horse glasses

It would seem there are many airport hotels for much less than that - is there any reason I should be trying to drag my luggage any further than that? I figured a better plan would be go to airport hotel, leave everything, then go into London. That way I'm close in the morning - is this reasonable?

Gagravarr

At about that budget, you might be able to get a private room in one of the trendier / more fun hostels. I've heard good things about the Generator Hostel in London, which looks to be about that price for one night's sole-use of a 2 person room on the 23rd of December.

Your problem with an airport hotel is how long it'll take you to get from the airport to the hotel, then to the tube or train, then onwards into London, eating up a fair bit of your layover. You also wouldn't be able to nip back for a power nap if jetlag hit

UKtravelbear

I was reading it that you wanted to stay in the central area.

Yes the further out you go the cheaper they will be but you will then loose time getting to/from central London.

If you don't want to drag your luggage you could just take what you need out from it and leave it at the left luggage facilities at LHR and retrive it the next day.

stut

If you just want a cheap crash place in central London, have a look at the easyHotels. I've stayed in a couple where I've just wanted a bed for the night, and they've been absolutely fine.

NickB

Given that the OP leaves in the morning on a tatl flight and will therefore have to be at the airport early, it seems to me to make perfect sense to stay at the airport, as long as the OP does not intend to want to return to the hotel late afternoon before returning in town for the evening and is happy to stay afternoon and evening in town and then return to the hotel.

With a CAI 12.30 arrival, realistically, the OP is unlikely to reach central London until mid-afternoon at best. Going for a LHR area hotel, dropping the bags there, going into town and spending the rest of the afternoon and the evening there is not a bad idea, imo.

Mizter T

Ditto Tune Hotels.

big_mac

The problem is that most of the airport hotels are particularly inconvenient for travelling to central London. Staying there may then involve a (needlessly slow!) journey to the hotel, back to Heathrow, then still a long journey into the centre.

Staying somewhere convenient for transport - e.g.; at Paddington, or on the Piccadilly line, makes more sense to me.
(e.g.; Travelodge at Hounslow or Jury's at Hatton Cross would be within the budget. There is also a Tune hotel near Paddington, but the cost of Heathrow Express is significant compared to the cost of the hotel).

UKtravelbear

There is a simple answer to that - DON'T get the Heathrow Express but get the Connect service (or tube) instead!

horse glasses

That budget was not set in stone, I just thought it seemed reasonable given what I saw for going rate of airport hotels. I definitely don't care about staying in London! I would much rather be back near the airport for the next morning if that is doable. Taking a suitcase onto more unfamiliar public transportation than necessary seems like a nightmare to me.

horse glasses

Yes this was my plan - I definitely was not planning to return. I figured I could go to the hotel, get rid of everything, change and go out for the rest of the day/evening. Does this make sense?

flatlander

It makes sense to me. For easy travel back to the airport in the morning, I recommend one of the hotels in the middle of the Bath Road to the north of the airport such as the Holiday Inn London Heathrow Sipson Way /Bath Road (careful, there are 3 Holiday Inns in the area), the Arora, etc. The public buses (which ought to run at 7am just fine, do check) from along the Bath Road take you into the airport free of charge and put you within a short walk of T2 for United. The Holiday Inn on Sipson Way has a fairly reasonable price at the moment - walk to the bus stop outside the industrial units next door and take a U3 bus back into the airport.

The United lounge does a pretty good breakfast, equal to a hotel buffet, so I suggest getting in there with time to eat and have breakfast there (if you have status/fare class to get in there).

The Tube is the most practical way to get to Oxford Street, it takes about 50 minutes from Heathrow.

:D!

Are there any shops on Oxford St that do not have another branch somewhere else (besides the super expensive shops which are off on side lanes)?

If you want to go to Primark or Topshop, just go to Hounslow or Ealing Broadway. With a travelcard you can then go to Oxford / Regent St to have a look at the Christmas lights as well

Philatravelgirl

The lines at TopShop on a normal day are ugly so if that's a must see prepare to spend most of your time there. The US has TopShop in Nordstrom now which doesn't involve fx rate and vat!
for candy there is a shop on Oxford street past dean street that reminds you of a US candy shop. I prefer Tesco for basic and for fancy chocolates Paul A Young, Selfridges candy shop was a hit for me and my young niece
The generator hostel has good reviews, there is also z hotel soho but prob $150? airport hotels will be cheaper but bus is slow

rwoman

You mean the Hotel Hoppa? Depending on the airport hotel, the OP can take advantage of the LHR Free Fare zone - local city buses in the zone can be used for free and go past many LHR hotels. @:-)

Tanya934

Brick Lane market and Walthamstow market have a great selection of food places from Salt beef to decent vegetarian food. Avoid Westfield at any time, especially at Christmas as it's overpriced and crowded. Travelodge and Premier Inn have some good offers and are in convenient locations all over greater London, as well as hotel Ibis.