london city airport tour

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London Layover Tours: London tours from Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport, City Airport and Ports

• Private Tour

Tour Description

Private tours of London, Windsor, Hampton Court, Stonehenge and Oxford with transfer services to and from Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport, City Airport, as well as the Cruise Ports of Southampton, Harwich and Dover. Perfect for visitors on transit and layovers to maximise their visit.

What's Included?

• Original founders of the Layover Tour
• Make the most of an Opportunity - Avoid lengthy waits at the Airport or Cruise Ports
• Choose from our range of tours to London, Windsor, Hampton Court, Stonehenge and Oxford
• Private car/minibus/coach according to your party's size
• Available to/from Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport, City Airport, the Cruise Ports and the Eurostar
• Exclusive to London Magical Tours: Driver/Guide or Tour Team (Tour Guide plus additional Chauffeur)

Learn more about the London Magical Tours Difference

• Tours from Heathrow Airport
• Tours from Gatwick Airport
• Tours from London City Airport
• Tours from Heathrow to Gatwick or City Airport (or vice-versa)
• Tours from Dover Cruise Port
• Tours from Southampton Cruise Port
• Tours from Harwich Cruise Port

TOUR ITINERARY

As the original pioneers of the Layover Tour, we are aware of how important your time is while on transit. Whether it be that you only have a few hours in between journeys or that you just want the safety and comfort of a London Magical Tour after a flight, cruise or train journey, we can help. Avoid all travel worries and hassles during your layover. With our meet and greet service, the tour begins from the moment you arrive in London. You will be welcomed inside the arrivals hall at Heathrow Airport, Gatwick Airport, City Airport or the Cruise Port by a representative carrying a London Magical Tours sign, before being chauffeur driven to your destination to begin your guided tour. Following the tour you can be returned to a central London hotel or if on a layover, back to the airport, train station or port to continue with your journey. Simply choose from any one of our tours to London, Windsor, Hampton Court, Stonehenge and Oxford, all of which are available as a layover option, including the popular Harry Potter London Tours . Tour times are offered according to your layover schedule and our dedictated team are happy to advise accordingly. Tours are available in most languages and outside working hour services are also available on request for late arrivals.

TOURS FROM HEATHROW AIRPORT

Collection and return is available directly from your terminal of arrival and return to your departure terminal at Heathrow Airport following your tour. The terminals at Heathrow Airport are numbered 1 to 5.

TOURS FROM GATWICK AIRPORT

Collection and return is also available directly from your terminal of arrival and return to your departure terminal at Gatwick Airport. The terminals at Gatwick Airport are called North or South.

TOURS FROM CITY AIRPORT

Our layover tour services are also available directly from London City Airport. London City Airport only has one terminal.

TOURS FROM HEATHROW TO GATWICK

Tours are also available if you have a mixed airport layover, that is where you arrive at one airport and depart from another. Collection is also directly from your arrival terminal at one airport and return to your departure terminal at the other following your tour. As a guideline for the London airports, allow approx. 40 minutes to clear Immigration and Customs to begin your tour. Check in for flights to Europe is at least one and a half hours before your scheduled departure time and two hours for long haul flights. Our customer service team is happy to advise on the best option according to your schedule. For further information on airport layovers, including useful tips on baggage and terminal information, please see our London Airport Information Guide Blog entries.

Passengers on layovers will normally have their luggage forwarded to their final destination by their airline, meaning you will only have your carry on bags in London. Passengers are able to bring one item of carry on luggage each with them onboard the tour vehicle. If you will have greater luggage requirements please let us know the number of full size bags and hand luggage and we will be happy to advise accordingly.

TOUR DATES / TIMES / LANGUAGES

Tours are available according to your schedule. To see our range of tours, all of which are available on layovers, please see the London tours page. We will be glad to recommend tour times according to your flight/train schedules. Tours are also available in most languages through our specialist multi-lingual guide team, including Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin and Cantonese. Language surcharges apply.

LAYOVER TOURS BLOG

We are proud to welcome guests on our Layover Tours on a daily basis at the London airports. Please take a moment to read a selection of our London Tour Reviews , including comments from single travellers, couples, family visitors, corporate visitors, missionary groups, universities, ambassadors and Heads of State. We are on occasion even able to arrange a personal hello from Her Majesty the Queen during your layover - as our clients at non-profit health organization Oldways were only to happy to share! Read more about their layover tour experience with the Queen on the Oldways Blog .

Tour Extras

Service levels.

Platinum VIP

Platinum Plus VIP

Meal options.

