London Layover
 

We have a four hour layover switching airlines at the London airport from LAX then on to Rome. Is it possible to get out of the airport and take a taxi around a few the city and come back?

D**n - I posted but it disappeared out in the ether somewhere.

Basically - no matter if you are flying into LHR or LGW, 4 hours is not enough time to go into London and back (and especially not by taxi since that will take an hour or so each way). Just plan on reading, shopping, eating, maybe using one of the lounges . . . . . .

Personally, if I had 4 hours to lay-over at the airport, I would probably want to get out and go into Lodon...and I think it's doable if you're focused. You can take the express train from Heathrow (which I'll assume is your airport although you didn't specify). The express train runs every 15 mins and only takes 15 mins. to get into Paddington Station from Heathrow. Figure that eats an hour of your time. Grab a cab at Paddington and tour for an hour - or whatever your main focus is for your limited time and then head back to the airport. If you need to check in, do it before you head into London so you don't feel as rushed on the way back and just remember that you'll have to go through lots of security coming back to the airport. Maybe you'll only have 1-1 1/2 in London...but for me it would be worth it rather than hanging-out at the airport. Depends on your personal preferences. If you decide to do it, just have everything well planned and know your parameters and logistics.

Not an option, take it from me. The taxi fares wll mount up to over £100.

Brighton is 30 minutes by fast train from Gatwick. From the station to the sea front is 15 minutes walk, and the city is lively and creative. There is good window shopping in the boutiqes of the Lanes, or you could walk on the front.

Windsor is 20 minutes by local bus from the Heathrow airport central bus station. So you have over an hour to walk in the town, but I think not time enough to visit the whole castle. You could visit just one royal building, such as St George’s Hall or the great Chapel.

Ben Haines
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I don't think four hours are enough. Even if assuming you already have a boarding pass to the next flight and your luggages are checked-through, de-planing and going through passport control can take an hour at least. (Not assuming flight delays common in the mornings at LHR). Considering 15 min wait + 15 minute Heathrow Express ride both ways, and you'll need to get back to the airport 1-1.5hr before (and going through security check), you'll at most have 45 minutes or so. I don't think it's worth it.

Oh, don't even think of getting to London if you're arriving to/departing from Gatwick.

Sorry - but venturegirl is just wrong. You will NOT have 4 hours. I explained why in the post that disappeared,

Ben is correct in the basic times of travel - but it still isn't doable.

Even assuming your flight is spot on time or even a bit early. Touch down is not arrival at the terminal.

- often there is a wait for a gate
- but even w/ the plane getting a gate immediately there is usually a 10-15 minute taxi time to the gate
- then you have to disembark a jumbo - another 10 to 20 minutes (unless you are in 1st class)
- then there is a loooooong walk into arrivals - maybe 5 to 10 more minutes
- then immigration - could be short or VERY long. Lets use 15 minutes to give you the benefit of the doubt.
- then the walk to the HEX station. 5 mins minimum.

SO - we have now used up 45 to 60 mins of your "4 hours" just to get ON the train into London. 5 mins for the next train, 15 mins into Paddington, either a 10-15 minutes wait for a taxi and then a 10-15 min. cab ride or a 15-20 minute cab ride to anywhere interesting.

Now you have used up about two hours and haven't seen anything and still have to get back to the airport and go through security which together will take more than 2 hours.

LGW is really no better except that after the 30 min. train ride you are walking distance to something interesting.

Stay at the airport - if you miss your ongoing flight because you were sitting in a cab at Paddington - your ticket is useless.

should have said &quot; . . . either a 10-15 minutes wait for a taxi and then a 10-15 min. cab ride or a 15-20 minute <b>tube</b> ride to anywhere interesting.&quot;

NO - plain and simple NO. Not enough time. Read JanisJ's post and then read it again. It clearly explains why 4 hours is not enough time to leave the airport and go into London.

After the trip from LAX to London (I know how long it is, I've done it many times) go freshen up (maybe even take a shower, they have them at the airport), go eat, walk around a few stores and then it is time to get back on another plane. Why run the risk of missing your flight? 4 hours may seem like too much time to sit around, but it is not enough to go anyplace.

Have you ever BEEN to some of those Heathrow arrivals locations? Sometimes it seems as if you are taking another transocenaic trip just getting from the gate to the main part of the terminal ( we could make our money by starting up a low-cost airline that flies from some of the gates TO the actual &quot;arrivals&quot; area IMO).

Chill out and use the lounges or do some (window) shopping..save your energy for the fun and excitement of arriving in Rome and then getting from THAT airport into town.

I think our OP is grown up enough to be able to figure out whether they'll have enough time based on when they get out of immigration, given a few facts. I wouldn't plan on going in to London - but I wouldn't plan <i>not</i> to, either. I'd play it by ear.

o It takes a <u>maximum</u> of an hour to get to Paddington and back on the HX (&pound;16 r/t). If you get on trains just as they're leaving, it could be half that.
o Piccadilly Circus is 10 minutes from Paddington on the Bakerloo.
o Embankment or Covent Garden are another 3 minutes from there.

A one-day Travelcard costs &pound;5.30 and here's a bus/Tube map (available on paper at the station):

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/tr...around-map.pdf

Pick up one of these for a more geographical view:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/buses/pdfdocs/centlond.pdf

&pound;4.90 is the correct price for a 2-zone Travelcard.

