Best way to get from LHR to a hotel near Tower Bridge?

[fastpitchdad]

HEX and then cab? HEX and then tube? Cab? Tube? Book a car ahead of time? It will be a Saturday (this Saturday). 

[Twickenham]

Elizabeth Line to Liverpool Street station, then depending on the exact location of your hotel walk/bus/tube/taxi the rest of the way.

[Cotswold Eagle]

Can you be more specific about location? Which side of the river?

 

And ‘best’ is subjective. Easiest and most convenient would be a car or taxi from the airport, but also by far the most expensive. 

[Globaliser]

8 hours ago, fastpitchdad said:

HEX and then cab? HEX and then tube?

 

No and no. If you're heading towards Tower Bridge, the HEX can be ruled out.

 

But as already asked, more info is needed.

[Meander Ingwa]

Assuming you are staying on the north side of the river, I would take the Elizabeth Line to Farringdon or  Bank and transfer to the Underground or DLR line that is closest to your hotel. On a saturday morning the trains will be quieter and the Elizabeth Line is comfortable and will get you to the east side of the city quickly.

[gumshoe958]

1 hour ago, Meander Ingwa said:

Assuming you are staying on the north side of the river, I would take the Elizabeth Line to Farringdon or  Bank and transfer to the Underground or DLR line that is closest to your hotel. On a saturday morning the trains will be quieter and the Elizabeth Line is comfortable and will get you to the east side of the city quickly.

The Elizabeth line doesn’t go to Bank, and Farringdon is considerably further away from Tower Bridge than Liverpool Street, so this isn’t very helpful advice.

I would follow the advice from @Twickenham

and take the Elizabeth line to Liverpool Street.

 

 

[Cotswold Eagle]

1 hour ago, gumshoe958 said:

I would follow the advice from @Twickenham

and take the Elizabeth line to Liverpool Street.

If the OP is staying near Tower Hill, it might make sense to go one stop extra on the Elizabeth to Whitechapel and then back two stops on the District. 

With the huge caveat that I don’t know what the Whitechapel change is like to the District - it’s the route I use to get to the East London line - and I think there might be steps out at Tower Hill? 

[Cotswold Eagle]

2 hours ago, Meander Ingwa said:

I would take the Elizabeth Line to Farringdon or  Bank

Your enthusiasm for the Elizabeth Line is now rearranging the geography of central London 😀 

[Globaliser]

37 minutes ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

If the OP is staying near Tower Hill, it might make sense to go one stop extra on the Elizabeth to Whitechapel and then back two stops on the District. 

With the huge caveat that I don’t know what the Whitechapel change is like to the District - it’s the route I use to get to the East London line - and I think there might be steps out at Tower Hill? 

 

There's a moderate amount of walking between the Elizabeth Line and the District Line at Whitechapel - coincidentally, I've done that twice today. However, there are lifts for the level changes, so it can be step-free despite the walks.

Tower Hill now has lifts on both platforms. This is why the normal "best" answer is probably simply to take the Tube: the best route to Tower Hill is the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow to Barons Court, cross-platform change to the District Line to Tower Hill, with step-free exit from the station. And it's cheaper than the Elizabeth Line. And on a Saturday (and presumably in the morning), there's no weekday inbound peak traffic to contend with on the Tube.

 

However, that isn't going to work this Saturday: there is no Piccadilly Line between Acton Town and Heathrow all weekend. There is a rail replacement bus service between Heathrow Central Bus Station and Acton Town - so if the OP is arriving at Terminal 2 or Terminal 3, then one way to Tower Hill is to take that and get on to the District Line at Acton Town for a direct train to Tower Hill. (Acton Town should have step-free access.) But otherwise, that closure means that the Elizabeth Line may be a better rail option from Terminal 4 or Terminal 5, despite the difficulty in changing to a train to Tower Hill.

 

For what it's worth, I think that Farringdon Elizabeth Line to Farringdon eastbound Circle Line (which is really the only way to get from Farringdon to Tower Hill) also involves quite a lot of walking. And everyone who's familiar with the Tube knows that a route that depends on the Circle Line is likely to be low on the list of preferences. And I think that the same applies at Liverpool Street, which is another possible point for changing from the Elizabeth Line to the Circle Line.

[Cotswold Eagle]

27 minutes ago, Globaliser said:

This is why the normal "best" answer is probably simply to take the Tube: the best route to Tower Hill is the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow to Barons Court, cross-platform change to the District Line to Tower Hill, with step-free exit from the station.

