Taxi or Tube? =)

[insanemagnet]

Maybe it's because they don't want to pay the CC charges.

 

 

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Yes I am sure they are lying to save the 20p fee (ignoring the fact TFL increased the minimum fare by 20p to cover this) and nothing at all to do with preferring to be paid in cash.

[Eeyoredagreat]

I too need help on what is the best way to reach London.

 

Coming from Amsterdam and debating if I should fly in or take the train.

If I fly in, I will be coming from Gatwick. For Party of 7, I need to get to my hotel

Royal Eagle Hoteltaxi to hotel?26-30 Craven Road, Westminster Borough, London, W2 3QB, United Kingdom.

 

Best way to reach our hotel? Take Train to Victoria station then taxi to our Hotel? If so how much is the train to Victoria Station. How much is the taxi from Victoria station to our hotel. I an guessing we might need 2 taxis at least considering our luggage

 

Or should we take the National express bus to Victoria Station then taxi to hotel.

 

Is taking the train from Amsterdam to London feasible. Have not checked the prices. We arrive at St. Pancras Station. We are thinking of taking the taxi to our hotel from St. Pancras.

 

THEN, we need to catch our cruise at Dover 3 days after. Is it better to take the National express bus to Dover? Or train. We are not familiar with the train fares.

 

As you can see we need a lot of help!

[Globaliser]

Is taking the train from Amsterdam to London feasible. Have not checked the prices. We arrive at St. Pancras Station. We are thinking of taking the taxi to our hotel from St. Pancras.

It's feasible, but direct trains will only run in the other direction for the time being, so it will still be relatively slow and inconvenient to take the train because of having to change in Brussels.

 

If you do take the train, then taxi from St Pancras to your hotel is what I would do.

 

If you fly, why are you limited to flying to Gatwick? You could reach your hotel quite quickly from Heathrow if you're prepared to take the Heathrow Express - which need not be that expensive if you plan ahead - because you will be close to your hotel when you arrive at Paddington.

[Cotswold Eagle]

Lots of questions there! You may have been better off with your own thread for some of them, but also many previous threads on (eg) London to Dover options.

 

Your fixed points appear to be Amsterdam, your hotel (which I have never heard of but is in Bayswater between Paddington and Lancaster Gate - any particular reason for this?) and Dover.

 

To start at the beginning, Eurostar (operators of trains to Europe from London via the Channel Tunnel) are starting an Amsterdam service in April. However there is as yet no immigration arrangement for the journey starting in Amsterdam, so in fact you have to take a Thalys train to Brussels and take the Eurostar from there.

 

Is it better than flying? Personal decision and not as clear cut as for Paris and Brussels, because of the extra time.

 

You mention Gatwick, but you can fly to all London airports from Amsterdam, so it is unclear why you are narrowing your choice?

 

 

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[Eeyoredagreat]

It's feasible, but direct trains will only run in the other direction for the time being, so it will still be relatively slow and inconvenient to take the train because of having to change in Brussels.

 

If you do take the train, then taxi from St Pancras to your hotel is what I would do.

 

If you fly, why are you limited to flying to Gatwick? You could reach your hotel quite quickly from Heathrow if you're prepared to take the Heathrow Express - which need not be that expensive if you plan ahead - because you will be close to your hotel when you arrive at Paddington.

 

The reason why we are limiting our flight to Gatwick is because it is cheaper to fly to Gatwick rather than Heathrow. The price of Heathrow Express is the same price as Gatwick to Victoria Station correct? What is the difference, is it just Gatwick to Victori is a longer journey rather than the heathrow express? We just need a one way flight from Amsterdam to London, so we can catch our cruise in Dover a few days after.

 

How about London to Dover, Train is still the best to get to Dover rather than the National Express bus?

[Cotswold Eagle]

The reason why we are limiting our flight to Gatwick is because it is cheaper to fly to Gatwick rather than Heathrow. The price of Heathrow Express is the same price as Gatwick to Victoria Station correct?