Given that OP is likely to arrive 1st thing in the morning you have to take into account

a) rush hour
b) opening times

and robespierre's timings don't take into account changing from HEX to Tube - so it's unlikley you could reach anything significant in under 40 minutes

So that means 1 hour to get through airport, 40 minutes (minimum) to anything, ditto on the way back plus an hour to get back through security.

So by my reckoning you have AT MOST 40 minutes to &quot;see the sights&quot; &amp; a worst case leaves you with 10 minutes

Guess it all depends on which terminal you're flying into and out of ... with just 4 hours, I would just spend the time in Terminal 4 where the shopping is phenomenal!.
You shoud check with your airline and find out if you have to change terminals for your flight to Rome. Not only that, you'll have carry-ons to worry about, boarding passes for your next flight, security, etc. I'm with janisj....

Message to islandmom:

Make the call when you get landed, to the terminal, and through immigration. Don't listen to anyone's prediction of what Heathrow will be like the day you arrive, because it's all pure speculation.

You <i>might</i> have plenty of time. Or not. No one here can say one way or the other with the slightest accuracy.

Sure, you <i>may</i> have easy sailing all the way through the airport (not likely most mornings but not impossible). Unfortunately you still won't be out of the woods - because what the airport is like upon arrival won't tell you anything about your trip back.

If you follow the advice to wait and see what it is like, you may have a real shock at the other end. Let's play &quot;what if&quot;. Say you DO get to somewhere in central London w/i 90 minutes - but a tube line interrupts service while you are there. You say &quot;so what?&quot; - &quot;we aren't taking the tube&quot;. Well - when the tube breaks down the taxis get VERY busy so your quick trip back to Paddington becomes a time consuming mess.

Or you drop your carry-ons at left luggage (at either the airport or at Paddington) - and when you get there to pick them up, there is a queue of 20 people ahead of you - They do not have lockers you have to wait to be waited on.

Or - you have a security alert in a station . . .

Or - or - or

Now, all of those things might not happen, but any one can and does somewhere in London nearly every day.

Of course, it is your choice - but I think it is obvious what the best decision is.

Better stay home. Your flight <i>might</i> be hijacked to Cuba. You'd find yourself in a tropical setting with all the <u>wrong clothes!</u>

this is a post I recommended to a fellow user, hope its useful
if you like history and walking, then you could find a personal guide, sometimes taxi drivers will do a tour. the other option is a great guide of london that takes 2-5 days called www.talkingtrip.com it takes your all around london, to its best and most interesting parts, sometimes off the main roads too. Alternative are the planet, fodors and rough guides

&quot;You might have plenty of time. Or not. No one here can say one way or the other with the slightest accuracy....&quot;

And that obviously includes Robespierre and all the rest of us so I guess you're really on your own, Islandmom...sorry.

Yes, obviously.

islandmom now knows what the parameters are, which is different from being totally clueless. This information will undoubtedly be useful in making a decision.

I use LHR a lot. 4 hours between flights (from landing to take-off) is not enough time to see London.
Flights from the US tend to come in at about the same time so the immigration line is frequently very long and can be very slow moving. I noticed during my most recent trip that the questioning is now taking longer than the usual &lt;5 minutes.
Factor in about 45-60 minutes for deplaning/immigration. You can be into Paddington in about 25 minutes via HEX if you don't have to wait for the train. Then via Tube to tourist sites, add 20 minutes. So this is about 1 h 45 min already.

Last time I was at LHR, it took me about ONE HOUR to get thru security to get to my departure gate! And this was in late April during a non-busy time (no school holidays/bank holidays). The lines were monstrous!

This is nearly 3 hours WITHOUT factoring in the time it will take to get back to LHR (30-45 minutes depending on how far you are from Paddington). Factoring this in, you will not even get to your gate on time for your flight.

Remember you need to be at the gate at least 30 minutes before take-off. Taking all this into account, you won't have ANY time to see London.

London is such a wonderful city and merits a trip all to itself. A whistle stop tour, esp if you are sleep-deprived, would not do it justice.

Why not just go onto the next terminal for your Rome flight for some shopping and even a catnap?

If you want to get out of the airport, consider Windsor, much closer.

listen to janis. i fly in and out of heathrow about twice a week. 4 hours from arrival to next flight's takeoff is not enough to go into town. she mentions all the little snags that might happen but you also need to consider the fact that you don't know where you are going (i assume) and it takes some extra time just to figure things out and find things...in the airport, the trains, the taxis, or whatever. the time would be so tight that even someone who knows exactly where he was going would have a challenge. someone unsure of what they are doing does not have a chance.

and to further janis' point...things always go wrong in london. the trains regularly have delays, there is always &quot;unexpected&quot; traffic, etc. if i absolutely have to be somewhere in london (e.g across town), i will usually double my travel time in order that i won't be caught out by a problem.

many people here quote travel times that are not realistic under normal conditions and for people who don't know where they are going. these are hypothetical times that can only be realised under the best of conditions by someone who knows exactly where he is going...and who moves fast.

I just thought 'No' as an answer to your question first off. The others have given you details as to why not. Everyone knows how awful CDG is. To me, LHR is about the same. Four hours is not a long time to see the city and be back in time to catch your flight...

So, islandmom, you're being told to completely ignore the fact that you're a fifteen minute train ride from one of the most interesting cities in the world - regardless of whether you arrive on time, breeze through I &amp; C, can follow directions explicitly and get it right 100% of the time, and don't experience the slightest inconvenience from jet lag.

I say make up your own mind on the spot.