London Heathrow - Tube costs

M

Maceface

Guest
Hey Guys,

Not in any previous post, so here goes:

Going to London for 4 days.
Want to travel on tube in only zone 1/2 for first three days.
First day also need to get from Heathrow.
Fourth day, will just get a 1 way to airport.

Very common thing I am sure, so has anyone done this recently and can advise the cheapest ticket to get.

(Should it be 3 one day tickets or a 3 day Zone 1-6?)

TIA
 
re

To get to and from Heathrow, I would buy a zone 1-6 day ticket for £6. Days in between just buy a zone 1/2 ticket, not sure how much these are, and then buy another £6 ticket to get back out to Heathrow. Still much, much cheaper than Heathrow express at £13 single or £21 return if you dont have much luggage.
 
Heathrow

The 1/2 tickets are £3.40. Don't buy the £6 ticket on the way back - a one way will cost you around £3 from anywhere in the city centre.
One thing I will say about the subway from Heathrow - it takes about 45 minutes to get in to town. Heathrow is a good way out, even though you'd think it wasn't. I guess it reflects how big London really is.
 
Re: Heathrow

The Zone 1-6 travelcard costs just over £5 if I recall .. this will cover your Airport transfer and all zone 1/2 travel for one day ... BUT it is only valid after 9.30am (no restrictions in the evening rush hour)

A one way from Central London to Heathrow costs £3.90 I think ... so unless you have to travel before 9.30 or are planning to do virtually no other tube/bus travel that day then the travelcard is the way to go.

Edited to add the prices are here so you can work it out ... looks like they've put them up !
 
Re: Heathrow

I don't know anything about the cost of tickets and all that, but I used the tube from H'row to London the other day for the first time and it was not at all satisfactory. The office I was going to is only about 50 metres from Piccadilly Circus tube station so the tube from H'row seemed ike a good idea.

First of all, on the way from H'row to London, the train terminated about one third of the way in because of a suspicious package on the line. Had to get off the tube, into a bus to a station further down the line, back on to the train, and arrived about an hour late for the meeting.

then, on the way back from London to H'row, we were all packed in very tightly, so tightly in fact, I needed a shower by the time we arrived at H'row!!

The cost of the return ticket was £7.60. Next time I'll use the H'row Express to Paddington (£25 return) and get a taxi the rest of the way.

Yes, I know this is nothing to do with the original question, but might be useful to some people.
 
re

Maceface, if you are only going from your hotel to the airport on the final day, then just get a single as suggested above. But if your flight is not until later in the day, I would go for the zone 1-6 day card for 6 pounds so you can go wherever you want in the morning. For me, 25 pounds on the heathrow express is too much of a difference from £7.60 as below. It would depend on luggage/circumstances I suppose.
 
Re: re

Slash ... agreed with you that the Tube can sometimes be an unpleasant experience

I would (when work is paying!) take the HEx to Paddington and then Tube/Taxi unless I'm going to somwhere that's right on the picadilly line

The way I see it

HEx
+ Fast (but rarely actually takes the advertised 15mins .. usually it's a little longer - especially going into town)
+ Usually (but not always) get a seat
- Not so frequent - departures only every 15 mins
- Expensive - on a cost per mile basis must be one of the most expensive trains in the world
- Drops you in Paddington which isn't the best city terminus really for most locations you want to go to. Tube service from Paddington isn't great (avoid the circle/hammersmith lines if possible)

Tube
- Slow - on a good day it takes ~45 mins to Picadilly Circus
+ Frequent - trains roughly every 5 mins ... this a good advantage over the HEx
+ Cheap - you can't argue with the price
+ More choice of stops - depending on the distance of where you want to go from Paddington this can make it a better option time wise
- Comfort ... At peak times the train can be unpleasantly crammed (doesn't matter so much going into town as you'll always get a seat boarding at Heathrow)
- Reliability ... at peak times especially the trains can take a good bit longer due to congestion.. The HEx is usually more reliable.. but not always .. once I was stuck on one for over an hour due to a "Fatal attempted suicide" closing the line in front (work that one out!)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top