Layover guide · LHR · Last reviewed 3 June 2026
Layover in London Heathrow (LHR): What to Do Hour by Hour
Four terminals, mandatory rescreening for every connection, and a 15 minute train into one of the world's great cities. A Heathrow layover is what you make of the math.
- Layover verdict
- Strong from 5 hours up: deep lounge coverage in every terminal, showers, real food, and London close enough to touch on a long gap. Under 3 hours, the terminal transfer and rescreening eat your margin, so stay put and walk less.
- Best lounge option
- With Priority Pass or cash, Plaza Premium covers Terminals 2, 4 and 5 and No1 and My Lounge hold down Terminal 3. Club Aspire near gate 18 is the Terminal 5 fallback when Plaza Premium hits capacity.
- The one thing to know
- Transiting airside on one ticket, you do not need the UK Electronic Travel Authorisation under a temporary exemption. Cross border control for any reason, including a hotel or separate tickets, and you need an ETA at 16 pounds. The exemption is under review, so verify before travel.
Ground rules
How connecting at Heathrow actually works
Heathrow runs four terminals: 2, 3, 4 and 5, with no Terminal 1. Terminal 2 is the Star Alliance house, Terminal 3 takes most oneworld long haul plus Delta, Virgin Atlantic and Emirates, Terminal 4 holds most SkyTeam carriers and the Gulf airlines other than Emirates, and Terminal 5 belongs to British Airways and Iberia. Airlines move occasionally, so check your boarding pass rather than the pattern.
Every connecting passenger follows the purple Flight Connections signs and gets rescreened, no exceptions. The connections checkpoints allow liquids up to 2 litres and let laptops stay in bags, which speeds things up, but the line itself runs anywhere from 10 minutes to 45 at peak. Free airside connection buses link all four terminals every 6 to 10 minutes; allow 20 to 30 minutes for any bus transfer once waiting and the ride are counted.
Booking systems sell connections from about 75 minutes within one terminal and about 90 minutes across terminals. Those work when everything cooperates. If you are booking your own connection, give yourself 2 hours for a cross terminal change and you will never run.
Hour by hour
What your Heathrow layover hours buy you
3 hours
Stay airside and keep it simple
Three hours sounds generous and is not. Subtract the connections bus, rescreening and the walk to your next gate and you hold 60 to 90 free minutes. Spend them in your departure terminal, not in a lounge two terminals away. Terminal 5 has the deepest shopping and food, Terminal 2 the calmest gate areas. Eat a proper meal rather than grazing: every terminal has sit down restaurants airside, and your next flight's catering is a lottery.
If your two flights use the same terminal, you can stretch to a single lounge visit. If they do not, resist. The bus headway is 6 to 10 minutes but the round trip with two screening passes burns an hour on its own.
5 hours
The lounge window opens
Five hours is the Heathrow sweet spot. Transfer to your departure terminal first, then settle in. Priority Pass and paid entry both work at Plaza Premium in Terminals 2, 4 and 5, at No1 Lounge and My Lounge in Terminal 3, and at Club Aspire near gate 18 in Terminal 5. My Lounge opened in July 2025 in the old Club Aspire Terminal 3 space, so older guides point at the wrong door. Most of these lounges run from around 5 am to 9 pm or later; exact hours shift, so check on the day.
Showers live in the Plaza Premium lounges, and Terminal 3 arrivals has a Plaza Premium arrivals lounge open mornings until early afternoon, a quiet trick after an overnight flight. With time left over, Terminal 5's upper gallery viewing windows are the best free plane watching in the airport.
8 hours
London is on the table
Eight hours is enough for central London if your documents allow it. The Heathrow Express reaches Paddington in 15 minutes, every 15 minutes, at 25 pounds single walk up or 10 pounds booked well ahead. The Elizabeth line does Paddington in about 28 minutes for roughly half the walk up price, and the Piccadilly line takes about 50 minutes for under 6 pounds. Count backwards from your departure: be back at the terminal 2 hours before an international flight, allow an hour of travel each way, and you net 3 to 4 hours in town. Paddington puts you 15 minutes from Hyde Park on foot.