Fish and Chips Pub Option

Two Course Pub Option

Three Course Pub Option

Express Afternoon Tea Option

VIP Afternoon Tea Option

Tour prices.

There are no hidden extras: prices include your own private driver-guide or team of a tour guide and chauffeur (at VIP levels), private vehicle, parking fees, collection and return to your London airport of arrival and departure and all taxes. Sample pricing below based on the Private London Half Day Tour plus return transport from and back to Heathrow Airport (4.5 hours total), with layover saving rate.

There are no hidden extras: prices include your private tour guide, your chauffeur, private vehicle, parking fees, collection and return to your central Manhattan hotel or Grand Central Station, and all taxes. We do not charge additional fees for card payments. Lunch/Entrance fees not included. Internet prices include a discount for online bookings. Prices are according to your party size. For example, the cost of the Half Day London Tour is $449 for a party of 5, which works out at $89.80 per person. At less than $90 pp, private tours are amazing value, offering a personal experience for less than the cost of bus tours

Normal Price

Online price (save £20).

More than 6 passengers? Benefit from our group savings for 7 to 100+ passengers: please see Private London Group Tours.

More than 5 passengers? Benefit from our group savings for 6 to 100+ passengers:please see Private London Group Tours. On transit through London? See Our London Layover Tours

Tour Comments

Our driver and our guide were super nice and friendly. It was so much fun for my sister and I to do this on our layover at Heathrow Airport - our parents enjoyed it too!

The Michaels Family, USA

London Magical Tours took us on 2 days of great touring. We were picked up from the airport and they took such great care of us throughout. The tour guide was fabulous, extremely knowledgable and the driver was very attentive. Thoroughly enjoyable, we had a wonderful time.

Mr. and Mrs. Olig, USA

Other tour ideas.

London Tours from Eurostar Trains (Paris and Europe)

London Transfers- Airports, Trains & Cruise Ports

Scheduled Group - Tale of Two Palaces: Windsor & Hampton Court

• What is a private tour?
• What time do the tours start?
• Where can I be collected from?
• What are the differences between the 3 hr and 7 hr London tours?
• Will we get out of the vehicle to sightsee and take photos or is it just a drive-by?
• Are lunch/entrance fees included?

UK: 020 7859 4561 Abroad: +44 20 7859 4561 USA/Canada: + 1 866 834 8371

Enquiry Form

Magical Tours Blog

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 Erin London Tours

LONDON LAYOVER TOUR

Layover Tours from Heathrow Airport

Long London layover? Nothing to do at London's crowded Heathrow airport? Meet Erin - your private tour guide!

I offer private London Layover Tours from Heathrow airport for solo travellers, couples, families and small groups up to 6 people.

Stonehenge tour from Heathrow or Windsor Castle private tour, t here are many more to choose from.  Your London layover tour experience can be customized to your choice, whether you enjoy visiting medieval castles and villages, the skyline of London city or having a pint of beer in the same pub William Shakespeare did. 

London Heathrow Layover Tours, day or night!

I will meet you at the airport and take you to the most fabulous places of London or countryside of England, then take you back to the airport on time to catch your connecting flight.

BELOW IS A SELECTION OF TOURS

London Sightseeing Tour from Heathrow Airport

see highlights of London in a day

Buckingham Palace

Tower of London

The London Eye

Tower Bridge

Westminster Abbey

Trafalgar Square

Piccadilly Circus

St. Paul's Cathedral

National Gallery

Churchill War Rooms

The Beatles Crosswalk

Authentic British Pub Experience

Hampton Court Palace Tour

Day Tours from Heathrow Airport 

see countryside of England in a day

Stonehenge Tour

Salisbury Tour

Avebury Tour

Canterbury Tour

Warwick Castle Tour

Blenheim Palace Tour

Stratford-upon-Avon

Glastonbury Tour

Cotswolds Tour

White Cliffs of Dover Tour

Shakespeare's Birthplace Tour

Oxford Tour

Windsor Castle Tour

Leeds Castle Tour

Dover Shore Excursions

English Countryside Tour

Southampton Shore Excursions

All tours are private and can be customized to my guests interests

If the place you are looking for is not mentioned on the list, you can always contact Erin and ask to make arrangements that suit you.

Booking is easy and immediate, please click  ENQUIRY  button, provide your arrival and departure flight details and write a short description of what you would like to see. You will receive a possible custom made itinerary and prices for your London Layover Tour from Heathrow airport.

