Heathrow to Trafalgar Square Sunday AM: Tube or car service?
 

My wife and I are flying into Heathrow on Saturday, arriving late and spending the night at the Hilton Garden Inn Heathrow (not the one in the terminal, the other one). We're spending the rest of the week at the Trafalgar St James Curio just off Trafalgar Square.

Trying to decide between taking the tube or hiring a car through the hotel on Sunday morning. It would be a short walk (0.4 mi) from the hotel to the Hatton Cross station then a direct ride on the Piccadilly line to Piccadilly Circus station, then another short walk (0.3 mi) to the hotel. Fare is GBP3.10. The car service through the hotel is GBP85. We'll each have a large, rolling suitcase and a small backpack.

How much of a hassle would it be to take the tube on a Sunday morning? The car service is expensive and I'm just wondering whether it's worth it to save the trouble. Or maybe there's another option I'm not considering, less hassle than the tube and not as expensive as the car.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

AGS

On a Sunday, no issue with taking bags on the tube

It's a pretty easy walk from the Hatton Cross HGI to the station, but IIRC no lifts so you'd need to carry your bags down 2 flights of stairs

If you can't cope with stairs, you can always take a local bus for free (it's all in the Heathrow free travel area) to T4, then get the tube there as it's step free at the terminals. Would probably add 15 mins to the journey

You'll also need to carry the bag up at least one flight of stairs at Piccadilly Circus from the mezzanine to street level (and probably also from the train platform up to where the escalators start). Alternatively, you could exit via lift at Green Park and there's probably a bus (or few) across Piccadilly you could take -- I think the 9 actually stops in front of the hotel or very close.

The tube is not a hassle. Millions of tourists take it every year with luggage. On Sunday mornings (Saturday nights) it runs all night long, so you could travel at any time you like. It doesn't get busy until around noon.

Booking your own taxi, or Uber etc., should be £50 or less.

UberX would be about £38, would be my choice

The Tube would be my choice.

As :D! says above, it's not some esoteric or bizarre transport method between airport and city only used by a brave few - which is the impression you coul get from reading too many FT posts! - but rather is used by a very great number of visitors to get in to London.

I'd uss a car but the price the hotel is quoting you is ridiculous. Especially at a relatively quiet time traffic-wise I'd Uber. Or if you want to pre-book, plenty of good services around.

Thanks all, I wasn't really worried about navigating the subway as I am very comfortable doing that, it was more the hassle with the bags. Appreciate the advice and think I will probably go with the tube as we're both fit and our bags won't be heavy.

As a follow up question, on the return trip to Heathrow on Sunday, I'm considering taking the tube back but I can't seem to find what time the Piccadilly line starts to run on Sunday at the Transport for London page. Maybe I'm just missing it. Would it be running by 5 AM?

Thanks,
AGS

The Piccadilly line runs approx. every 10 mins throughout Sat night and early Sun morning (the night tube). So no need to worry about the first train.

The Piccadilly Line runs right through Saturday night, which is probably why you can't find a start time on Sunday morning!

I always go by Tube to LHR, often with two or more heavy bags, but I travel from Earls Court to T2, both of which are step free.

As others have said, the Picadilly line has a Night Tube service, all night, on Friday and Saturday nights (i.e. into Sunday morning) - info here:

Transport for London - The Night Tube

Worth noting the Piccadilly line's Night Tube service does not run to Terminal 4, nor does it operate on the Uxbridge branch (which heads off to the north west London suburbs, so is irrelevant if coming from central London).

Small bump here, sorry.

No recent reviews in the car thread but you guys mention lots of good car services. Can you recommend one for Heathrow to Clapham pre-book car service.

Thanks!

Some threads/posts on car-taxi-minicab (are others)
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/25922432-post2.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-...iscussion.html

https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-...ater-area.html