Hi folks,

I will be arriving at 7:30 am next Monday at LHR from NYC. This is my first trip to London.

Any tips on securing a taxi to go to the Royal Garden Hotel near Hyde Park? Do all taxi's accept CC (Amex) for payment?

Thanks.

You may find one of the airport transfer services cheaper than a taxi - plenty of recommendations here about the various companies that take you right to your hotel much like a taxi but much cheaper i think. Heathrow is about 15-20 miles out i believe - a steep cab ride it seems

There are loads of taxis but they'll cost a lot more than a booked car.

If you do decide to go the taxi route, go to the proper taxi rank - do NOT allow any phoney taxi touts to latch on to you inside - you'll be conned out of loads of money.

For one person on their own, it might be cheaper and certainly quicker to take the Heathrow Express to Paddington and a taxi from there.

For the sake of completeness, you can take the tube from Paddington to High St Kensington, or the cheapo public transport route would be to take the tube all the way: change at Hammersmith (cross the platform) for an eastbound District Line train, change at Earls Court (same platform) for an Edgware Road train which will take you to High St Ken. But the hotel is a few hundred yards' walk from High St Ken station.

And a cheaper alternative to the pricey Heathrow Express is Heathrow Connect local service to Paddington over the same route

About half as cheap i believe and not all that much slower

In my experience I've never found a london cab that takes credit cards...I would be prepared to take cash. But cabs are more expensive than a pre booked car service likely. We found a cab from Heathrow to Clapham (south west central london) was about 80 GBP when a car services was about 30 GBP.

To answer your question. After you reach the departure area just follow the signs to the taxi area. Normally there will be a longish line, but it will pass very quickly. Now, as others have stated, depending if you are traveling with others or solo, I would either take a private car service like Justairports, or the tube. Let us know the street address and we might be better to advise you.

After checking out the hotel, a 5 *, very expensive hotel, I guess you are not trying to take a more economical way. So just take the taxi from the taxi stand. Boy, sure wish I could afford to stay there. It looks fantastic! Have a grand stay.

One thing to note, Amex isn't as widely accepted in London as Visa or Mastercard which is accepted almost everywhere.

I've never yet seen a taxi which accepted a card so i'd get some cash from an atm.

Thanks to all of you for replying so promptly.

The reason I chose to ask about a taxi was that you don't need to prepay for a taxi, as opposed to car service (I assume). Are there any car services that would allow me to make a reservation prior to arrival but pay them after they drop me at the hotel?

I have been told by a couple of people that their car service didn't pick them up at the airport as scheduled, so they had to take a taxi anyway but had the additional hassle of trying to get a refund of the booking price from the car service.

Check out Ray's London Transfers (www.london-transfers.com). Their prices quoted are for cash payment upon pick-up or credit card pre-payment. I've used Ray in the past and would recommend.

You don't have to pay in advance & it's less expensive to pay cash when they drop you off. You can pay in advance when you book, though & pay a bit more. I've used them several times & found them to be reliable. Some have had problems getting a response through their website but you can call them if they don't answer your request.

www.justairports.com

I have never ever pre-paid for a car service. Never even thought it was a normal option.

Justairports or the other car services mentioned will cost quite a bit less than a taxi. And some (again - like justairports) will give a substantial discount for cash.

Thanks, everyone.

I have made a reservation for car service with Ray's London Transfers as Kayb95 had suggested.