Heathrow Express or Elizabeth line: into London for meetings

Heathrow Express is the fastest way in: 15 minutes non-stop from Terminals 2 and 3 to London Paddington, 21 minutes from Terminal 5, four trains an hour, a standard single at £26 or from £10 booked at least 30 days ahead (heathrowexpress.com, checked on 12 November 2026). The Elizabeth line takes 28 minutes to Paddington and keeps going, under the West End and the City, for a pay as you go fare (tfl.gov.uk, checked on 12 November 2026).

For a trip built around meetings, the choice turns on where your first appointment is rather than on the clock alone. Below: the published times and fares side by side, what changes between Terminal 5 and Terminals 2 and 3, and which Accor hotels sit on each line, with their own published figures.

Published times and fares at a glance

Times and fares published by heathrowexpress.com and tfl.gov.uk, checked on 12 November 2026. Heathrow Express advance singles start at £10 when booked 30 or more days ahead, in Standard Class only.

Which train gets you to a morning meeting fastest?

Heathrow Express wins on raw journey time, with 15 minutes from Heathrow Central, the station for Terminals 2 and 3, to London Paddington and six more minutes from Terminal 5, giving 21 minutes end to end. Trains run every 15 minutes in both directions, so four an hour, and they stop nowhere in between. At Paddington you step out onto the Bakerloo, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Elizabeth lines, plus National Rail and buses.

Terminal 4 is the exception. Heathrow Express does not serve it: you take the inter-terminal shuttle transfer from Heathrow Central, which the operator says adds five to ten minutes, or the free Elizabeth line hop from the Terminals 2 and 3 station. Build that into the margin before a 09:00 start.

When does the Elizabeth line make more sense?

The Elizabeth line wins whenever your meeting is east of Paddington, because it carries you there without a second ticket or a tube change on top. Transport for London publishes 28 minutes from Heathrow to Paddington, and the line runs on through Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street and Canary Wharf. Frequency differs by terminal: every 15 minutes to Terminals 2 and 3 and to Terminal 4, every 30 minutes to Terminal 5.

Read the published times honestly before counting on a single seat all the way. Transport for London prints 39 minutes to Liverpool Street and 45 minutes to Canary Wharf, each one marked "change at Paddington", because not every Heathrow train continues through the central tunnel. Some hotels publish a through journey from their own station instead: Sanderson London gives around 40 minutes direct from Tottenham Court Road with no changes, and Hyde London City gives 36 minutes to Heathrow (both checked on 12 November 2026). Check the departure board at the terminal rather than assuming.

The Piccadilly line is the slow option, serving all terminals and taking about 50 minutes to central London. It is the cheapest train, and the one you want least with a suit bag at 08:00.

What each ticket costs

A walk-up Heathrow Express single is £26 in Standard Class and £32 in PREMIER+. A same-day return is £30 Standard and £36 PREMIER+; a full return is £42 and £46. Booked 30 or more days in advance, a Standard single starts at £10. Children aged 15 and under travel free, unaccompanied in Standard Class if they hold proof of air travel from Heathrow.

Contactless, Apple Pay, Google Pay and Oyster all work on Heathrow Express: touch in at the start and out at the end, and you are charged £26 for the single. The operator's own page says that is not the cheap route, and points to the advance fare instead.

On the Elizabeth line you pay as you go with contactless or Oyster, and daily capping applies. One rule catches business travellers out: since 4 September 2022, journeys that start or end at Heathrow and involve Zone 1 are charged at the peak rate whatever the hour, so a 21:30 arrival pays the same as an 08:00 one. Journeys that avoid Zone 1 are unaffected.

Terminal 5 or Terminals 2 and 3: what changes

Your terminal changes both the frequency and the walk. Terminal 5 has two Elizabeth line trains an hour against four from Terminals 2 and 3, and it is the far end of the Heathrow Express run, at 21 minutes rather than 15. In exchange, Terminal 5 has the only hotel joined to a terminal under cover.

Sofitel London Heathrow sits about 160 m from Terminal 5, reached by a covered walkway of roughly 5 minutes, and publishes 21 minutes to Paddington by Heathrow Express, 40 minutes to Bond Street on the Elizabeth line, 60 minutes to King's Cross on the Piccadilly line and Canary Wharf within the hour. It has 605 rooms, 45 meeting rooms with a 1,309 m² ballroom seating up to 1,300, and the Club Millésime lounge. For the hour after a day of meetings, the spa opens daily 09:00 to 21:00 with five treatment rooms, a steam room, a sauna and a thermal vitality pool, and the gym runs 24 hours. Check-in is from 15:00, check-out by 12:00. Two limits are worth knowing: spa facility use is adults only and charged per person, and central London stays a train ride away whatever you book (all checked on 12 November 2026).

Staying on the Bath Road side

ibis London Heathrow Airport, at 112 Bath Road in Harlington, is the Accor hotel for travellers who want the Elizabeth line from Hayes & Harlington, 1 km away, with the walking time not published. Its 356 rooms come without a gym, a pool or a spa, so plan recovery elsewhere. The hotel runs no shuttle of its own: the Hotel Hoppa is a paid third-party bus reaching Terminal 3 in 14 minutes, Terminal 2 in 18 and Terminal 5 in 21, and no Hoppa route from the hotel serves Terminal 4. Breakfast is served 06:30 to 10:00 Monday to Friday and 06:30 to 11:00 at weekends, which covers an early flight. Check-in is from 15:00, check-out by 12:00 (checked on 12 November 2026). More airport options sit in our London airport hotels ranking.

Which central hotels sit on the line you pick

Choose the line first, then the bed next to its station. These are the Accor addresses whose own pages put them on the walk, with their published figures (all checked on 12 November 2026).

• Novotel London Paddington: 150 m from Paddington, a 5-minute walk, on the Bakerloo, Elizabeth and Circle lines, so it works for either train. Eleven meeting rooms, the largest 150 m² for up to 150 theatre-style, a heated indoor pool and a gym open daily, with pool size and hours not published. All guest rooms are under full renovation from November 2025 and the end date is not published: ask when you book.
• Sanderson London: Tottenham Court Road 5 minutes on foot, Oxford Circus 3 minutes, and the hotel's own page gives around 40 minutes direct from Tottenham Court Road to Heathrow with no changes. Check-in from 15:00, check-out by 12:00.
• Hyde London City: St Paul's 5 minutes on foot, Farringdon 7 minutes, City Thameslink 2 minutes, and a published 36 minutes to Heathrow. Early check-in and late check-out come free when you book direct.
• TRIBE London Canary Wharf: the Elizabeth line entrance at Canary Wharf is about an 8-minute walk, the Jubilee line about 4, and the hotel publishes about 60 minutes from Heathrow by Elizabeth line. Check-out here is 11:00, an hour earlier than most.
• Novotel London Excel: Custom House, on the Elizabeth line and the DLR, is 320 m away, a 4-minute walk, and London City Airport is 1.77 km, a 5-minute drive. The Heathrow journey time is not published.

In our view the honest default for a weekday arrival is the Elizabeth line, because the 13 minutes Heathrow Express saves to Paddington are usually given back at the tube gate afterwards. The exception is a Paddington meeting, a Paddington hotel, or a diary fixed far enough ahead to buy the £10 advance fare.