Layover in Heathrow (London) - What to do?

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by MFAFF

Just to get an idea of the time you need to get between LGW and LHR during the day...

From landing at LGW you should allow 2.5 hours to get to Victoria....by Gatwick Express. This allows for time to get out of the plane.. through Customs; catch a train and the journey.

To get to LHR from central London the fastest way is the Heathrow Express from Paddington Station, allow 45mins for that trip, 'cos the central train station is a walk to get to T1/T2/T3, T4 and T5 are different... So call it an hour.

LHR Security etc needs 90mins from bag drop. So another 2.5 hours gone..

So you'll be good for three hours in London including time from Victoria to Paddington...

If you want to see London then the top deck of a double decker is the best place.. from Victoria take a 38 bus from outside the station towards Soho, goes past Wellington Arch, and the corner of Hyde Park, Past Green Park to Piccadiliy Circus and then up Charing Cross Road, Jump off for Covent Garden trip about 25mins... or a 11 takes you past the Houses of Parliament, Whitehall, Trafalgar Square, again about 25 mins.

Loads of interesting places to eat in Soho...

Then head up to Tottenham Court Road and New Oxford Street.. say 15 mins walk and then a 390 westwards towards Lancaster Gate.. Allow 30 mins for that trip..

Gives you 80 mins in town.... just enough for a swift pint and a bite to eat....

The Citymapper app is brilliant for London...gives pretty accurate times and routes for subway, buses walking etc...

If memory serves isn't Windsor fairly close and easier to move about in compared to London? There's a very nice castle there and good food along the high street as well as across the river in Eton. IIRC.

[MFAFF]

Windsor is very close to LHR....I understood the OP was landing at Gatwick and leaving from LHR... to get to Windsor from Gatwick means going thro the centre of London anyway (unless you drive.... the M25 is often a parking lot)

Once there is is much less busy than Central London and all that...

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I'd pack a good lunch. I remember being horrified at how expensive everything was there and this was expecting "ripoff" airport pricing. Maybe it's better now (was a few years ago) but it was really crazy. Like $60 to eat at McDonald's crazy.

[recycled sixtie]

Originally Posted by Porsche-O-Phile

I'd pack a good lunch. I remember being horrified at how expensive everything was there and this was expecting "ripoff" airport pricing. Maybe it's better now (was a few years ago) but it was really crazy. Like $60 to eat at McDonald's crazy.

I remember eating at McD's off the airport and it was not that expensive. It was at a suburb of Heathrow but I forget the name. There is a good pub in terminal 2 or 3. Good pub food and beer. There is an excellent free subway service that takes you from terminal to terminal around Heathrow.

[petrolhead611]

Only an American could spend $60 in a McDonalds!!. Normal people $15 max(and then they would have to desperate). Why eat in such a place anyway when you can get good food almost anywhere in England these days, only don't expect the meat element to be as dangerously large as it would be in the US.
Don't rent a car, you dont have time to do it justice, just use public transport as already suggested, to maximise the available time. Obviously you will need pounds sterling, although most restaurants accept Mastercard and Visa, but lots do not take American Express or Diners Club cards(and neither do most businesses, because of the relatively high charges incurred).

[5String43]

As others have mentioned, you don't have as much time as it might seem because getting between airports, and getting around London, will burn much of it. That said, perhaps a bus tour would be good, as mentioned above by MFAFF. If you can, you might like to take a quick look at Westminster Abbey, right next to the Houses of Parliament. It's a very beautiful and very historic place. I do not think I would waste time on food and/or drink. Plenty of that in the airports, none of it particularly enticing.

[pegasus9]

Bangers and mash!!