We have a nine hour stopover in Heathrow on our way to Tanzania - any suggestions on how to fill it?

Advice depends a LOT on the arrival/departure times. Are you arriving at 0600 or 1600 or ?

But in general, even w/ the extra security procedures and all, you have time to take a short excursion. You will have about 5 hours free.

But whether you want to or not may depend on how tired/jet lagged you feel after overnight flights.

The two main options are 1) taking a local bus or cab to Windsor. Visit the Castle, have a light meal, take a walk across the river. or 2) into London and visit one site (tons of choices from the Abbey to a major museum, to a sightseeing bus, to a walk along the river past Big Ben/parliament, the Eye, etc.)

Hardly anyone ever suggests this (I honestly do not know where everyone gets the stamina from to take 9 hr flights, and then go sightseeing and then take another LONG flight without any real rest inbetween) but I'd suggest looking into a hotel day room (if arriving daytime hours) or regular room if not. 9 hours is a very long time to go sightseeing, hangout in an airport etc. if you have jetlag. Getting a room will mean a shower/bath/nap and generally feeling clean and comfortable for the next leg of the trip.

You might consider buying a day pass to an airline's VIP lounge. There you can take a shower, eat, get a massage or facial if they offer it, sit on the comfortable sofas and relax.

Make sure your bags are checked all of the way and that your carry-on is very light. Check the weather conditions for London. If the weather conditions are bad, find a hotel room. If the weather is good and you haven't seen too much of London, go for it.

thanks for the advice - we arrive London 11:15am and leave at 9:00 pm.
Does the Heathrow airport have lockers for storage of our carry on should we decide to venture out?

Not lockers - but there are left luggage facilities.

i admire your spirit and stamina..you may travel downtown to London central(can take Heathrow Express which is faster than the tube).u may consider westminster abbey, big ben, the Eye area, take some photos, have some nice indian food in central then back to Heathrow

Don't be misled by the transit times on the Heathrow Express. It only takes 15 minutes once the train gets under way, but it dumps you in the northeast corner of London where there isn't much to see.

I would recommend riding the Tube (buy a one-day Travelcard for unlimited transport) to Hyde Park Corner and begin your exploration from there. Westminster (Parliament, Big Ben, etc.) are nearby.

Here's a good map of tourist attractions: http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/pdfdocs/cen_bus.pdf

we went to windsor just a few miles away on public bus.

i wrote a post exactly how to do this and where to store hand luggage at a fee . it was a wonderful day. you have plenty of time to go there and not get exhausted as it is a very manageable smallish town with a river cruise, etc.

maybe someone can find that post for you. it is VERY old!

Robespierre means the northWEST corner but at least you are "dumped" at a place with Tube connections.

Two alternatives, if all you want is to get out of the airport:

- Follow the signs for the Heathrow Express, then take the Heathrow Connect train, getting off at Southall (10 mins). Just about the best concentration of South Asian restaurants in Britain - including a number specialising in the food cooked by Hindus and Muslims expelled from East Africa in the late 60's. Great place for lunch - and a terrific range of bling-selling jewellers all around.

- Get the Heathrow Express into town.
Paddington, where it terminates, isn't quite on the edge of nowhere: it's a few minutes' walk from Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens, which are a good place to get some jetav-free air into your lungs.

Alternatively, follow the signs between Platform 8 and 9 for "M&S Waterside" After a hundred yards or so, you emerge into a new office area on the Grand Union Canal. Turn left: in about 250 miles you arrive at Liverpool, though after half a mile or so along the canal towpath you're in Litle Venice, a late 18th/early 19th century waterside residental area with a few surprisingly pleasant pubs and restaurants. You might just about have time to turn east here, following the Regent's Canal to the bit where the towpath goes through the zoo.

The point about using the Heathrow Express or Connect trains is that they're the most reliable public transport in Britain and go every 15 mins. So you can calculate without stress when you have to leave to be sure you'll be back at a given time.

thanks all - my newest dilemma is that since we are heading to Tanzania we will only have a light jacket. From what I understand London will be experiencing weather much like our Canadian weather in March - chilly!
We were hoping a bit of fresh air and exercise would help with the jet lag but it might just be too cold....

If you take the Heathrow Express you'll end up at Paddington Station, as previously stated. From there you can take the tube(Cirlce Line) to South Kensington Station where the Albert & Victoria Museum and the Natural History Museum are only a short walk.
Or take the Circle Line to Nottinghill Gate and then the Central Line to Tottenham Court, and it's only a few blocks to the British Museum. No need to walk far if the weather is cold.

I'm not sure that we will quite rival Canada but you will probably want a bit more than a light jacket, although it depends what you are wearing underneath it.

You could head to London and spend the day looking round a museum/gallery indoors.

The Piccadilly line goes straight from Heathrow to Russell Square/King's Cross, adjacent to the British Museum and a few minutes' walk from the British Library.

You will probably get there about as quick by riding the Tube all the way. There <i>are</i> Underground connections at Paddington, but the time you save isn't worth the extra &pound;10, IMHO.

If you're from a climate where it gets cold, you really won't need a jacket in a London March. I come from a climate where it almost never gets cold, and I'm usually in shirt sleeves for most of March.

But if you're wimpish about this sort of thing, take the Piccadilly Line tube to South Kensington. There's a pedestrian underpass directly from the ticket hall to the basement of the Victoria and Albert Museum, so you won't need to expose yourself to the blizzards and locust plagues.