My wife and I will have a 2 day layover in London, and are trying to decide where to stay for the 1 night we are there. We arrive at Gatwick and leave the next day for africa from heathrow. So shld we stay at a hotel near gatwick or heathrow, or a place in central london? I was looking at the prices for the gatwick express train that goes to victoria station, and it is way more expensive than i thought it would be, am i right that it is like $25 one way per person? I think that we are going to take the advice from several people here and do the hop on/off tour one day but not sure what to do the next? We are not really musem/historical people. If we stay at a hotel near the airport, how do we get from gatwick to heathrow? Thanks in advance, Jeffrey

For a layover that long, stay in central London. I only use airport hotels if I'm arriving in the evening and leaving early the next morning.

What's your price range for a hotel? And when does your flight leave from Heathrow? If your flight leaves at a time that allows you to avoid rush hour traffic in London (eg 7 am - 10 am, and 3pm-6pm), you could probably book a minicab to take you from central London to Heathrow for about 25-30 pounds in total (not per person). But in rush hour, you could get stuck for hours. In which case, you'd be better off staying fairly close to Paddington Station, so that you can catch the Heathrow Express train.

This doesn't mean that you have to stay right beside Paddington Station. But you might try to stay somewhere on the tube line that makes it possible for you to make no (or perhaps at most), 1 transfer to get you to Paddington. For example, if you stayed near Baker St, Great Portland St, or Warren St, you'd be on the Northeastern Edge of the West End (with shops, plays, Regent's Park, etc). Some hotels near there include the Sherlock Holmes Hotel, a couple of Holiday Inns, a Radisson Edwardian (on Tottenham Court Rd).

For those who've been to London recently, is the Piccadilly Line to Heathrow running properly (except for the fact that the station at Terminal 4 is closed)? If you're on a tight budget and have time, you could stay near the Piccadilly Line (e.g. in South Kensington) and take the tube to Heathrow (and South Ken would be fairly close to Victoria station, where the Gatwick Express arrives).

There are also a couple of reasonably priced Hiltons (the Kensington and the Olympia I think), which are a little out of the centre of things (but not too far), and are on the way to Heathrow. I think one hotel might be last stop before the express bus heads to Heathrow, so it could be a good deal.

The only place that makes no sense is near Gatwick. Staying there would leave you 35 miles from London and about the same from your departure from LHR.

Whether LHR makes sense depends on what time your flight is. If it is very early in the morning you might want to stay near the airport.

But if your flight is after about 9 a.m. your best bet is to stay in central London. The most convenient areas would be Victoria for the Gatwick Express, Paddington/Bayswater for the Heathrow Express and somewhere along the Piccadilly tube line (like South Kensington) for the tube to LHR. If your flight is in the morning, near Paddington would be best because the LHR Express only takes 15 minutes.

I don't think the gatwick Express is that expensive -- afterall the airport is 30+ miles outside of town. But Thameslink trains would also get you into central London and they are cheaper and only take a bit longer.

our flight arrives from atlanta at 9am and leaves LHR at 930pm the next day. I was thinking about $150us for the one night. there is so uch to consider, especially since we are only there for the 2 days!

with that schedule you can stay anywhere in the central area. With just one night and a budget I would definitely go Priceline. Check out biddingfortravel,con and you will learn which hotels are being "won" and for how much. You can even get a bidding strategy. For less than $150 you can probably get a 4 star hotel in a great location.

The Southern Railways train from Gatwick to Victoria Station is £8. I don't think the dollar has yet devalued to the point where that's $25.

I am sure that I just looked at the prices all wrong thanks agin. will check biddingfortravel now. Jeffrey

jeffrey---are you back??

bob

FOr airport transfers check out justairports.com car service. They are reasonable (less than a tax and gives a discount if you pay by cash). We used them last year, the showed up exactly where and when they told us. It was fast and easy and worth the price. I didn't check out the price of the train, we are a family of 4 and wanted to make it as easy as possible.

We stayed a short cab ride away from Paddinton - where the train goes to Heathrow. We used Discountcity hotels.com or something very similar to this. They had some really good deals, we stayed right opposite Grosvenor park, very near Bond street staion. The trip is quite expensive (to Heathrow )but very quick, would certainly travel this way again. You should stay in town not near the airports. yuk.

Schnauzer,

What was the name of the hotel you stayed at?