Best Heathrow hotels at Terminal 5

Make an informed choice from over 30 Heathrow hotels convenient for Terminals 5

Sofitel Hotel Heathrow - the only hotel you can walk to at Terminal 5

When looking for the best Heathrow Airport hotel for Terminal 5 a key fact is that there is only one hotel, the Sofitel Heathrow that you can walk to from Terminal 5.

 

If you are using Terminal 5 the only reason not to use the Sofitel is price.

The Sofitel Heathrow is a fine, fine hotel but is reliably just about the most expensive hotel of the approximately 30 mainstream hotels at Heathrow you can choose from.

Hotels for Terminal 5 Heathrow Airport besides the Sofitel

There are other hotels that have Terminal 5 in their name, the Hilton Terminal 5, Holiday Inn Terminal 5, Thistle Terminal 5, Holiday Inn Express Terminal 5, Premier Inn Terminal 5 and Travelodge Terminal 5.

To that list, three other hotels do not have Terminal 5 in their name, but are in the same area: Heathrow Lodge, Marriott Windsor and Sheraton Heathrow.

None however are close to Terminal 5, far too far to walk, some are several miles away, so you will need a bus transfer for these.

Terminal 5 location

Heathrow Terminal 5 is isolated on the western edge of the airport far from the other Terminals 2, 3 and 4.

 

Apart from Terminal 5 itself and the Sofitel hotel the only things in the vicinity are airport businesses.

Terminals 2 and 3 are together in the centre of the airport between the runways, Terminal 4 equally isolated on the south side of the airport.

 

There are free trains between Terminal 5 and Terminals 2 and 3 that run every 15 minutes and you can change for another train to Terminal 4. There are also free public buses between Terminal 4 and 5.

Hoppa Bus hotel transfer to Terminal 5

Heathrow Hoppa Bus

There are no complementary hotel van shuttles allowed, instead the Heathrow airport authority runs their own hotel buses called Hoppa Buses.

There are many Hotel Hoppa bus routes. Each route services 3 or 4 hotels that are close to one another on the edge of the airport at frequencies commonly around every 30 minutes from Terminal 5.

 

There is a flat fee that is the same for every Heathrow hotel whatever the distance from the passenger terminals.

Most of the Hoppa routes that service terminal 5 also service Terminal 4 in addition.

 

Nearly all hotels at Heathrow, except those attached to a passenger terminal operate a Hoppa Bus service to Terminal 5 but there are a few exceptions from hotels that concentrate on Terminal 2 and 3 passengers only.

Heathrow Hoppa details

Terminal 5 to Thistle Heathrow Hotel by Direct Pod in 5 minutes

Automatic driverless pods between Terminal 5 & Thistle Heathrow

If you are using Terminal 5 but are put off by the price of the Sofitel at Terminal 5 then a great solution to make your hotel transfer as stressless and speedy as possible, is the Pod service to the Thistle Terminal 5.

The Thistle Terminal 5 is the only Heathrow hotel that has access to the Pod service, which also serves one of the long term car parks at Terminal 5.

 

The Pod is an automated capsule of your very own that will transfer you between Terminal 5 and the Thistle Heathrow Hotel in just 5 minutes.

The automatic driverless pods transport customers between London Heathrow Airport's Terminal 5 (you will find the pod terminus within Terminal 5 on level 2. It is not that well signposted within the terminal, so you may have to ask directions) at a cost of £5 per person (last advised price).

Thistle Heathrow Terminal 5 - more details

Free public buses to Terminal 5 from hotels on the Bath Road

The Heathrow Airport authority subsides public buses around Heathrow and from some hotels along the Bath Road that forms the northern perimeter road of the airport the 423 bus will take you to Terminal 5 free.

The hotels the 423 bus passes are the Park Inn, Renaissance, Ibis Styles, Radisson, Novotel Terminal 2 and 3, Marriott, Sheraton Skyline, Leonardo Hotel, Hyatt Place Hotel, Thistle, Sheraton, Premier Inn Terminal 5 and Heathrow Lodge.

 

The 423 bus is a single deck bus with minimal room for luggage storage, a problem if you are travelling heavy.

Details of public bus alternatives to Hoppa Bus Heathrow

Best budget hotels for Terminal 5

Premier Inn Terminal 5 Heathrow

If you are on a budget presumably you don't want to pay for the frills of a full service 4 star hotel. There are several solid budget chain no frills hotels within easy reach of Terminal 5.

 

The benchmark hotels in this sector in our opinion should be the Travelodge Terminal 5, Premier Inn Terminal 5, Premier Inn Bath Road, Ibis and Holiday Inn Express Terminal 5.

If lowest cost is everything then the Heathrow Lodge is the benchmark, but note this is a very simple hotel where the cheapest rooms are not en-suite.

Best full service hotels from Terminal 5

If you require a full service hotel with room service and other frills then the Sofitel at Terminal 5 itself is hard to beat for combining quality with convenience.

If quality is your overriding requirement but you want an alternative to the Sofitel, possibly much cheaper then four hotels all clustered together on the Bath Road should be on your short list, the Marriott Heathrow, Sheraton, Sheraton Skyline, Radisson Edwardian and Renaissance Hotels. All have Hoppa buses and the 423 bus.

All of these hotels have a choice of restaurants, room service, indoor pools and health centres you would expect from a top hotel.

If you have one eye on the wallet but still want some of the services of a four star hotel the Marriott Windsor/Heathrow, Novotel M4 J4 Heathrow, Holiday Inn M4 J4 , and DoubleTree Hilton Heathrow are worth checking out.

All of the full service hotels at Heathrow have very volatile room rates. Especially at weekends some of the top hotels can be priced very close to the more basic and/or remote hotels.

Want to go sightseeing in central London?

Hilton Garden Inn Heathrow

From most Heathrow hotels you'll need to add on 20-30 minutes to get to the position where you are actually boarding the train into London from your hotel.

The notable exception to this are the hotels connected to Terminals 4 and 5 each having their own stations, but you day pay a premium price for these hotels.

 

For more reasonably priced hotels the Hilton Garden Inn Heathrow is a good choice, being less than a 5-min walk from Hatton Cross Underground.

The Hilton Garden Inn Heathrow has a Hoppa Bus to all passenger terminals and from to Hatton Cross Underground you can take free public buses to the terminals.

The London Underground offers a reasonable cost transport option between Heathrow and London takes the best part of an hour to get into central London.

Pay out the premium prices of the fast Heathrow Express train and the London terminus at Paddington is probably far from where you want to go in central London.

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