Quick/Easy Transportation from Heathrow to Waterloo Train Station?
 

Does anyone know the best route (minus taxi) to get from Heathrow to Waterloo train station. We are flying into Heathrow and have approximately 2 1/2 hours to get to Waterloo train station. Everything I have researched warns that the Waterloo route from London is under construction/upgrade for train and tube. Does anyone have a recommendation on the best way to get there?

Piccadilly Line to Leicester Square. Northern Line to Waterloo. It's only the Waterloo and City Line that's closed, the rest is OK.
Or Heathrow Express to Paddington, Bakerloo Line to Waterloo.

Thanks,
How long will it take to get there? Should I opt for the Heathrow Express? I will be traveling with my elderly mother, therefore trying to avoid a crowded tube line. We will arrive in Heathrow around 10:30 am and the train leaves Waterloo at 1:50 pm.

There are two of you - you have an elderly grandmother - get a car to pick you up and drop you off. Have not done LHR to central London but have done the other route for about 35GBP - which is about 17 each

Quickest/Easiest

Heathrow Express (£13.50) to Paddington, taxi (£10) to Waterloo.

Thanks everyone.
I printed out the suggestions and will take them along. We are opting towards Robespierre's suggestion.

Why would you pay 37.50 pounds for two people to take the Heathrow Express and then transfer to a taxi, when for about 25 pounds (lets say 30 tops) you can get a private car service to meet you at the airport, help you with your luggage and take you directly to Waterloo?
Don't fall for the idea that it is quicker with the Express either. While the Express itself may only take 20 minutes or so, you can wait up to 15 minutes if you just missed one, and it can easily take you 15 minute to get a taxi. Then the taxi ride from Paddington to Waterloo if in midmorning can take as much as a half hour or even longer. Add it all up and even with mid morning traffic a car service will get you the whole way just as quick or quicker --easier -- and cheaper.

www.justairports.com Pay cash.

Well, it's £32 to SE1 when you include the airport pickup fee (not "£30 tops"). And that's for a minimum vehicle. The "real" cars are £36 and £44 (plus 10% tip). There are penalties if you are delayed getting through immigration (you get 40 minutes from scheduled landing time free, after that it's 25p per minute)¹, and you can be delayed on the highway.

The HX trains run every 15 minutes and take 15 minutes to get to Paddington, therefore your average journey time to London is 22.5 minutes. The route to Waterloo is an easy 15 minutes when it's not rush hour (I've done it in ten), but even if it takes 20 minutes, you'll still beat a car. Mid-day taxi queues are minimal.

¹ Let's say it takes you an hour to get from your landing gate to the car. That's twenty overtime minutes, which will cost another £5.

I actually have always used Swiss Cottage Cars from Heathrow to Covent
Garden, they do not charge a waiting fee as they check flight arrivals and don't come if you are running late. I've paid 25 pounds tops to there. I recommended Just Airports because most people are more comfortable booking on line than by phone. Swiss Cottage Cars costs more to book on line than if you call.

I have NEVER spent more than one hour from Heathrow to Covent Garden (a couple of minutes from Waterloo) door to door by car. I'd be lucky to do the Express plus a taxi in that same time, certainly not enough savings in time to warrant extra expense and the extra transfer.

parisnow has mentioned the elderly mother. Why not take a car instead of hauling the luggage that very long walk to the Express, struggling with it again off the train and to the taxi que where you may have to wait (those lines get very long when the express trains come in)? And if you really make it from Paddington to Waterloo by taxi in 10 minutes assuming you're doing it anytime but the middle of the night you're really doing good.

Easiest -- definitely a car service.

Cheaper than the Express plus a taxi -- definitely the car service.

Quickest -- likely to be the same -- certainly no major time savings with the Express and a taxi unless you happen to arrive at the station just as a train is about to depart and you happen not to have any que for taxis, and if you happen to have absolutely no traffic in the center of London and you happen to get a taxi driver who drives like a maniac.

How long would you suggest a taxi takes from Paddington to Liverpool by the way?
Ours last year took about 55 minutes between 2 to 3 in the afternoon.

