and totally welcomed questions!!!

(I have a big nouth so I was glad they liked answering questions)

I spent a few hours riding around and saw everything that was on my list to see.

As part of the tour you get a free Thames ride on a boat, however I didn't go, but if you're up for it, i would suggest doing it. You will have time to hit the hot spots and be back at the airport.

The bustour is a great way to keep walking to a minimum and see everything!

Have fun!

PW

Hi! 12 hours isn't long and you will probably be exhausted at the end but with luck you'll have a great time. You haven't made clear the day of the week you plan to visit and that may have some bearing, but to be honest, traffic is such a nightmare here that it's all much of a muchness!

Firstly, despite cost, don't even think of getting into London any way other than the Heathrow Express. You can get a tube from there to wherever you want to pick up a bus tour (the Bakerloo Line to Charing Cross would be a suggestion). The bus tours are good but can also take quite some time - bear in mind that you can always miss bits out and use the tube instead, picking up another bus further down the route.

If you are going to be using the tube then this link might be helpful
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/cgi-bin/tpquery3.exe - it will tell you how to get from A to B and approximately how long it will take.

If your mother is registered disabled then bring any documentation along as it will help you jump queues (I don't approve of queue jumping but I appreciate that you don't have much time!!!).

One other thing that you might want to think about - if you don't mind the price - is taking a black cab tour. I believe that they are about two hours long and about £75, but what you do get is the opportunity to make up your own itinerary and a personal service - it's also much more comfortable for your mum and our black cab drivers are really quite an experience! You can get more info at www.blacktaxitours.co.uk

I hope that you have a great trip. Come back for longer next time!

Tallulah x

I'm not sure why some are saying it's difficult to get to the Tower of London, it's quite easy by the Tube. However please plan to be at the Tower for at least two hours. Westminster Abbey would be great also, check times though. It's not open on Sundays for tours, and they have odd times during the week.

The london eye could be nice, to get a great view of the whole city. THe wait is about 30 minutes.

I would suggest buying your tickets for the Tower in advance. The line can be very long, which will eat up precious time, and be hard on your mum. If you have your ticket in advance, you go straight in, and don't have to wait. There are some newspaper-stand type places around the Tower where you can buy tickets, and I think you can even purchase them in advance on-line. It costs a couple of pounds more, but it will be worth it.

If your budget allows I would get a reputable "chauffeur drive" firm such as Aircars2000 to arrange a pick-up from Heathrow and their driver to give you a tour of London. Now that the congestion charge has been implemented traffic levels are lower in central London - so time should not be an issue. This way you will be able to see all the sights quickly and comfortably. The tube can be very busy particularly at rush hour (4-6 pm) which would be the time you were leaving for the airport; furthermore the tube is a very complex system and if you don't have all the time in the world to master it a car is much the best option.