rcspeirs

Yes. If you get on at Hatton Cross and travel to any station (including the 3 at LHR), a fare is charged. If you had got on at one of the LHR stations and travel to another LHR station (even if you go via Hatton Cross), you are charged a zero fare.
However, Travel by regular tfl bus from Hatton Cross to any terminal is free.

stc

Having just stayed at the DT, I can't say I recommend it. If you want a Hilton property, stay at the Hilton at T4. Sheraton and Marriott all have properties nearby that are within the Heathrow Free Flow zone for local buses. The Renaissance (a Marriott Property) has some nice views of the airport.

I'd say if you have any sort of hotel status, stay in that chain, otherwise the Hilton at T4.

Non-NonRev

Or Sofitel in T5, if someone else is paying.

Microwave

This rule no longer exists.

stut

Indeed. There are older threads with useful and still current information. Instead, we judge based on whether information in older threads is likely to contradict or confuse.

If you do see an instance of this, then please use the 'report post' button, so I will be alerted (I don't necessarily scan all the threads all the time so may well miss a comment on-thread) and can split out the posts as required.

If you'd like any more information, feel free to PM me.

So... Back to T3 hotels.

stut
Moderator
UK & Ireland

Non-NonRev

Many thanks for the clarification, stut ^

NWIFlyer

I almost always stay at the Holiday Inn Ariel (because of IHG status, although the Ibis virtually next door works almost as well) because if I walk for no more than two minutes I can access a direct free bus to any terminal - albeit less frequently to T5, and often it's quicker to take the Central Bus Station/Tube option where the transfer is quick and pretty much painless. 105/111/285/N9 for T2/3 and Tube for T5 connection, 423 to T5 from Harlington Corner and 555 to T4 from Hatton Road North.

Clearly much cheaper than the Hoppa, and certainly considerably quicker too - even to T5 it's no more than 30 minutes including any wait time, and usually 20. T2/3 is something closer to 5 minutes given how many buses go down the Bath Road to there.

CMK10

I had a very nice stay at the Hilton Garden Inn last year (departing out of T3). I liked that it was walking distance to the Hatton Cross Tube Station and the service and breakfast there were excellent.

Tizzette

How late do these various Heathrow Express, Connect, and local buses run?

stc

Which direction? Which days?

Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect are about 23:30 to 23:45

https://www.heathrowexpress.com/timetable-schedule

https://www.heathrowconnect.com/train-times

The N9 Night Bus runs through the night.

https://tfl.gov.uk/bus/route/n9

Non-NonRev

For the other local busses, you need to find the individual timetable for each route on the TfL site - the time of the last bus of the night varies.

NWIFlyer

Bear in mind also that just because a bus isn't prefixed with N doesn't necessarily mean it doesn't run 24 hours (i.e. through the night) - the N prefixes are generally the ones that run over longer distances (the N9 which serves LHR starts and finishes in The Strand iirc). Many of the services which serve the Bath Road hotels are 24 hour, although obviously the frequency may be less at night when there's fewer passengers.

Swanhunter

Generally the N prefixed buses run a dedicated night route which might, or might not, be very similar to the daytime version. Non N prefixed buses than run 24 hours follow the identical route regardless of time (though obviously frequency varies hugely).

stc

I would point out that the N9 serves the Bath Road Hotels as well as T5 and T2/3 (Heathrow Central) at Night.

I looks like the 285 which serves T2/3, the Bath Road Hotels, and Hatton Cross also runs all night.

The 490 which seems to serve T4 or at least get close to T4 and also serves T5 runs all night.

There however is no direct service (that I can find) from T2/3 to the Hilton at T4 at night. Instead you would need to take the N9 from T2/3 outbound to T5 and then the 490 from T5 to near the Hilton at T4.

TFL does say that the fastest way to get from T2/3 to T4 at night is to take the 285 to Hatton Cross and then walk over a mile. YMMV.

https://tfl.gov.uk/ has a journey planner

You may also have luck with planning journeys on https://www.google.com/maps.

Tizzette

Thank you, everybody!