Taking the Heathrow Express to Charing Cross?

All these different train stations are very confusing, sorry!

If I fly into LHR and take the Heathrow Express (15 minutes to Paddington Station?) how difficult is it to transfer there to Charing Cross station? It looks like I get off at Paddington and then catch a tube to Charing Cross which is a 7 minute ride?

It seems like it's not that difficult but I've never been to London so I don't want to set myself up for a problem.

And yes, I will have luggage.

When we were in London we found the tube easy to navigate, though we didn't take your exact trip. However, we soon learned that luggage at rush hour was not a good idea. The tube gets extremely crowded and busy at peak times. So I suggest that you keep the time of day in mind as you make your plans. Have a wonderful trip!

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Yes - you want the Bakerloo Line (brown on the map). There are signs to follow through the station.

What time would you consider morning rush hour to end? I'm thinking we'll hit London around 10 AM. Obviously, in the US, rush hour is behind us after 9ish

I found that a prebooked cab is the more relaxing and safer way to go.. we also stayed in charming cross. Our hotel had its own tube entrance. Tube is great once into London but to get to the city may be very stressful.

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What time would you consider morning rush hour to end? I'm thinking we'll hit London around 10 AM. Obviously, in the US, rush hour is behind us after 9ish

Just take your time getting out of Heathrow. The HE will be fine, but the Bakerloo line is not the busiest so you may even get a seat.

While in the Charing Cross area you might like to think about visiting Benjamin Franklin House which is where the great man spent 15 years of his life before going off to the colonies to invent stuff and sign some document or other.

This is an amusing account of a visit there:

I found the door to 36 Craven Street without too much difficulty, but had far more trouble trying to work out how to pay to get in. A sign on the iron railings directed me round the corner to Craven Passage (ooh, atmospheric arched tunnel) beneath Charing Cross station where I eventually found the New Players Theatre. A girl behind the counter in the musty box office cheerily sold me an entrance ticket before revealing that I was the only person signed up for the 1pm tour. A tour earlier that morning had been sold out, she assured me, but her tally chart suggested business had been very slow since. Still, there was no point in complaining, a solo tour would clearly be the ultimate in heritage value for money. I was led back to Franklin's terraced house in Craven Street, ushered into the creaking hallway and taken down to the basement. Here I sat alone and watched a short film about Franklin's London life, edited with a clear nod to any parties of American tourists who might have been visiting. But they weren't, it was just me.

 

And then Polly made a dramatic entrance. Polly was the daughter of Ben Franklin's London landlady - and this was definitely either her or a very convincing actress in a big powdered wig. With the distant ringing of a bell from upstairs she bade me follow her up to the drawing room where virtual tea was being served. A highly ingenious interactive audio-visual presentation was underway, with the wood-panelled walls of each room being used to screen a different tableau from Franklin's London biography. Voices and period music played over hidden speakers, with Polly narrating her part of the story to perfection during each narrative pause, live to the audience. Which was just me. Polly's professionalism shone through as she delivered a bravura performance without ever looking me directly in the eye, or blushing all red and embarrassed at being shut in the same room with one single male vistor. I couldn't help but be impressed as she led me through the house with as much energy as she would a party of 12, and Franklin's story unfolded from a very human angle.

 

Ben F woz ereI don't think I'd previously fully appreciated the broad diversity of Franklin's genius. Not content with being a newspaper baron and civic-minded statesman, Ben was also a talented scientist. His particular interest was the new-fangled study of electricity, including that legendary kite-flying lightning experiment and a lot of playing around with coils and magnets. He kept busy during his voyages across the Atlantic by taking readings which established the path of the Gulf Stream. And in the tiny rear study upstairs at Craven Street he entertained the great thinkers of his day and invented bifocals. Here Polly's emotional parting scene recalled the day in March 1775 when ambassador Ben, disgraced in British eyes as a whistleblower, finally packed his bags and returned to revolutionary America. The special relationship he established between our two countries remains today (twat presidents notwithstanding). And Franklin's London life has been, I think, beautifully remembered here at Craven Street in unique and dramatic fashion. If you don't mind risking forming another minimalist audience, I know Polly would be delighted to show you round.

http://lndn.blogspot.co.uk/2006_03_01_lndn_archive.html

If I fly into LHR and take the Heathrow Express (15 minutes to Paddington Station?) how difficult is it to transfer there to Charing Cross station? It looks like I get off at Paddington and then catch a tube to Charing Cross which is a 7 minute ride?

 

It seems like it's not that difficult but I've never been to London so I don't want to set myself up for a problem.

 

And yes, I will have luggage.

But if you are, then using HEX to Paddington and changing to the Tube there is unnecessary aggravation as well as cost. When you get off the HEX, you have to walk over to the entrance to the Bakerloo Line station. It's then (IIRC) two escalators down to platform level, with a bit of a walk in between.

If you're prepared to do all of that, you might as well just take the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow to Barons Court and change there for the District Line and get off at Embankment. The change at Barons Court is about as easy as it could possibly be: get off one train, cross the platform to the other side, no more than 10 feet away, and get on the ther train there. Despite the fact that Charing Cross and Embankment are technically two different stations, there's only a couple of hundred yards between them.

You will need to go up some stairs to get out of Embankment station, but this is no worse then the stairs to get out of Charing Cross station.

If your luggage means that you need to avoid stairs, then neither Charing Cross nor Embankment stations will be suitable for you, and you'll need to re-think your transfer plans. Do post again if you want more advice. It would also help to know where you are actually planning to stay.

I did try to check on stairs, but got confused with the mainline stations. Of course, the Bakerloo is one of the deeper lines. I believe there is work going on at Charing Cross as well.

Having thought about it, the fare on Heathrow Express is £22 each. £44 would go a long way towards a prebooked car from airport to hotel.

Another option not yet mention - though it takes longer but is comfortable and there's storage for your luggage - is the National Express coach to Victoria Station (ah yes, it goes to Victoria Station!) and it's only £6 per person, each way. I have taken it when I did not feel like worrying about crowding on the tube during rush hour and I was staying near Paddington so the Heathrow Express would have been easy...I was just tired upon arrival so I bought a walk up ticket for the coach...no worries.

http://www.nationalexpress.com/en/airports/heathrow-airport.aspx

Yes, it arrives into Victoria so one still must get from there to Charing Cross vicinity but presumably one must always get from one section to another (almost always) when arriving and Charing Cross is fairly near though morning traffic in this part of the city could be an issue on a weekday. I just took a taxi from Victoria to my hotel, it was easy and it was a weekday but London cabbies know how to get around and it sure was helpful.

It might not work for everyone but it's another option that might work or at least is worth considering/knowing about. The time it might take for tube changes/learning the system on an arrival day might be better spent just riding in on a coach.

By all means, learn the tube and use it during your London visit but if in any way you can make your arrival any easier with luggage - well - see what works best for you.

Enjoy your holiday :)

I did try to check on stairs, but got confused with the mainline stations. Of course, the Bakerloo is one of the deeper lines. I believe there is work going on at Charing Cross as well.

Yes, there is work going on, affecting the Northern Line ticket hall at the moment, but due to switch to the Bakerloo exits sometime, I think. I'm just getting off Celebrity Constellation in Abu Dhabi, but should be in Whitehall next week sometime to confirm!

And, yes, no way out of the Bakerloo line at Charing X without stairs that I can think of, even it is only a flight to street level.

Having thought about it, the fare on Heathrow Express is £22 each. £44 would go a long way towards a prebooked car from airport to hotel.

This is very true, of course, but good value advance fares are available on HEX these days.