How do I get from the airport to London?

The Elizabeth Line is the best thing to happen to Heathrow arrivals in decades. You walk out of baggage claim, follow the signs for 'Elizabeth line,' tap your contactless bank card at the gate, and board a wide, air-conditioned train that runs straight through to Paddington in about 30 minutes — or onward to Tottenham Court Road and Liverpool Street without changing. Around £5.60 at peak hours, less off-peak. The carriages are new and clean, with enough floor space to park a full-size suitcase without blocking anyone. Trains depart every 5 to 10 minutes from roughly 5:15am to 11:45pm. One thing to know: the platforms sit deep under the terminal. Budget 10 extra minutes for the walk from arrivals to the platform at Terminal 5, and a bit longer at Terminals 2 and 3 where there's a connecting tunnel.

The Heathrow Express still runs — 15 minutes to Paddington, £25 walk-up — and it makes sense if your hotel is near Paddington and you need to be there fast. But for anyone heading to the West End, Soho, or the City, the Elizabeth Line already goes there directly while the Express drops you at Paddington with another Tube journey ahead. The Piccadilly Line costs roughly the same fare as the Elizabeth Line on contactless, but it's one of the oldest deep-level lines: narrow carriages with no air conditioning, that warm metallic smell the Underground has carried since 1863, and 50-plus minutes to Leicester Square with the train swaying the whole way. It gets the job done. It's just not pleasant with luggage. After midnight, Uber is your only real option — expect £45-70 to central London depending on where you're headed.

Gatwick (LGW) handles plenty of international flights. The Gatwick Express to Victoria is £19.90 and takes 30 minutes, but the ordinary Thameslink or Southern trains on the same corridor cost £12-15 and add only a few minutes. Mind you, Thameslink runs through to St Pancras, King's Cross, and Farringdon — if your hotel is north or east of the Thames, skip Victoria entirely and stay on the train. Stansted (STN) and Luton (LTN) handle budget carriers; both sit about an hour from central London by their express rail services at roughly £18-20 each. London City (LCY) is the outlier — right in the Docklands, 20 minutes from Bank station on the DLR for about £4, and the elevated track gives you river views the whole way. Smallest airport, shortest transfer.

Skip the Oyster card unless your bank charges foreign transaction fees. A contactless bank card does the same thing now and caps your daily Tube spending at around £8.10 for Zones 1-2 — the equivalent of a day pass, applied automatically when you tap in and out. One more thing: don't buy paper tickets from the clunky touchscreen machines at Heathrow for the Elizabeth Line or the Piccadilly Line. Just tap at the gate. Those machines default to full single-fare paper tickets, which are always more expensive than contactless. You'll see queues forming behind confused travellers tapping through fare zone menus — walk past them.