 

 

 

Not correct.

 

You can get Advance tickets online (90 days before travel, I think) for the HEX and travel for as little as £5-50.

[John Bull]

Not correct.

 

You can get Advance tickets online (90 days before travel, I think) for the HEX and travel for as little as £5-50.

 

 

........... but the walk-up fare is over £20.

 

In the greater scheme of things the cost of transport between airport & city is trivial.

Choose the flight you want according to other criteria such as preferred airline, airfare, home airport, etc.

If it goes to LHR, then so be it.

If it goes to LGW, then so be it.

But your choice of hotel location in London is perhaps best left until you book your flight cos some areas are more convenient for transport from one airport than the other - and you're not just limited to HEX or Gatwick Express.

 

JB :).

[Globaliser]

The reason why we are limiting our flight to Gatwick is because it is cheaper to fly to Gatwick rather than Heathrow.

That's not a sound basis for ruling out other airports at this stage, before you have started to look at the rest of the journey between central Amsterdam and your London hotel. You ought to look at all of the components of this together, including the total cost of travel and the time and hassle factors in each potential route, before making a decision about which airport to use.

 

To take an extreme example, if it costs £50 to fly to Gatwick and £100 to fly to Heathrow, but it costs £10 to get from Heathrow to your London hotel but £100 to get from Gatwick to your London hotel, then choosing Gatwick on the basis that an Amsterdam-Gatwick flight is cheaper than an Amsterdam-Heathrow flight has a large element of being penny wise and pound foolish.

 

That is highlighted in your case by the fact that the most sensible option for getting from Paddington to your hotel is likely to be to walk. However, if you get to Victoria station after flying to Gatwick, you will probably need to pay for a taxi.

[Eeyoredagreat]

That's not a sound basis for ruling out other airports at this stage, before you have started to look at the rest of the journey between central Amsterdam and your London hotel. You ought to look at all of the components of this together, including the total cost of travel and the time and hassle factors in each potential route, before making a decision about which airport to use.

 

To take an extreme example, if it costs £50 to fly to Gatwick and £100 to fly to Heathrow, but it costs £10 to get from Heathrow to your London hotel but £100 to get from Gatwick to your London hotel, then choosing Gatwick on the basis that an Amsterdam-Gatwick flight is cheaper than an Amsterdam-Heathrow flight has a large element of being penny wise and pound foolish.

 

That is highlighted in your case by the fact that the most sensible option for getting from Paddington to your hotel is likely to be to walk. However, if you get to Victoria station after flying to Gatwick, you will probably need to pay for a taxi.

 

 

 

Thank you for your input.

 

This is the reason I am asking for help. How much is it exactly for the train fare from Gatwick to Victoria station. I have checked the Heathrow Express and it will cost me Approx 22 GBP from Heathrow to Paddington. BTW does the Heathrow Express stops at Paddington?

 

I am asking all of these questions because we are factoring all these expenses so we can see which airport comes out the most practical. If someone can tell me exactly what the train fare costs or direct me to a website where I can check the fares it would greatly help us. We are a party of seven, it is hard to drag those luggage around the train station.

 

All help are welcome. Thank you all!!!

[Cotswold Eagle]

........... but the walk-up fare is over £20.

 

 

 

 

 

JB :).

 

 

 

There is absolutely no reason for anyone planning ahead to pay that fare, though.

 

 

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[Cotswold Eagle]

 

I have checked the Heathrow Express and it will cost me Approx 22 GBP from Heathrow to Paddington. BTW does the Heathrow Express stops at Paddington?

 

 

 

As I said before, you can book Advance tickets for much less than that, but you haven’t said when you are travelling, so impossible for anyone to give you an exact fare.

 

https://www.heathrowexpress.com

 

https://www.gatwickexpress.com

 

I am not sure what you mean by asking if the HEX “stops at Paddington”. If you mean does it terminate there, ie not go any further, then yes - Paddington is a London terminus, there are no through trains.

