Ok TexAgs!

Got 6 a six hour layover in London. I've never left the airport before. Is there anything worth doing in that time.

Yep, Heathrow Express to town then pick a few places to see. Hope on the tube from Paddington and see the sights. 6 hours isn't a lot of time but if you plan ahead, you could see a few of the top spots.

Last time I was in London I spent about 1.5 hours standing in line in customs. That could cause you a problem. Can you more your flight back a few hours and get more time?

Anyway, Heathrow Express is the quickest way to get into town. They leave about every 15 minutes and take about 15-20 minutes to get to Paddington. The problem is when you get to Paddington there's not a whole lot to see there. It's about a 10 minute walk to Hyde Park but that's it. So, you'll need to get on the tube. It's pretty easy to use. Most people use something called an Oyster Card to pay for the tube but since you're there such a short time, you can buy individual tickets at kiosks in the stations. Of course, you need to decide what you want to do. You could go to the British Museum, spend the whole time there, see a lot of cool things but not really see any sights, The Museum is free and one of the best in the world. I'd guess you'd want to see more of the city, so I'm throwing these out:

For all, take the tube to Westminster.

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Wonder around Parliament Square, Visit Westminster Abbey, Visit a Pub for a beer and bangers and mash and Churchill war rooms.

From Westminster tube, walk to the river and get on one of the cruise boats that go up and down the Thames to Greenwich. You'll see a bunch of sites and I think the boats are better than the hop-on hop-off buses. The buses can get caught in traffic and be slow.

Wonder Parliament Square, walk up Whitehall to Trafalgar Square, walk down the Mall to Buckingham Palace, walk behind the Palace into Hyde Park.

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Option 1, you get to see two of London's best attractions but it's a little pricy for each one and you will not see much else.
Option 2, you get to see a bunch of stuff but you're sitting on the boat the whole time.
Option 3, it's the cheapest and the walking is easy. You'll through the coolest parts of London.

I only mentioned a Pub in option one but I'd go to one just to soak up some London culture. They're everywhere and you won't find a bad one in that area.

Pay attention to your tube map to get back to Paddington.

Depends where you're flying in/out of Heathrow.

If you're on star alliance, skip the pricey Heathrow Express and just go get on the Picadilly tube line. Reason for this is that the place where the Heathrow Express picks up/drops off at Heathrow is a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG walk from Terminal 2 whereas the Picadilly line is quite close.

Will take a bit longer on the train but it is much cheaper and spits you out right in central London.

There are a lot of moving part you need to be aware of.

1. Time required to clear customs and immigration. This will vary by terminal and arrival time Terminal 5 usually the takes the most time. If you are flying business class or have status there are fast track lanes that help here.
2. Heathrow express leaves every 15 minutes and takes 15 minutes from terminal 3&2 or 21 minutes from terminal 5. Worst case you just miss the train so 36 minutes to paddington.
3. It takes a few minutes to get from the Heathrow Express to the tube even though both are in paddington station.
4. Depending on where you go you may need to change tube lines which adds to your travel time around central london.
5. Returning through security at Heathow can take a longtime. (I have had to wait over an hour in line before)

You should plan on about 1 and 1/2 hours to get to paddington from arrival. And at least the same amount of time to return and get through security. I would not expect to get more than about 2 hours in London on a 6 hour layover.

blindey said:

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Depends where you're flying in/out of Heathrow.

If you're on star alliance, skip the pricey Heathrow Express and just go get on the Picadilly tube line. Reason for this is that the place where the Heathrow Express picks up/drops off at Heathrow is a LOOOOOOOOOOOOONG walk from Terminal 2 whereas the Picadilly line is quite close.

Will take a bit longer on the train but it is much cheaper and spits you out right in central London.

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I guess we have different definitions of long. It takes about 5 minutes from terminal 2. The Picadilly line is about half way to the heathrow express.

We certainly do. Maybe it's the jet lag talking, because I remember the picadilly line walk being 2-3 minutes and the Heathrow Express walk being a solid 15. If I'm wrong, let me know.

blindey said:

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We certainly do. Maybe it's the jet lag talking, because I remember the picadilly line walk being 2-3 minutes and the Heathrow Express walk being a solid 15. If I'm wrong, let me know.