YOU MIGHT ALSO BE INTERESTED

SOUTHAMPTON CRUISE TERMINAL

Private transfer tours to / from London Heathrow airport

Enjoy a hassle-free private transfer from London Heathrow airport to Southampton Cruise Termina l , that combine a transfer with sightseeing along the way, with visits to places such as Central London, Windsor Castle, Stonehenge, Salisbury, Cotswolds Medieval Villages, Avebury, Downtown Abbey and more.

DOVER CRUISE TERMINAL

My sightseeing private transfer tour from London Heathrow to Dover Cruise Terminal  via Canterbury and Leeds Castle is perfect if you are looking to turn your transfer into a fun day trip!

You name it – we arrange it! Anything is possible!

Private Sightseeing Tours of England

RELATED LINKS

On this page, most popular tours, special interest tours, tours from london, hop-on hop-off bus tours, central london tours.

• Guide to hotel areas
• Bed & breakfast
• Backpacker hostels
• Airbnb London
• Central London tours
• Tours from London
• Hop-on hop-off bus tours
• Harry Potter tours
• Stonehenge tours
• Downton Abbey tours
• Windsor tours
• Cotswolds tours
• Private tours
• Ticket & pass offers
• Central London attractions
• Attractions outside London
• Harry Potter attractions
• Tower of London
• PUBLIC TRANSPORT
• London City
• London Southend
• Southampton

London from Heathrow Airport & hotels

Your sightseeing options from few hours or a day in london during your heathrow airport stopover.

No public tour bus visits Heathrow!

OK, let's get one thing clear first, the answer to the most common question from people on a layover at Heathrow Airport.

There are no sightseeing tours that pick up from Heathrow or its hotels that will take you sightseeing into London, (or indeed anywhere).

If you want a public tour of London then you will need to take public transport into the centre of London and join the tour there or charter your own private sightseeing capability.

Heathrow - Central London transport options   London Underground from Heathrow   Hop on buses   Black taxi tours from Heathrow   Windsor stopover   Sightseeing map from Heathrow   Enquiry form

Heathrow - Central London public transport options

The full range of transport options between Heathrow Airport and Central London are laid out for you on our dedicated Heathrow Airport - Central London transfer pages.

London Underground from Heathrow

By far the majority of people travelling between Heathrow and Central London for layover sightseeing use the London Underground, by far the cheapest transport option as well as taking you direct to the sights themselves.

Underground trains leave Heathrow about every 5 minutes throughout the day between about 5.30am and midnight, (slightly shorter times on Sundays).

There are 3 stations at Heathrow covering all 5 passenger terminals.

London Underground Heathrow - Central London - full details

Hop-on, hop-off sightseeing tours of London from Heathrow

The most popular way of seeing London's sights in a short space of time are London's Hop on, Hop Off sightseeing buses.

There are three competing tour companies, for a discussion of the differences between them, read our dedicated page,  Comparing London's hop-on, hop-off sightseeing buses .

Though note, you need at least 3 hours to do one lap of the main sightseeing route on these buses even without hopping on or off.

At this moment in time we would suggest Tootbus as being a good fit for those travelling in from Heathrow.

From Heathrow the  Piccadilly Line of the London Underground  stops at Gloucester Road, Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner and Green Park Stations in a journey time of between 30 and 45 minutes. Tootbus stops outside all of these stations.

TOOTBUS HOP-ON BUS & GUIDED WALKING TOURS

Tootbus London Discovery tickets + Vox City guided walking tours

• Choose from 24, 48 or 72-hr tickets • Audio guide in 5 languages • 2 professionally guided walking tours: The Wizard Walk - Harry Potter Walking Guided Tour & The Royals and Landmarks - Walking Guided Tour 

Tours of London from Heathrow Terminals & Hotels by London black taxi (Maximum 5 People)

The least hassle and most straight forward way to get a good look at London's iconic sights from Heathrow is to let one of London's famous black taxi cabs and one of their equally famous cabbies show you around London.

The tour departs and returns to your hotel at Heathrow or passenger terminal and you decide where you would like to visit. Alternatively let your cabbie suggest an itinerary for you. Luggage can be carried as well. For full details of this opportunity, click through on the link below.

Black Taxi tour of London from Heathrow terminals and hotels

Windsor - an alternative to London as a stopover, closer & more convenient

If your priority is to just find something more pleasurable than killing time between flights in an airport terminal then Windsor is a great alternative to London, it is very close to Heathrow. Public buses run from Terminal 5 frequently stopping outside Windsor Castle, but there is much more to Windsor and Eton than the castle.

If you have luggage we have a solution that takes care of that too.

