Thistle Heathrow Terminal 5

The Thistle is a sprawling two-storey building with no lift. The hotel’s 266 guest rooms are all air-conditioned and have comfortable beds, a work desk, a flatscreen television, ironing facilities, tea and coffee making facilities and newly renovated bathrooms.

The more expensive executive rooms have a few extra features including Nespresso coffee machines.

It is hardly the most modern hotel at Heathrow Airport and some furnishings look like they haven’t been updated since the 1980s. However, staff are friendly and the hotel is reasonably priced.

The hotel has two restaurant/bar areas: the Aviator Restaurant and the Aviator Sports Bar, which have both been recently renovated. Both have fantastic runway views despite the hotel only having two levels. The restaurant serves burgers, steak, sandwiches and pub classics.

There is also a lounge area near the entrance on the ground floor with a selection of self serve snacks and drinks. Despite being self-serve, this isn’t really any cheaper than a regular bar or restaurant.

Free Wi-Fi wireless internet access is available throughout the hotel.

While certain aspects of the hotel are starting to look a little tired, it is clean and better value than a lot of other hotels close to the airport. It is probably also the best located of the Heathrow Airport hotels that are not located immediately adjacent to any of the terminals.

The hotel is one of the closest hotels to Terminal 5 (although the Sofitel is a lot closer). It is 1.6km (1 mile) from Terminal 5 and and it’s possible to walk to the terminal in around 25 minutes, although it’s technically not legal to walk to the terminal from here as pedestrians are prohibited on the short 65m (215ft) bridge that you need to cross en route to the terminal. Most people staying here either take the 423 bus or one of the automated pods to Terminal 5 and a unique feature of the hotel is that the Thistle is the only hotel at Heathrow Airport that is served by the driverless pods. You can’t even ride the pods if you stay at the Premier Inn across the road).

Pods cost £8 (the £8 charge essentially gives you access to the gate to the car park where the pod station is located and this charge is added to your hotel bill) and many people who stay here agree that the pods are what make the Thistle their preferred Heathrow hotel.

The location of this hotel is also more pleasant than you would expect as it is also only a 5–10-minute walk to Longford village, which is probably the nicest residential area within easy access of the airport. The beauty of this is that, rather than eating dinner in a rather bland hotel restaurant, you can walk from your hotel to the White Horse in Longford for a proper pub meal. This is a proper local pub that has been around since the 16th century as opposed to the sort of charmless restaurants that you normally find near a major airport.

Although the hotel is a little dated, the close proximity to Longford and the option of taking one of the pods to Terminal 5 make the Thistle a good accommodation option next time you pass through Heathrow.

Car parking is available, which costs £15 per night. The hotel also has Park & Fly packages that can work out cheaper than parking next door at the official airport car park.