Heathrow in London to St. Jean

[SusanUSA]

Hello pilgrims.

I am planning my walk for this August/September. I was able to get a flight into Heathrow, but now I need some advice from experienced travelers to get me from Heathrow to St. Jean where I will meet my traveling companion.

I've read about Ryan Air, but it's at a different airport. If that's the best choice, what's the best way to get to Stansted? Or is that the best way to go.

Any and all advice is very welcome.

 

[jeff001]

Biarritz is the closest airport. You can get on EasyJet from Gatwick or on Ryanair from Stansted.
http://www.whichbudget.com/routes/LONBI ... rritz.html

The Heathrow website has information on how to transfer to the other airports.

 

[Steve.Belfast]

The Ryanair flight leaves London Stanstead at 12 .15 for Biarritz. The check-in closes 30 minutes before departure.
You get a train from Liverpool Street railway station to Stanstead. They leave every 15 minutes and the journey takes about 45 minutes.
To get to Liverpool Street station from Heathrow you take an express train to Paddington Station. From there go to the underground station and take the Bakerloo line(towards Elephant and Castle underground station). Get off at Oxford Circus and take the Central Line. Any of the trains with these destinations, Loughton Underground station, Hainault, Epping, or Newbury Park, will leave you at Liverpool Street station.
If you don't fancy navigating the underground, you could take a taxi from Paddington to liverpool St. About 3 years ago the fare was £20. It will be more now.
It could take as long as 4 hours to get from Heathrow to Stanstead. If times tight you might consider staying overnight in London.

 

[WolverineDG]

Susan, I would look into going via EasyJet from Gatwick. There are buses that go from Heathrow to Gatwick (yeah, they take a while sometimes) but if your flights are spaced right, you should be fine.

Keep in mind that getting from Heathrow to anywhere else is going to be expensive. When I went in 2009, I was routed through Heathrow on BA, but travelled on to CDG in France. I flew out the next morning to Biarritz on EasyJet from CDG. Even accounting for staying in an airport hotel (not the Sheraton, drat it, but the Ibis) I still came out ahead of making a transfer between airports in London.

I found these links, which you can use for research. Don't forget to do a currency exchange when looking at the prices! USD to GBP, GBP to Euro, USD to Euro

Heathrow to Stanstead: http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/hea ... ansfer.htm

Heathrow to Gatwick: http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/hea ... ansfer.htm

Kelly

 

[methodist.pilgrim.98]

Security out of Stanstead can be slow.

You need to be at any London airport a couple of hours before you fly out.

Coming back, Ryanair fly Santiago to Stanstead on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.

If you don't want to book your return flight so you are not under pressure with a deadline you can book via the Internet. You will need to book with a credit card because the flight from Santiago will be charged in Euros. You will need access to a printer because Ryanair charge a fortune to print your boarding card at the airport.

The tourist office in Rue de Vilar, Santiago will tell you where there is a nearby Internet cafe that has secure equipment and good printing facilities.

 

[SusanUSA]

Thank you to all for your great and very detailed advice. Thankfully, I have some time before leaving USA to pull it all together. I had wanted to fly into Madrid, but couldn't get there on my mileage program.

Meanwhile, I'm thankful to get to London.

Blessings to all!

 

[WolverineDG]

Can you get to Paris? That way you don't have to deal with 3 different currencies (USD, GBP, Euro).

What about an open jaw ticket? Fly to Europe via Paris (CDG), then back home via London. You could take Ryan Air from Santiago to London. (Or any of the other airlines that fly between those 2 cities).

Kelly

 

[methodist.pilgrim.98]

You are commited to London. OK.

Take the London Underground Picadilly Line (deep blue) to Holborn. Change at Holborn on the Central Line (Red) to Liverpool Street Station.

From Liverpool Street station take the Stanstead express. You can buy an open return from Liverpool Street station so that you're return fare is prepaid.

I lived 12 years in London (my son is still there) and that is how I would do the journey. It's the most direct route.

If you go online to London Transport you may be able to find the estimated times of the Tube journeys and also the cost of the fare.

You may be able to buy the Stanstead ticket online and save the hassle of doing it at the station.

There may well be a bus between the airports and if time is not a problem that would be the most direct and probably cheapest way of doing it. If the road is clear then the journey time will not be bad but I have missed one flight to Spain because of a traffic jam.

Have a look at Heathrow's own website; bus information will almost certainly be there.

But I would go by tube and the express (which runs very frequently).

If you have to stay overnight:-

Hotels in London are expensive. It might be worth going online and finding if you can get a cheap room at Stanstead. Get advice at the airport for the best way of getting a taxi from the airport to the hotel. Do NOT accept any offers made by people approaching you. You WILL be ripped off.

The journey is straightforward and you do not need to panic about it.