Windsor is the quieter alternative: 20 to 35 minutes by taxi, or the Elizabeth line to Slough plus the branch train, 45 to 60 minutes door to door, for a castle town you can cover in 3 hours.
Leaving the airport means crossing UK border control, which costs you the airside transit exemption: you need an Electronic Travel Authorisation or visa per your nationality, and immigration on the way back out of the country does not exist but check in queues do. Left luggage by Excess Baggage Company operates landside in arrivals at all four terminals, roughly 5 am to 11 pm; prices are to be confirmed, with sources quoting between 6 and 10 pounds for a short stash.
Overnight
Book a bed, this is not a sleeping airport
Heathrow schedules no departures between 11 pm and 6 am and the airside areas close in most terminals overnight, with Terminal 2 airside shut from around 11 pm to 4 am. Staying airside overnight is generally not possible, and landside concourses restrict access in the small hours. This is the worst major airport in Europe to wing an overnight in.
The fix is that Heathrow's terminal hotels are genuinely good. The Sofitel connects to Terminal 5 by covered walkway, the Hilton to Terminal 4 the same way, and the Aerotel inside Terminal 3 arrivals sells compact rooms in flexible blocks of a few hours. YOTELAIR inside Terminal 4 closed in 2024, so skip any older guide still pointing there. For the full overnight playbook, the guide to sleeping in Heathrow Airport covers every terminal.
City escape
Leaving Heathrow between flights
Leaving is realistic from about 7 hours of layover. The decisive questions are documents and bags. Visa exempt nationals, including US, EU, Canadian and Australian passport holders, need the UK Electronic Travel Authorisation to cross the border; it costs 16 pounds, is usually approved quickly, but is not instant, so sort it before you fly. Visa nationals need a visitor visa, and some nationalities need a transit visa even airside. Verify visa rules before travel, every time.
Central London is 15 minutes away on the Heathrow Express, about 28 on the Elizabeth line, about 50 on the Piccadilly line. The minimum safe layover for a city run is around 7 hours: an hour out, an hour back, 2 hours of airport buffer before departure, and 3 hours in town to make the trip worth the cost. Through checked bags stay with the airline; carrying bags means the left luggage counters in arrivals.
FAQ
Heathrow layover questions
Do I need a UK ETA for a layover at Heathrow?
Not if you stay airside on a single ticket: a temporary exemption covers airside transit. You do need the Electronic Travel Authorisation, 16 pounds, if you cross border control for any reason, including separate tickets, collecting bags or an airport hotel. The exemption is under review, so verify before travel.
Do I go through security again when connecting at Heathrow?
Yes, every connecting passenger is rescreened at the flight connections checkpoints. Liquids up to 2 litres and laptops in bags are allowed there, and the line runs 10 to 45 minutes depending on the hour.
How long does it take to change terminals at LHR?
Free airside connection buses run every 6 to 10 minutes between all terminals; allow 20 to 30 minutes for the full transfer plus the rescreening line on arrival. Booking systems treat 90 minutes as the cross terminal minimum, and 2 hours is the comfortable figure.
Is 8 hours enough to see London from Heathrow?
Yes, if your documents allow entry. The Heathrow Express reaches Paddington in 15 minutes for 25 pounds walk up, and counting a 2 hour airport buffer you net 3 to 4 hours in the city. The Elizabeth line covers the same run in about 28 minutes for roughly half the price.
Can I sleep overnight inside Heathrow?
Generally no. There are no departures between 11 pm and 6 am, airside areas close, and landside access is restricted in the small hours. The Aerotel in Terminal 3 arrivals sells rooms in flexible blocks, and the Sofitel at Terminal 5 and Hilton at Terminal 4 connect by covered walkways.
Check lounge access at LHR
Every Heathrow terminal has lounges you can enter with a membership, a card or cash, and capacity rules change by the hour. The directory below lists every door and how to get through it.
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