Would have been my first thought, too, but using the tube from LHR seems a bit infra dig on this board these days 😀 But as you say, not an option this weekend. 

[fastpitchdad]

Thanks for the responses, the Hotel is north of the river (Canopy Hilton). Also, thanks for the heads up about the Piccadilly line, we had been thinking about switching to Kensington. 

[Globaliser]

17 minutes ago, fastpitchdad said:

... the Hotel is north of the river (Canopy Hilton).

 

The good news is that this is more or less over the road from Aldgate Tube. This means that it's more viable to take the Elizabeth Line to Liverpool Street and change there to either the Circle Line or the Metropolitan Line. (Metropolitan Line trains terminate at Aldgate.)

 

The bad news is that Aldgate Tube does not have step-free access. It's served by sub-surface lines, and platform level to street level is about the height of two storeys of a domestic house, but you would have to work out whether that is manageable for you and your luggage.

 

Unfortunately, Tower Hill Tube is a bit of a walk from the hotel (about a quarter of a mile) - but it remains an option because of its step-free access.

[Island2Dweller]

I would also take the Elizabeth line.  But change at Farringdon to the Hammersmith/Met line to Aldgate there.  This is an easy change, especially if you get on the rear of the Elizabeth line - that pits you nearest to the lifts at Farringdon.  The change from the Elizabeth Line at Liverpool Street involves a failrly long walk.

[turtlemichael]

A variation on the question in this discussion, if I may? We want to get from Heathrow to Bankside Hilton with a couple of cases. Apart from a cab all the way, I thought of the Elizabeth Line to Farringdon and a taxi from there to the hotel heading down Farringdon Road and across Blackfriars Bridge. Unfortunately, this will be at around 5.00 or 6.00pm on a Tuesday, so near peak time. How hard will it be to pick up a cab outside Farringdon? Is there a rank? Thank you.

[Globaliser]

1 hour ago, Island2Dweller said:

But change at Farringdon to the Hammersmith/Met line to Aldgate there.

 

A small detail: I think fastpitchdad needs to avoid the Hammersmith and City Line. The H&C does not go to Aldgate, but the Circle and Metropolitan Lines do. Both at Farringdon and Liverpool Street, all three lines use the same platform, so it's important to read the train displays to see which flavour of train is at the platform.

[Globaliser]

14 minutes ago, turtlemichael said:

Unfortunately, this will be at around 5.00 or 6.00pm on a Tuesday, so near peak time. How hard will it be to pick up a cab outside Farringdon? Is there a rank?

 

I don't know whether there's a rank, and I don't have much experience of getting cabs in that area. But personally I would simply walk to Farringdon Street and try my luck. The station is nearest the southbound side of the road, so traffic would be going in the correct direction.

[Cotswold Eagle]

No taxi rank at Farringdon. 
 

I imagine you have considered changing at Bond Street to the Jubilee line and going to Southwark, which is a five minute walk from your hotel? 

[Globaliser]

9 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

I imagine you have considered changing at Bond Street to the Jubilee line and going to Southwark, which is a five minute walk from your hotel? 

 

Or change at Farringdon to a southbound Thameslink train for two stops to Blackfriars, and get off at the south end of the train (and exit the station at the southern end on the south bank of the river) from which it's the same kind of walk to the hotel.

[markeb]

20 hours ago, Cotswold Eagle said:

No taxi rank at Farringdon. 
 

I imagine you have considered changing at Bond Street to the Jubilee line and going to Southwark, which is a five minute walk from your hotel? 

 

11 hours ago, Globaliser said:

 

Or change at Farringdon to a southbound Thameslink train for two stops to Blackfriars, and get off at the south end of the train (and exit the station at the southern end on the south bank of the river) from which it's the same kind of walk to the hotel.

I’m having visions of Monty Python. The Agatha Christie/Train Timetable sketch. 
 

But I’m glad you’re here keeping track of where and how to transfer!

[gnome12]

I'm grateful that I'm not the original OP (or doing this transfer). Just following this thread has made me feel like a ping pong ball!

[kermchem]

9 hours ago, gnome12 said:

I'm grateful that I'm not the original OP (or doing this transfer). Just following this thread has made me feel like a ping pong ball!

More like a game of Mornington Crescent. 

[Globaliser]

42 minutes ago, kermchem said:

More like a game of Mornington Crescent. 

 

I always think that a discussion like this was probably where the idea for that game came from. It is the kind of thing that Londoners are wrestling with all the time.