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I had to walk from T3 to T2 to meet a colleague which took me about 10 minutes about a month ago. Heathow Express is about 1/2 between the terminal It is closer to T3 but still not much further than the Picadilly Line.

Yeah, my memory is faulty. OP, disregard my post unless you really like riding the tube.


Also, pre-purchase your Heathrow Express tickets because day-of fares sell out and are usually pretty pricey (like 40 pounds for the round trip).

Heathrow Express is the quickest way to get to London but as we've pointed out once you're at Paddington, you've still got to get to the tube to do something interesting. If you take my suggestion to end up at Westminster, then maybe the tube is the way to go. Piccadilly line and transfer to district at Hammersmith or Baron's Court. I'd transfer at of those because the lines are above ground there and a transfer means just a short walk across the platform. If you waiting until the tube goes underground, then you can have a long walk between platforms.

As Austin said, there are a lot of moving parts. I last time I was in London (May 2017) I took the Piccadilly line in from Heathrow and while we were heading into town, someone at Piccadilly was threatening to jump off a bridge onto the 3rd rail. It shut the line down for about 45 minutes. That's the second time that's happened to me. I was thinking you had about 3 hours if all worked well but maybe Austin's two hours is correct.

As I said in my first post, I'd try to extend my layover. 25 or 30 years ago, I used to do this a lot coming back home from Europe. I'd have my layover be 20 hours or so and I'd get a hotel in London. I only cost me the price of the hotel and I got a day in London. I assume you can still do this.

Totally agree. you really need at least a 12 hour lay over to do much useful in London.

Careful with Piccadilly, or any other tube lines. Was over there last week, and tube workers on the Piccadilly line were on partial strike, impacting service. Strike was about the potential automation of the trains, reducing need for conductors.

A 6 hour layover is sort of in a grey area. Just long enough to be tempting to leave, but not long enough to get much out of it. Heathrow is just far enough away from the city center to not make this worth it. Probably looking at 45 minutes each way in transport, so 1.5 hours gone. The good news is that you will have boarding passes/luggage checked. Still, need to get back to the airport at least 1 - 1.5 hours prior to departure in order to navigate security/lines/find gate. Then there is additional time in clearing customs upon landing which could be 0.5 - 1 hour. Overall you could probably squeeze 2 hours in central London. That is enough time to walk past Westiminster, the Parliament, Big Ben or ride the eye of London. Maybe that is worth it if you were to never go back, but I think London is worth a few days visit. It's a nice city.

Note Parliament may still be covered in scaffolding. Not sure when they are completing the cleaning/repairs.

AustinScubaAg said:

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Note Parliament may still be covered in scaffolding. Not sure when they are completing the cleaning/repairs.

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Parliament not so much, but Big Ben was, and according to signage in the immediate area, restorative renovations will not be complete until 2021.

Take the heathrow express to paddington the tube bakerloo line to charring cross.

Walk to red lion pub and eat fish and chips while having a couple pints.

Walk around Thames for few minutes then head back to heathrow.

Lamb and Flag pub near covenant garden and The George inn get honorable mentions.

It's a pain in the ass but more fun than sitting on your ass for hours in heathrow.

I haven't done this, but I'd look into going to Windsor, instead of London. I think it's only about 15-20 minutes by car/taxi from LHR and you can walk to everything you'll have time for--Windsor Castle and lunch or dinner in a pub and a look around town. Caveat, though: think about what you'll do with your luggage. Even if you only have a carry on bag, you probably won't be able to take it into any attractions in London or Windsor or elsewhere. Some places will have a coat check where you can leave a backpack, but not luggage.

The Heathrow Express to Paddington method of getting into central Londob has to be one of the most overrated time savers in traveler ethos.

The key to optimal rail travel isn't the speed of the train, it's the frequency of its lines and connecting lines. In London where getting anywhere typically involves 2 to 3 transfers, you always get on the under or over grounds. They will be faster than the Heathrow express 80% of the time unless your destination is actually Paddington OR you have perfect timing.

If 2 hours is worth it to you, do it, if it isn't, then don't.

I'd reccomend going straight to the Churchill War Museum, Its an underground bunker complex which was the HQ all through the war. You can probably spend 2.5 hours or less there. Its right in the middle of town so you can walk around and see what you can before finding a tube station and heading back.