Windsor to Heathrow
 

We (4 adults)are considering spending the last night of our England vacation in Windsor. Could anyone give me advice on getting from Windsor to Heathrow in the AM to catch our flight back to the US? Are there any van services available. We will be traveling with large suitcases.

You can take a train to London Waterloo, transfer from there to Paddington Station and then to Heathrow in 1-4/4 to 2 hours. Not sure which train/tube lines, however.

JN, are you kidding us?

Windsor is a stone's throw from Heathrow. Are you seriously suggesting going all the way from Windsor to Waterloo in London, doing a transfer all the way to Paddington, and
then the Heathrow Express back to Paddington?

For four adults, I assure you a taxi from Windsor to Heathrow would cost a fraction of that and get you there in roughly one tenth of the time!

I'm all for a sense of humor, but this isn't even funny!

Sorry, obviously I meant the Heathrow Express from Paddington back to Heathrow.
I'm still thunderstruck from that suggestion.

Windsor makes a great stop for the last night. Email your hotel in Windsor, when we've done this the hotels / B&Bs have arranged a taxi / service. Very inexpensive, quick, and WAY easier than schlepping to London.

As others have said, a taxi would be convenient, quick, and relatively inexpensive. If you don't mind schlepping your bags, your cheapest option would be to take a local bus. Frequent service and the trip takes around 30 minutes.

OOPs, what the heck was I thinking?? This may go down as the dumbest post ever. Sorry--I'm still not sure what got into me>

4 adults + large suitcases won't fit in most taxis. You'll need to book a people carrier if available, otherwise 2 taxis.

Thanks for all the suggestions. JN, I think I'll pass on yours though :)

It looks like two taxis might be the answer. Sprin2, I hadn't thought to contact the hotel, good idea.

JN, I actually clicked on your name to see if you were some troll that loved to post insane answers before posting comments, and found that no, you are indeed a helpful poster.

Too much vino with dinner last night?
LOL

Ah, JN, we all have our moments...

If taking the train the best way is probably to take a train from Windsor on the line to Paddington and change at Hayes or other station to the new Heathrow stopping train that duplicates the route of the non-stop Heathrow Express - but is much cheaper than the heathrow express - ask at Windsor Central station about this.

I can't beleive someone else had the exact same question I was going to pose in a few days.Our last day in UK, I plan to spend at Windsor, driving in from Salisbury. I fly home from Heathrow, but my husband will drive back to Cambridge for a last few weeks. I didn't want him to drive me in to the airport for my 6pm flight, but never imagined it would be quite so easy for me. Do I have it correct that I just need to take a bus directly from Windsor to Heathrow? And it runs quite often? (I hope you don't mind me piggy-backing on your post, azresptech).

Here is a link to a handy website listing transportation options including buses for the route. http://www.thamesweb.co.uk/windsor/i...towindsor.html

Several years ago we spent the last night of our trip in Windsor and took a taxi to Heathrow at dawn-thirty. Simple, direct, and inexpensive. The B&B owner arranged it.

We loved Windsor as the last stop of our trip. Be sure to go to the castle for evensong at 5:15pm in the chapel if you like that sort of thing. Ten monarchs are buried there.

sprin2:

With the greatest of respect, the website you reference is about as useful to the posters here as JN's first piece of mild dementia.

"Bus services from the Bus and Coach Station in the centre of Heathrow [to Windsor] are few and far between" it says. Claptrap.

"We have not been advised when the service starts and stops in the morning or evening" it continues. Only because the idle sods couldn't summon up the energy to look the bus timetable (routes 50 and 90: every half hour)up at http://tinyurl.com/pb5xb.

And presumably the ratepayers of the Royal Borough actually paid someone good money to write this balderdash.

Incidentally, has anyone here actually taken a taxi FROM Heathrow to Windsor? I'd be amazed if it was inexpensive: Windsor cabs can't ply for hire at LHR. London cabs can, but aren't bound by price rules if they've accepted a fare outside the tfl boundaries. So they're going to insist on a fare that compensates them for the hours they've waited at LHR, and will have to wait all over again. Min £50-£60 unless you find a philanthropist.

The problem doesn't apply in reverse: Windsor cabs are happy to charge you the meter rate for a trip to LHR. But unless someone can quote chapter, verse and fare for a cab off the LHR rank, your choice is between prebooking with someone like justairports, getting the bus, taking out a new mortgage or having the negotiating skills to persuade a London cabbie to lose money on your fare when he can make £100 effortlessly taking the people behind you to Hampstead.

Well, I've taken taxis many times between Maidenhead (Windsor's partner) and Heathrow. It's not that expensive. And it's easy to do...most of the Maidenhead taxis (these guys also serve Windsor) offer fixed rates for these runs that are far lower than CotScous reported. You just need to arrange your trip in advance. I've got cards from most of the taxi guys in MH--will be happy to pass their numbers along. Email me at [email protected] and put Windsor Taxis in the subject line. And yes, some of them are vans. One of the drivers has a large van that could easily handle your group and luggage--if I see him today at the MH train station, I'll get his card and ask him his rate for a run to Heathrow from Windsor.

BTilke is making <b> precisely </b> the point I'm making.

Taxis between the Thames Valley and LHR are reasonable if you prebook local suppliers. They're almost certain to be extortionate if you get them off the rank at LHR, where only London black cabs may ply - and have to do so under conditions that give them little alternative to insisting on high fares for short journeys outside the price-controlled area. Which Windsor isn't in.

Actually not. You suggest prebooking with a service like JustAirports, which tends to go for a London area market. The Maidenhead taxi guys aren't car services like JustAirports or SwissCottageCars, etc. They're just regular taxis. Ordinarily, you wouldn't have to prebook much in advance, even an hour or less ahead would be enough for them to fit you in or get one of their cousins to do it. I've gotten the cheaper rates to Heathrow by calling as little as 15 minutes before I needed the taxi.
The only reason the OP would need to book more than an hour in advance is because of their need for a large van that can handle them and their luggage. And in MH anyway, that's just one or two guys.

I don't understand why there's all this debate about taxis *from* LHR - the OP is only interested in taxis *to* LHR, isn't s/he ?