vla

Yeah, that's not the best you could do. If you exit Charing X to the east and walk down Villiers Street (circa 150m) you can see Embankment station. Better to take the Northern Line to Waterloo, where the interchange to the Jubilee line is indeed long, but mitigated somewhat by riding at the front of the train. The Jubilee line -- when it runs -- runs fast from Waterloo through London Bridge and Canary Wharf to Canning Town, where the interchange to the DLR is straight up the escalator and to the left. This will run considerably quicker than the DLR from Monument/Bank.

Indeed an overground train to London Bridge is a good option if already on the station itself, or if the train is headed to Woolwich Arsenal, changing there and doubling back. (I have friends living in Greenwich who use the Woolwich Arsenal DLR interchange as an alternate route if the DLR is not operating to Greenwich. I tried it once from Charing Cross and it wasn't bad -- 40 minutes or so, all in.)

Nearly two hours to LCY is very unfortunate though, but glad things worked out in the end. LCY isn't much of a place to hang around these days either, is it.

House

I have known friends from outside London to wait for the Circle Line trains (which do not run often, and sometimes not at all) along the route from Embankment to Monument. This is not necessary. ANY District Line train calling at Embankment heading eastwards will also get you to Monument - the only exception is trains with the destination "Mansion House".

You should not need to wait more than 5-6 minutes for a train at Embankment. If you do, then it is better to go downstairs to the Northern Line and then change at Waterloo onto the Jubilee Line for Canning Town. DLR runs from there to LCY.

HIDDY

To be honest I hadn't a clue where LCY was situated until this thread made me Google map it. It's a lot further away from the centre of London than I imagined it to be. It doesn't look any closer to the likes of Kensington/Hyde Park than LHR is ......I think.

trueblu

Same here. Never had reason to fly from there. I guess it makes sense for 'city types', but if on the piccadilly line (e.g. Hyde Park corner), it makes no sense at all to go to LCY instead of LHR.

tb

heartybob

Technically, both LHR and LCY are in London.

Land-of-Miles

The "City" is the City of London the approximately square mile of ancient London which makes up the core of what is now Greater London and which forms the historic heart of Central London. For any Londoner it is crystal clear what is meant by the "City" and that doesn't include Kensington and Chelsea, which are actually in the City of Westminster.

LCY is a great airport for travel to and from the eastern areas of Greater London. Obviously the further West you start the less the advantage of travelling East to LCY rather than West to LHR (or South to LGW). LCY makes a lot of sense for anyone actually travelling from the City rather than the West End. Much as I love LCY if I were based any further to the West than Westminster I would probably see LHR as more convenient.

henners

+1

The real advantage of LCY is not how long it takes to get there, rather the time between being on a train and being in the air in each direction. An advantage that LCY seems keen to erode with every passing season.

ant_west

Heathrow is about 14 miles from Charing Cross whilst City Airport is 7 - always seems much further away though!

Getting the tube from Charing Cross to Embankment is one of those "newbie" things. When I first moved to London (20 years ago ) I worked on New Oxford Street and was meeting some friends in Covent Garden - not really sure of the geography, I walked to Tottenham Court Road tube (about 5 minutes), took the Northern Line down to Leicester Square (about 10 minutes including waiting for a train), then changed on to the Picalilly Line to go to Covent Garden (another 10 minutes), finally emerging about half an hour after I started (long wait for a lift at CG station). Only later did I realise that if I'd walked 5 minutes south from my office I would have been there a bit quicker.....

LeisureFirst

Not true. Some of Middlesex is part of Greater London. Potters Bar is in Middlesex (or rather was, as Middlesex no longer exists) and is not in Greater London.

KenJohn

The way the world refers to London is different to how Londoners refer to London.
London is a metropolis; not just a city

"The City" refers to the City of London which is one square mile covering Holborn/Fleet Street in the West to Liverpool Street Station in the East which is where all the banks and financial firms in London are traditionally headquartered. In modern London, this can extend to Canary wharf where all the banks have moved to.

The area west of Holborn which covers, Oxford Street, Victoria, Paddington and Westminister is known as the "West End"

Traditionally, the City was known as the Lord Mayor's City and the Westminster area was known as the King's City. The Lord Mayor is only Mayor in the square mile - City of London. There is mayor for each area/borough in London like the Mayor of Westminster, the Mayor of Camden, the Mayor of Kensington and Chelsea, the Mayor of Hillingdon (Heathrow's area), etc.

LCY is convinient if you work in the City. LHR is better if you work in the West End

jib71

I prefered LCY when I worked in the West End. Walking to Tottenham Court Road station, central line to Bank and DLR to LCY worked better than any of the options to LHR.

I can' sympathize with the OP, though, having once nearly missed a flight because of multiple points failures on the DLR.

Swanhunter

Depending on where you live - and most critically what tube/rail line you can access - different airports will be of varying convenience. When I lived in West Hampstead (North London) Gatwick was a shorter and more convenient journey via Thameslink than LCY was via the Jubilee and DLR.

jib71

From which it's also a breeze to reach LTN.

vla

That's it, if the DLR goes, it's a problem, because taxis don't necessarily prowl around Canning Town, as compared to, let's say, Paddington.

Starting one's journey from Central London in a car, heading to LCY means it's a £30 ride compared to a £60 Heathrow ride, though.

I'm ambivalent between the two airports really. HEX to T5 is nice and why not get there a half hour early for a bite and a glass of wine. LCY is more thrilling: small planes, small airport, things can and do go wrong, you're encouraged not to get there too early, but leave it too late and you're stuffed, etc.

Swanhunter