jimi727

My wife & I will be travelling to London May 5-11 this year and was planning to take the Heathrow Express into the city and from there, use the Oyster card to travel around Unfortunately, when I looked at info for the express, I found out that is is closed for maintenance the day we arrive ,
Does anyone have good alternatives to get from the airport to the Hilton Bankside?

Also, my second plan was to get Oyster cards and probably a City Pass to use for attractions. Now I have seen where NationalRail has 2for1 offers for a lot of attractions and (from another thread) I can get a 7-day travelcard from VisitBritian https://www.visitbritainshop.com/usa/london-travelcard/
for approx $50 each & they will be mailed to me

The only info I have found seems somewhat dated does anyone have any up to date information?

Thanks

Jerry

whimsey21

NWIFlyer

This is, with respect, somewhat misleading on the public transport timings and routings.

The closest underground stations to the Hilton are Southwark then - by a small distance - Blackfriars.

HEX then tube would have taken 40 minutes from T2/3 to Southwark underground plus the waiting time and a 5-10 minutes walk at the end. Blackfriars, thanks to the routing from Paddington, is a bit longer and so not optimal given the slightly longer walk at the end.

Tube only brings in both options. Southwark is nominally 57 minutes, Blackfriars 54, so it’s probably a wash in terms of total travel time.

Routing is also simpler than described - just a single change for both (assuming no other line closures for maintenance, but one or the other should be available).

Southwark is Piccadilly Line to Green Park, change to Jubilee.

Blackfriars is Piccadilly Line to any suitable District Line station up to South Kensington (Barons Court is particularly easy, just cross the platform), then District Line to Blackfriars.

big_mac

As far as I know they shouldn't be accepted for the National Rail 2 for 1 offers - you would need to get travelcards from a National Rail station (I think Blackfriars can do this - for a 7-day ticket this also involves each having a passport sized photograph). https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/faqs
National Rail tickets are orange in colour, so are easily distinguished from tickets issued on the underground.

whimsey21

Thanks for the correction-- I just realized I had been thinking of the tube trip to the Conrad, which requires the cross-platform change, and forgot you could continue on PIcadilly to Green Park and change there. In my opinion, it is easier to schlep luggage from Southwark to Bankside than from Blackfriars to Bankside, but as you point out, the difference in distance is small.

UKtravelbear

The change at South Kensington between Piccadilly and District/Circle is not across platform but involves stairs. There are plans to make the station step free though.

it is possible to change at Earls Court where there are lifts between Piccadilly and District lines but it is just much easier to swap at either Hammersmith or Barons Court because it is literally a few steps walk across a platform.

The_Diamond_Z

I read this and had a quick panic so for anyone else reading this - HEX is closed on 06 May.

Service Plans: https://www.heathrowexpress.com/time.../service-plans

WorldLux

I don't think using the HEX makes much sense in your case. You''d arrive at Paddington and would have to take the Bakerloo through London to Waterloo, and change to the Jubilee line (which involves quite a bit of walking since the Jubilee line was added decades after the Bakerloo and Northern lines were built at Waterloo).

IMO it's best to take the Piccadilly Line to Hammersmith or Baron's Court, walk across the platform to a District line train heading to Barking, Tower Hill or Upminster. You'd exit at Westminster station, where there are both elevators and escalators from the District line platforms to the Jubilee line platforms. From there, it's a two station ride to Southwark. From Southwark station, it's a short walk to the hotel.

Alternative, stay on the Piccadilly line (in the last carriage), get off at Green Park, take the escalators to the ticket hall, and take the escalators down to the Jubilee line. There's a deep level passage connecting both lines but that involves taking stairs and taking the escalators up and down will definitely be more comfortable with heavy luggage.

jimi727

OMG!! I am such a goober
First thanks to everyone who answered but I was going to reply that we are arriving early so I checked my ticket and we are arriving at Gatwick !!
I did a quick search and found this: "Take a Thameslink train from Gatwick to Luton and get off at Blackfriars station, from where your hotel is a short walk."
That seems easy enough that even I can follow it
We arrive at 7:35 am (scheduled) so I dont think I will buy an advance ticket as its Sunday morning
I looked more closely at the 2 for 1 and there arent that many attractions on our list to go out of our way. I will probably look into one of the attraction passes

Mwenenzi

From the links in the dashboard FAQ UK & Ireland Dashboard: London Airport Transfers, Rail, Eurostar & Destination Guides
Links to https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-...n-sou-mse.html
(jpg links now do not work due to site software downgrade)
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/8701709-post2.html But has not been updated since 2010

UKtravelbear

Remember to exit the station via the Bankside (south of the river) exit otherwise you'll be on the wrong side of the river!

NWIFlyer

I’m not sure there even are cheaper advance tickets on that route - you can either use a contactless card/Oyster or it might be cheaper to buy an anytime ticket valid for Thameslink services only (you can do it online and collect at Gatwick, which - when you’re tired after a flight - is an awful lot easier than searching through the ticket machine menus which default to the more expensive all operator fares).

(There’s also a trick to reduce the cost by getting off at East Croydon, going through the exit barriers, and re-entering to catch the next train [the whole process is less than two minutes]. You will need a contactless card for this though, and it’s an added complication probably only used by locals or at least those from the UK.)

WorldLux

I.e. Staying at the end of the train (when looking in travel direction).

jimi727

Thanks everyone , I think I will follow NWIFlyer's advice and buy the tickets online , then pick up an Oyster card somewhere along the way
Neither my wife nor I really sleep on a flight so we arrive pretty ugly

NWIFlyer

Assuming you’re also flying out of Gatwick, it would be worth buying a return ticket in advance. The rail 2 for 1 offers now allow you to claim the discount for the entire period between your journeys provided you can show both tickets - so given there’s no financial or time penalty for doing so given they are valid for all trains on the day, it really is a no-lose situation.