10 hours in LHR/LONDON - Easy shower options?

[MENDI]

Hi
I'm a QP Silver flying through LHR to Spain in early July. I've got a 10 hour wait between planes and am looking at options to grab a quick shower and/or rest after a couple of hours in London. I'm flying Iberia which doesn't give me lounge access. Hotels are an expensive option. Has anyone got some other ideas they've used?

Thanks

 

[littl_flier]

Hi Mendi and Welcome back to AFF,

I take it you're flying Y and therefor wouldn't have access to any arrivals lounges?

If not, there is a non-denominational Business Centre in the Queens Building between Terminals One and Two. They will charge you to use it, but it has showers and two computer work-stations.

There are also showers airside in Terminal 3, although I haven't used these. Perhaps someone else has had an experience?

The main showers air-side are located at T3 (though these are currently closed), and T4. There are also air-side showers at the Flight Connections Centre. Land-side showers are located in T1. It is debatable whether or not you would want to use the showers, but by and large the standards of hygiene in the loos at Heathrow are reasonable, so the showers should be reasonable too.

Hope this helps,
littl_flier

 

[adrian]

Hi
I'm a QP Silver flying through LHR to Spain in early July. I've got a 10 hour wait between planes and am looking at options to grab a quick shower and/or rest after a couple of hours in London. I'm flying Iberia which doesn't give me lounge access. Hotels are an expensive option. Has anyone got some other ideas they've used?

Thanks

If you are going into London, make sure you take the Heathrow Express, and not the tube. The Heathrow Express takes 15-20 minutes, is fast and comfortable. The tube can take up to 2 hours and is usually crowded. Sometimes they make you change trains in the middle of the journey. The Heathrow Express is quite expensive, but they have a better price for a same-day return.

 

[Dave Noble]

If you are going into London, make sure you take the Heathrow Express, and not the tube. The Heathrow Express takes 15-20 minutes, is fast and comfortable. The tube can take up to 2 hours and is usually crowded. Sometimes they make you change trains in the middle of the journey. The Heathrow Express is quite expensive, but they have a better price for a same-day return.

The tube takes about an hour, depending on where abouts you want to go to vs 23 minutes for the HEX from T4 to London ( just done the run a few times over the last month and it was fine) . Unless your plans are to go just to Paddington, then you are still going to need a tube/bus/taxi from Paddington. Tube one way fares are now GBP4 ($9.41) and busses GBP2 ($4.70)

The HEX is ridiculously overpriced at GBP29 ($68.26) return standard class and GBP47 ($110.63) 1st class ; there is a discount fare of GBP17 ($40) for a day return from LHR-Paddington but it is only valid for departure after 13:00 from LHR

A 1 day 6 zone travelcard for unlimited tube/busses/trains for the day will cost GBP13.20 ($31.07) peak and GBP6.70 ($15.77) after 09:30. Much better value and does not take much more time. As an example, getting from Charing Cross in the West End to Heathrow by tube on thursday , I got to Heathrow 5 minutes slower than if I had taken the tube or taxi to Paddington and then hopped on the HEX

As far as a place to have a shower goes, there are swimming pools in Central London; could go for a swim and have a shower afterwards since the pools do have them. Will cost about GBP4 for a swim; cheaper than a hotel

I would avoid the Heathrow Express unless you (a) actually just want to go to Paddington or (b) have a lot of luggage and want to avoid the tube. Assuming that the luggage is staying at Heathrow, then I recommend the tube

Dave

 

[littl_flier]

I seconds Dave's thoughts on the Tube, particularly if you're not going into Paddinton and want to stay on the west side of London (Kings Cross, Covent Garden, or Knightsbridge if you're after some shopping) and they all have pools as Dave mentioned.

My other thoughts are that if you are going to travel to London every now and then, an Oyster card gives you complete access to the Tube and Buses and when I was there at Christmas, the total cost for the day seemed to max out at 5.1 pounds for unlimited use of the tube. The card costs 3 pound but this is completely refundable and if you're desperate, you can give this back at the end of the day. You may also need to put some extra on it, but when you get this from the attendant at the Heathrow tube station, you could put 7 pound on it and the 3 pound card, for a total of 10 pound which would be cheaper than the day pass. As said, if desperate you could return this for a total cost of 5.1 pounds and get a ~4.9 pound refund. Overall though, if you don't expect to get much use out of it, I would just stick to two singles and save all the effort. Depends how budget concious you are.

From my understanding, the card never expires so you can use it next time you arrive as well. Check out this for more info= Home | Transport for London

Cheers,
littl_flier

EDIT: If you don't feel like venturing right into London, Northfields is about 25 minutes on the tube and you can have a nice walk (about 1km) through two very lovely parks (one is called Green Park I think ) over to Ealing which has some good cafe's and good shopping.

 

[Dave Noble]

In this case, compared to just getting a 1 day travelcard , the oyster doesn't save much since it's price will max out at 50p below the cost of the peak travelcard. To save 50p it isn't really worth buying and refunding an oyster; if spending more time in London and doing various non travelcard trips ( e.g. just a cpl of bus rides or zone 1 tube trips ) since the single fares are a fair bit lower

The full TFL fare guide is at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/TfL-Fares-April-2007.pdf

Dave

 

[littl_flier]

In this case, compared to just getting a 1 day travelcard , the oyster doesn't save much since it's price will max out at 50p below the cost of the peak travelcard. To save 50p it isn't really worth buying and refunding an oyster; if spending more time in London and doing various non travelcard trips ( e.g. just a cpl of bus rides or zone 1 tube trips ) since the single fares are a fair bit lower

The full TFL fare guide is at http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/TfL-Fares-April-2007.pdf

Dave

Absoulutely agree Dave, it's a bit of a hassle and if you would like to ride a double decker bus, then the day pass is for you off-peak. If you're travelling off peak, go for the Daily card unless you think you might be back within the next 12-18 months, where you really need to weigh up you're options. As Dave mentioned, check out the link for full T&C's.

Most of all, enjoy you're stopover. London is probably one of the better places to make a 10 hour daytime stopover.

Then again, if you're a super keen FF, you could always have a side trip to Glasgow or EDI to fill the day.

 

[stryker]

As a UK (and Australian) citizen and an ex-London resident, who visits there 3-4 times a year, I find this thread quite captivating.

Regarding Oyster cards, they are a great tool, but don't forget there is the refundable deposit (₤3 I seem to recall). This seems to confirm that its not really suited to a 10 hour layover. But if you are staying a bit longer, it's a great thing IMHO.

For a 1 day visit, the off-peak travelcard at ₤6.70 is probably the way to go, although you will need to do some serious travelling to get your money's worth. Do you really want to do this?

I imagine from your post that you may not. Maybe just have a shower at LHR (have a look at the T3 bus station), take the 111 bus to Kingston, which passes Hampton Court, take a stroll along the side of the Thames and relax. There are many nice cafes in this area, and it is quite genteel.

That's probably what I'd do, anyway.

 

[simongr]

Then again, if you're a super keen FF, you could always have a side trip to Glasgow or EDI to fill the day.

If he was super een he would have arranged a 16 hour layover and done a run to DXB