 

 

 

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[Globaliser]

We are a party of seven, it is hard to drag those luggage around the train station.

This map basically shows you the walking route from the Heathrow Express platforms at Paddington to your hotel. It's something like 400 yards. Unless you need special assistance, there is pretty much no point in trying to get there by any other means. The only alternative is to get a taxi, but it seems faintly ridiculous to walk to the station rank and queue up for one, just for it to take you the remaining 300 yards.

 

Gatwick to Victoria on the Gatwick Express is likely to be £18 per person if you book in advance x 7 people = £126. You'll need two cabs to get from Victoria to your hotel, so that will probably be another £40 or so.

 

If you can get a £12 fare from Heathrow to Paddington on the Heathrow Express by booking in advance, that's £84 plus that short walk to the hotel.

 

Then you need to balance that against whatever saving you might make flying to Gatwick instead of Heathrow, plus the value of your time as it will take you much longer to get from the aircraft at Gatwick to your hotel than the corresponding journey from Heathrow.

[Eeyoredagreat]

This map basically shows you the walking route from the Heathrow Express platforms at Paddington to your hotel. It's something like 400 yards. Unless you need special assistance, there is pretty much no point in trying to get there by any other means. The only alternative is to get a taxi, but it seems faintly ridiculous to walk to the station rank and queue up for one, just for it to take you the remaining 300 yards.

 

Gatwick to Victoria on the Gatwick Express is likely to be £18 per person if you book in advance x 7 people = £126. You'll need two cabs to get from Victoria to your hotel, so that will probably be another £40 or so.

 

If you can get a £12 fare from Heathrow to Paddington on the Heathrow Express by booking in advance, that's £84 plus that short walk to the hotel.

 

Then you need to balance that against whatever saving you might make flying to Gatwick instead of Heathrow, plus the value of your time as it will take you much longer to get from the aircraft at Gatwick to your hotel than the corresponding journey from Heathrow.

 

Thank you for the constructive direction. I will definitely take the Heathrow airport now!

 

Now from my hotel to Dover cruise terminal. Which train is the best one to take?

 

Also one of my party is not joining us on the cruise. He is taking his international flight from Gatwick. I know he has to take the Victoria train to Gatwick. I believe that is the best way. Does he just take a taxi to Victoria station?

[bottomfeeder]

https://tfl.gov.uk/

 

I would suggest this site to explore the transportation options around London--tube, train, bus. They have helpful maps so you can see how your party member (assuming he is able to handle his luggage) might get to Gatwick from the Victoria area. Once you have identified a couple of possible routes for him, perhaps then would be a good time to come back to this thread and ask whether there are any drawbacks to each of those options/which is the best. And as an advantage to you, you'd also become more familiar and more comfortable with the options for traveling around the London area.

 

This site is also helpful, and if you read other threads on this board you'll see it recommended often: https://www.londontoolkit.com/

 

Gives you lots of info on getting between airports, cruise ports, and London.

[LondonTowner]

The TfL website is the official one for transport in and around London, so all necessary information should be found there.

 

 

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[Eeyoredagreat]

https://tfl.gov.uk/

 

I would suggest this site to explore the transportation options around London--tube, train, bus. They have helpful maps so you can see how your party member (assuming he is able to handle his luggage) might get to Gatwick from the Victoria area. Once you have identified a couple of possible routes for him, perhaps then would be a good time to come back to this thread and ask whether there are any drawbacks to each of those options/which is the best. And as an advantage to you, you'd also become more familiar and more comfortable with the options for traveling around the London area.

 

This site is also helpful, and if you read other threads on this board you'll see it recommended often: https://www.londontoolkit.com/

 

Gives you lots of info on getting between airports, cruise ports, and London.

 

Thank you so much.

 

I have done price comparisons based on all the information I have received. Now all I have to do ispresent it to my group and let them decide which works best for them. then Majority wins1