In today’s article we’re going to look at some of the ways you can get to and from Heathrow airport for your holiday. The scenario we’ll be looking at is getting the family detailed below to Heathrow for an early morning flight and getting back home on a flight that lands back late at night.

 

The Jones family

Passengers: 8 with 4 adults and 4 children

Suitcases: 6

Pram: 1

Departing from: Merthyr Tydfil

Destination: Heathrow

Holiday: Florida

Duration: two weeks

 

Option 1 - Train to Heathrow Airport return

Getting the train to Heathrow is probably front of mind when you think of getting to the airport for your holiday, there’s lots of benefits like comfortable seats, high speed trains and access directly into Heathrow.

Due to the Jones’ family being a group of 8, you probably need to take a comfortable seat when we breakdown the costs for you.

Return train travel would cost in total £1302 for the whole group, that’s just over £160 per person (and that’s in standard class).

Given the cost, we’re going to take that option straight off the table.

 

Option 2 – Drive and park in Heathrow Airport

Now this option will heavily depend on who’s doing the driving and what size car you’ve got, if you’re a family that’s got a minibus with a large boot space, then you’ll be lucky and able to just take the one vehicle. In reality most families don’t have a minibus so in this case we’ll look at taking two cars from Merthyr Tydfil to Heathrow Airport.

 

So what are the benefits of driving? With this you can leave at whatever time you like, you can make pit stops at any service station and it’s a familiar environment, so plenty of positives! Here are some of the drawbacks, you’re taking two cars, both cars will need parking at Heathrow Airport which will cost you around £200 per car (ouch), that’s based on you staying in the car park closest to the terminal. There’s also other things to take into consideration, based on your average car, you can probably do the round trip from Merthyr Tydfil to Heathrow Airport on a full tank, we estimate that at about £60 per car. There’s one other very important consideration, the lovely M4 motorway between Cardiff and Heathrow Airport can be a long and grey journey, particularly if you’re not familiar with the average speed cameras and regular diversions due to ongoing roadworks.

 

When you arrive back from a long haul flight, the mere thought of driving 3 hours home, can be enough to put you off going on holiday.

Let’s sum those all-important costs up, we’re talking just over £400 for parking and about £120 for petrol or diesel, making driving from Merthyr Tydfil to Heathrow Airport a total of £520 (without service station stops). Everything considered, this option wasn’t for us.

 

Option 3 – Minibus Hire from Merthyr Tydfil to Heathrow Airport

 

Let’s take a look at our third and final option, getting from Merthyr Tydfil to Heathrow Airport by minibus. If you book your minibus with Valley Shuttles then you can expect great service, starting from confirmation SMS regarding your booking, our friendly drivers will take arrange for your luggage to be stored carefully during the journey to Heathrow Airport. You’ve also got all the benefits of travelling by car, with our media technology you can take over the minibus’s audio system and even play your favourite Spotify playlist. On top of this, you can’t forget that Valley Shuttles Minibus Hire has experienced drivers who can overcome any diversion that the M4 motorway throws our way, making sure you and your family get to the airport on time. Of course, you can also let the driver of the minibus know which services you’d like to stop at. Possibly the best, or second best, you’ll arrive at Heathrow Airport directly outside the terminal doors, where your luggage will be unloaded from the minibus and you’ll be wished well by our friendly drivers. So, what’s the best thing about booking your minibus hire with Valley Shuttles to get from Merthyr Tydfil to Heathrow Airport, well that’s the value for money, we’re able to offer return airport transfers to Heathrow Airport for £400.

That means you can get door to terminal return transfers for a fraction of the price of using a train, and £120 cheaper than driving yourself.

So are there any drawbacks to getting a minibus? Well we certainly don’t think so, and our 5-star customer reviews say the same.

 

In summary

So there’s lots of options to consider when you need to arrange transport from Merthyr Tydfil to Heathrow Airport, or any part of South Wales for the matter. We firmly believe that the booking a minibus with Valley Shuttles Merthyr Tydfil is the best option, and not only that, it’s the best value option too.

 

We hope it’s been useful to review these transport options, please get in touch if you’d like us to cover something in particular in our next edition.