Access to Heathrow Airport

Public transport

• Heathrow Express: a non-stop service directly to London's Paddington station; trains leave every 15 minutes for the 15-minute journey, either from Terminal 5 or Heathrow Central (Terminals 1, 2, 3). Passengers transferring between these two stations on the Heathrow Express may use the service free of charge.


• Heathrow Connect: a service to Paddington calling at up to five National Rail stations en route - trains leave every 30 minutes for the 25-minute journey. Heathrow Connect services use Heathrow Central station (Terminals 1, 2, 3) and terminate at Terminal 4 - passengers transferring between these two stations at Heathrow may use the service free of charge.


• London Underground Piccadilly line: four tube stations serve the airport - Terminals 1, 2, 3; Terminal 4; Terminal 5 and Hatton Cross. The standard journey time from the Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, 3 tube station to Central London is 40-50 minutes.


• Long-distance coach services operated by National Express to various parts of the UK, including Victoria Coach Station in London.



• A door-to-door London hotel shuttle bus service is operated by Dot2Dot from each terminal, and HotelHoppa buses connect each terminal with hotels in the Heathrow area.


• There are two RailAir coach services connecting nearby railway stations with the airport using dedicated non-stop coaches. These run to:Reading railway station, connecting with railway services to the West Country, South Wales, Midlands and south coast of England Woking railway station, for places in Surrey, Hampshire, Dorset and Wiltshire
• Heathrow Airport has one of the United Kingdom's biggest bus stations, with many local bus services (Transport for London) to nearby London suburbs.

Car
Heathrow is accessible via the nearby M4 motorway and A4 road (Terminals 1–3), the M25 motorway (Terminals 4 and 5), and the A30 road (Terminal 4). There are drop off and pick up areas at all terminals and short and long stay multi-storey car parks. Additionally, there are car parks (not run by BAA) just outside the airport, these are connected to the terminals by shuttle buses. Heathrow airport is also served by taxi services.

Four parallel tunnels under one of the runways connect the M4 motorway and the A4 road to Terminals 1–3. The two larger tunnels are each two lanes wide and are used for motorised traffic. The two smaller tunnels were originally reserved for pedestrians and bicycles; to increase traffic capacity the cycle lanes have been modified to each take a single lane of cars, although bicycles still have priority over cars. Pedestrian access to the smaller tunnels has been discontinued, with the free bus services being the alternative.

Bicycle
There are (mainly off-road) bicycle routes almost to the terminals. Free bicycle parking places are available in car parks 1 and 1A, though use of the left-luggage services may be more secure. Free specialist maps showing cycle routes are published by Transport for London - 'London Cycling Guide 6' covers Terminals 1, 2 & 3 while 'London Cycling Guide 9' covers Terminal 4.

One coach on each Heathrow Connect train has an area reserved for wheelchairs and bicycles (wheelchairs have priority). Heathrow Express trains have space for three bicycles. There are rush-hour restrictions: unfolded bicycles are not allowed on trains due to arrive at Paddington between 07:45 and 09:45, or departing between 16:30 and 18:30, Monday to Friday.

If luggage and conditions permit, it is much cheaper (about one third the price) to travel by train between Paddington and Hayes & Harlington and then cycle the remaining two miles (3 km).