24 Hours

wally8 · November 1, 2014

Having never been to London, is it possible to see much of London from Heathrow from noon to whatever at night? Flight leaves early in the next morning. Thanks, Bob

orchestrapal · November 2, 2014

A few hours in London is like 15 minutes in NY. Take the underground into central London and then take the HOHO bus to see the city. There is no way on your own that you can see very much. The HOHO bus will allow you to make several stops for things you want to check out on the way. Enjoy!

John Bull · November 2, 2014

Hi, Bob.

You say "from noon......."

Does your flight land at noon? Or is that when you expect to arrive in central London? Cos it will take about 2 hrs 30 from touchdown to Piccadilly - usually about 90 minutes to clear airport formalities, then stash your checked luggage, then another 45 minutes on the tube (underground).

Orchestrapal's suggestion of a ho-ho is right on the mark for seeing the major sights in your short time-span, unless you have a bucket of money to spend on a private tour.

Unless your hotel is at your arrival airport terminal (eg Sofitel at T5), it will be too time-consuming to go to your hotel to check your bags in.

Even if you can check your bags thro to your final destination, or your onward flight is from the same terminal and the bag drop for available when you arrive, you will still have your cabin bags. So I suggest you use the left-luggage facility at your arrival terminal, then take the tube.

Tube is cheap, direct, frequent, and easy if you don't have luggage or mobility problems. Heathrow is served by only one tube line (the Piccadilly line, deep blue on the linked tube map) and it's at the end of the line, so you can't take a wrong train. Runs every five minutes or so, currently about £12 return fare.

Take it to either Hyde Park Corner where there are ho-ho stops, or two stops later to Piccadilly Circus where there's a five-minute walk to the start point of the Original Hop-On's yellow route. I'd suggest Piccadilly Circus & walk to that yellow route start point, on the junction of Coventry Street & Wardour Street - there's a ticket & information booth there, yellow route concentrates on the sights rather than hotel/rail station pick-up points, narration on the yellow route is a live guide (in English only) rather than recorded, and you'll get a good seat on the bus. The full route takes about 2hrs 15.

If you stay on the bus the only sight you'll not see is Buckingham Palace - buses aren't allowed past the front so you'd haver to hop off, walk round the corner, then back to the stop for the next bus.

Ho-ho ticket includes a short river cruise between Westminster Bridge (Big Ben, London Eye, etc) and the Tower of London. (theoretically a one-way cruise, but if you start at the Tower you can make it a round-trip by simply staying on the boat ;))

Ho-ho's and boats finish at about 6.30pm, and sights will be closed by then, so hop off at Big Ben/Westminster Abbey and walk the sights (10 Downing St, Cenotaph, Banqueting House, Horse Guards Parade, etc) along Whitehall to Trafalgar Square / Admiralty Arch / Nelson's Column / National Gallery. Plenty of eateries in central London, though the biggest choice is between Trafalgar Square and Covent Garden, along The Strand & side streets.

Covent Garden tube station is on that Piccadilly line back to the airport, but wherever you end up you can just head for the nearest tube station and use the tube map (don't bother printing it off, they're on practically every wall of every tube station and on tourist maps) to navigate the system to the Piccadilly line and back to the airport.

BEWARE WHICH TUBE TRAIN BACK TO HEATHROW. Although they use the same platform, some Piccadilly line trains branch off to Uxbridge rather than Heathrow. And although all Heathrow trains serve T's 1, 2 & 3, half of those go via T5 & the other half via T4. So check the platform signs & the destination board on the train to make sure you board the right one for your terminal.

Last tube train back to Heathrow is after midnight, but left-luggage counters at Heathrow close at 11pm (10pm at T2)

Some folk may suggest the Heathrow Express rather than the tube. It's a lot quicker (15 mins vs 45 mins) but less frequent, and you'd need either a 20 minute walk or a taxi or a secondary ho-ho route to get you from its terminus at Paddington station to the nearest main ho-ho stop at Marble Arch. Plus of course, you'd have to get back to Paddington station for the return train.

And the return fare on the Heathrow Express is way over £30.

Matter of opinion, but I reckon the tube a better option than the Heathrow Express.

However you do it, you'll sleep well that night. :D

JB :)

http://www.heathrowairport.com/heathrow-airport-guide/services-and-facilities/left-baggage

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/standard-tube-map.pdf

https://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/fandl-piccadilly-wtt-52.pdf

https://www.heathrowexpress.com/

http://www.theoriginaltour.com/

http://www.theoriginaltour.com/UserFiles/OriginalTourMap.jpg

https://maps.google.co.uk/maps?q=1+Wardour+Street,+London&hl=en&ll=51.510545,-0.131578&spn=0.002123,0.012403&sll=51.511767,-0.131739&sspn=0.004687,0.012403&dirflg=w&hnear=1+Wardour+St,+London+W1D+6PA,+United+Kingdom&t=m&z=17&layer=c&cbll=51.510542,-0.131586&panoid=p4zUzRcZ6aU58PDyBMeIVQ&cbp=11,209.42,,0,0.23

Edited November 2, 2014 by John Bull