We have to take a 9:00 international flight from Heathrow on a Tuesday morning. That gives us just one day and night in London. Can anyone recommend a nice neighborhood for our one day and night in London? Looking for quiet with walking distance to cafes. Have been to London in past and did the touristy sites. Thank you in advance.

We stayed at Radisson Blu Mercer street in Covent Garden in 2023 and liked the location. It’s close to some of our favorite restaurants.

With that early a flight (you do mean 9AM - right) I’d stay somewhere along the Elizabeth Line - meaning paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Rd, faringdon, Liverpool Street. A much MUCH quicker/easier trip than the Piccadilly line

I'd sleep at or very near the airport, drop your bags & go anywhere you like for the day & evening. But I dislike early mornings more than just about anything.

I'm fully with janisj here. I like the Kensington Gardens Hotel in Bayswater--close to Paddington but also lots of ways to get around the city--or the hotels in Cartwright Gardens in Bloomsbury (close to King's Cross), or the hotels near Tottenham Court Road (they get nicer by the British Museum).

But the Elizabeth line may not be running that early in the morning, or not consistently enough, so a place like Bloomsbury near the Piccadilly line is also great.

For a 9am flight I would stay at the airport. If you really want to stay in the city, I second the recommendation to stay near the Elizabeth Line. If you find it's not running frequently enough at the hour you need it, then taxi to Paddington Station and take the Heathrow Express. Or better yet, stay near Paddington. By doing that, you can use either the Elizabeth Line or the Heathrow Express.

The Elizabeth line starts around 0600 so I’m with group who would stay at the airport since you will need to at LHR around 0600 for a transcontinental flight. We often stay at the Hilton T2. There are other hotels for other terminals.

Wait, on this forum (skews older and I’m sure affluent) people are still taking the subway after or before a long international flight? You all must have good backs! We did start using Uber from Heathrow and that brought the prices down but I need door to door service when I’ve got luggage and jet lag.

I personally never use uber in London. I will use car services like justairports to from the airport depending on the situation. But uber in London -- nope. Just goes against the grain.

[QUOTE=janisj;17632852]I personally never use uber in London. I will use car services like justairports to from the airport depending on the situation. But uber in London -- nope. Just goes against the grain.[/QUOTE

Don’t like the company? We had the app and husband had to get to conference stuff in London and Paris through the years and for a long time taxi drivers wanted money and he didn’t want to mess with that. I know at Heathrow we had to meet drivers across the way in the car park. Can’t remember if we took a cab in 2023 but everyone takes cards now so that was good. Once in town I usually walk everywhere. Walked from Holborn area to VA museum once but had to taxi it home…Our lives have become very cashless-I use my Apple Watch to pay for most things these days.

Don't like the company.

Especially don't like the company in the UK/London

Not exactly on topic since we were talking about traveling in from LHR and I'd never use a black cab for that -- its either public transit or a pre-booked car service simply for economics. But for journeys around London I just feel its a totally unfair playing field. Taxi drivers spend years and ŁŁŁ learning/earning their coveted taxi license, while any bloke with a satnav can be an uber driver.

[QUOTE=macdogmom;17632953] Drivers for justairports sometimes also drive for Uber. Same drivers, different method of booking.

Hah, if I made every decision based on my feeling about the company, the board, the ceo I wouldn’t leave the house. We lived in blissful ignorance for decades/hundreds of years about the nefarious goings on with the vast majority of big companies and now we know every detail about public and personal lives of the titans of industry. I always laughed when people told me they only used Lyft since most drivers do both. Anyway I had some bad experiences with taxi drivers in London and Paris and some great experiences. Same with Uber drivers.

We lived and still live part time in Silicon Valley and the stories we used to hear about Steve Jobs were not positive. Still use apple products…

Yeah, we’ve used plenty of taxi drivers in London. Some great experiences some not so great…

[QUOTE=rialtogrl;17632979]
Oh, I know that . . . have had that discussion with several of them. They've mostly prefered justairports but a couple have said uber is their main income.

Here’s another, verbally abused by himself at a stockholders meeting after I asked a perfectly benign question he didn’t like. Silly me for asking, everyone else seemed to know better. I, too, have loved my desktops & iPad, since the beginning, & my house that Apple bought.

Sorry for veering off.

Yes, I do still use a subway or train in London, as well as a few other places where it's easy. I travel overseas several times a year, yet I don't really see myself as affluent. I'm just a person with a passion for travel.

I acknowledge that my habits could change as the years go by.

Yes, taking subway and bus in town makes sense, I was just surprised that people took subway from Heathrow after international flights.

And to get back to original question, I still like Convent Garden location for 24 hour trip and would also check out Knightsbridge, Notting Hill and even Shoreditch if you like a younger hipper feel with lots of good restaurants.