Windsor stopover solution for Heathrow Airport - more details

Semi independent & guided tours from Heathrow for individuals or large groups

We can customise a day to remember reflecting your interests and time available. We can offer solutions for one or two people with a friendly driver right up to a formal coach tour for large groups requiring a formal tour with top grade guides and attraction tickets included.

Full details at our Private tours from Heathrow page.

HEATHROW TO/FROM LONDON

Tours from heathrow, airport to airport, cruise port transfers, to the rest of the uk, heathrow hotels, hotel to terminal, heathrow hotel areas, heathrow parking.

London: City Experience

C’mon, it’s LONDON! Where history is out-steeped only by all the tea. Where palaces meet pubs, buzzing streets border famous parks, and buses are two stories tall. In the tale of art, food, and culture, London has serious main character energy.

Picture yourself

Spotting Big Ben from the London Eye

Riding an iconic double-decker bus

Channeling your inner Beatle at Abbey Road

Practicing your most regal royal wave

Strolling along the river Thames

What you'll get

Round-trip flights & airport transfers (or book 'em yourself)

5 nights in handpicked, city-center accommodations

5 breakfasts

An expert Tour Director

24/7 support

1 guided city tour

Entrance to the London Eye

Board your overnight flight to London, queue up the Beatle’s entire discography, and have yourself a proper good snooze.

Fancy a pint? Jk, plenty of time for that later. You’re in Western Europe’s largest city, home of the royal fam, afternoon tea, and a dessert called Spotted Dick. Stick an AirTag on your heart—you're about to leave it in London.

Today's highlights:

• Meet an EF representative and fellow travelers as they arrive at the airport.
• Transfer to your hotel to check in and check out your room.
• Explore the surrounding area with your Tour Director.
• Enjoy a Welcome Dinner with fellow travelers at an authentic local spot.

Experience London’s most iconic sites with a local guide on a walking tour of the city. Then fly high on the London Eye for panoramic views from Europe’s tallest Ferris wheel.

• See Big Ben, Parliament, Westminster Abbey and more iconic spots with a local guide.
• Learn how to tell if the king is home at Buckingham Palace.
• Ride the London Eye and see if you can spot all the landmarks you saw on the ground from 443 feet in the air.

Whatever puts the vinegar on your chips is on today’s agenda. London’s 607 square miles, so there’s like...a hundred million things to do. Parks, museums, shops, restaurants, pubs—the city is yours.

Free time suggestions

Shakespeare’s Globe: Hark! Make haste and get thee to the old Globe Theatre, an Elizabethan playhouse where the Bard’s works were (and are) performed.

Hyde Park: Wander the largest of London’s four Royal Parks where you’ll see gorgeous gardens, Serpentine Lake, and the Princess Diana memorial fountain.

Today you’re free as the flock of birds that landed on Big Ben’s minute hand in 1944 and set the clock back 5 minutes (facts). Or you can go beyond London and tap into your dark academia side on an optional visit to Oxford.

Victoria & Albert Museum: Beyond a striking red-brick façade and grand entrance hall is an incredible art and design collection, from fashion and jewelry to sculpture.

Abbey Road: Grab some of your travel BFFs, look both ways, and recreate the Beatles’ iconic Abbey Road album cover on the street where it was recorded.

Watch the countryside go by on your way to explore Oxford, the magical town that doubled as Hogwarts.  Why wait? Save money by booking this optional excursion before your trip departs.

It’s almost time to say “Cheerio!” to merry old England, innit? Soak up every last bit of London before your flight home tomorrow.

• Tuck into one last curry, hit the shops at Covent Garden, or get a final look at the Thames.
• Share some laughs (and maybe shed a few tears) at an included Farewell Dinner with your group.

Brick Lane: Winding through the East End, this vibrant street is chockablock with cool shops, markets, and all the curry you can possibly eat.

Notting Hill: Check out the colorful homes of this eclectic neighborhood known for the Portobello antique market and annual Carnival celebrating the area’s Caribbean roots.

Cheers, mates! Your next destination awaits—home. But this isn’t goodbye. It’s “See you later.” The only question is, where?

Best First Trip

This trip was great! We went to several places like Oxford, downtown London, and many other spots. I made great friends along the way and our guide Matt was amazing. Definitely would recommend.

Was truly a great experience , loved the free days where I can plan my own itinerary. It was cold this time of year but the excitement of the city

Winter Wonderland in London!!

This was my first trip with EF and my first time to Europe and London was the perfect destination to start. I truly cannot say enough good things about this trip! My flights were hassle free and the hotel was centrally located I would recommend it to anyone thinking about visiting. My group was only 14 people and we all got along so well on night one we were... See more

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