The Heathrow Express if fine for one person where you'll save some money, or it's fine if you happen to be going a block or two from Paddington. Otherwise taking the Express for two or more people and then a taxi half way across London makes no sense at all to me!

Everyone is giving you the "best" ways - none of which are quick, and only a car service is easy.

My concern is will you make it at all. 2.5 hours is just doable by one fit person w/o heavy luggage. Do you have 2.5 hours from touch down to train departure? If so I'd have a plan B in mind.

Touch down to arrivals hall can take up to 35 mins by itself - not counting immigration/baggage retrieval. Sometimes there is 10 - 15 mins just taxi time to the gate, then unloading a jumbo, then a looooooong walk from most gates. And there is another pretty long walk to the HEX (if you decide on the train) if you are landing at terms 1, 2 or 3. terminal 4 throws another spanner in the works since you'd have to take a bus to the HEX.

And if it is a Eurostar - there is a 30 advance minute check-in.

I could make this - at a dead run and knowing my options/alternatives if there were any hiccups along the way. But w/ an elderly parent in tow - I wouldn't even try . . .

also - what time of day/day of week is this? Weekend morning - easier. weekday morning - almost no chance.

I have to agree with Janis, you have a nearly impossible timeframe. Heathrow and Waterloo are not even close to one another. If I landed at Heathrow and wanted to go on to Paris (or Brussels) I'd simply get a connecting flight. Why go through all the trouble to get into London to catch a train ????? Anyway, with an elderly parent the ONLY way I'd consider getting from LHR to Waterloo would be a car service, but you will have to contend with traffic. There is no way I'd subject my mother (who is 80 and in good health) to Heathrow Express, tubes and/or taxi's to Waterloo. Comfort is a good thing when you get off an international flight. Dragging luggage in and out of trains is not fun. All in all tho, your timeframe is not going to work if anything (and even a little anything)goes wrong.

I wasn't aware that HX doesn't serve T4. It did last September, and I don't see anything on their web site that has changed that. They've still got "Departs T4" in their timetables, and nary an asterisks in sight.

asterisk<s>s</s>

robespierre is right (isn't he <u><i>always</i></u>?? )

the HEX does serve T-4. It is the tube that doesn't go there currently. Sort of a brain cramp there. But the point is still the same - dragging an elderly mother and luggage on to the HEX and then queueing for a taxi at Paddington hoping to make a quick connection to Waterloo is plain nuts.

Thanks everyone
Mom is 77 but very mobile keeps up with me and is faster than most of my friends.
Small luggage, 22&quot; for both of us and nylon duffle in suitcase for end of trip.
We fly into London and then to Edinburgh with a long delay prior to this train trip. I will look into car rentals while at the airport on the 10th and book for the 16th.
We are flying from Edinburgh to Heathrow and then taking the Eurostar. I did factor in the travel times. We land before 10:30 AM and we leave Eurostar at 1:41 p.m. That is why I said 2 1/2 hours. Already figured in the time taxing and also the 30 minutes prior to Eurostar leaving.
Thanks for all the suggestions.

Glad you made your decisions..these days a taxi in Central London can be an absolute NIGHTMARE given the amount of congestion..at least it was when I foolishly took one from Covent Garden to Liverpool Street two weeks or so ago...after 35 minutes in traffic we finally got out and walked the last blaock or so..at the taxi driver's suggestion!

W/ this new information - I would most definitely fly from Edinburgh to Paris. You won't get to Paris until a little after 5 p.m. - basically a full day of very hectic travel. If you flew you would be at CDG in 90 minutes and central Paris an hour later.

Final result:
After arriving at Heathrow, we just jumped on the tube from the airport and changed once to the Bakerloo line to Waterloo and had plenty of time for a relaxing lunch before boarding the Eurostar. Luggage was no problem for mom since I handled both suitcases on the tube. I must say, even though I love Paris, people were alot more accommodating with the luggage on the tube than they have ever been on the metro.

Oh,
And in response to the debate train vs plane. Mom loves the train. She considers this the relaxing part of her vacation. She likes to sit and watch the scenery. Obviously if we were in a rush to get somewhere and be on the go when we arrive we would have taken the plane to our final destination.