Heathrow Terminal 4 to Charing Cross/Embankment

I dunno how others feel, I think I'd probably change at Hammersmith for the District to Embankment. Very easy cross-platform interchange, should do nicely.

Edit: Barons Court would do just as well and could be a little less busy. Acton Town is also good and the train is likely to be quite empty still, but you might have a longer wait and the journey will take a little longer.

The first question I'd ask is how much is "luggage for 2 months"? If it's more than you two can carry then its probably too much for you to bring on the Tube, they don't allow airport trolleys onto the station for a start.

If you can handle it all yourselves then there are lifts (I believe they're called elevators in Australia) at Heathrow Terminal 4 station from street level to the platform but not at Embankment, you'd have to be able to carry your own luggage up stairs.

If you don't think you can carry it upstairs on your own then get off the District Line at Westminster which does have lifts and get a taxi, just stick your arm out when you see one with its orange light on. Also you get a fabulous view of Big Ben when you come out of the station.

If you're staying in Craven Street you absolutely must go to Gordon's, the most wonderful wine bar in the world, just mind your head.

PS one other thing is timing, you're arriving at 4:20pm, you're going to take about an hour to get through baggage collection, customs, immigration, etc so you won't be leaving Heathrow until around 5:30pm, getting into town about 6:30pm so it'll still be "rush hour", expect the Tube and the stations to be rather busy.

A little heretical on this board maybe but if you have a lot of lugguage and aren't on too tight a budget then it might be worth considering Heathrow Express or Heathrow Connect to Paddington and take a cab from there.

.... worth being aware of if the flight is delayed though.

If you are very late, (outside Tube operating hours) the N9 night bus runs direct to Charing Cross taking about 1h15 from Heathrow (T5, and Central Bus station for T123 - you will need an inter-terminal transfer bus to terminal 5 if you arrive at T4). (route 490). All London buses within the airport are free, but note that elsewhere in London you will need an Oyster card or contactless bank card (each!) as the buses no longer accept cash. (An Oyster is a good idea anyway if you are using the Tube, but essential if you use the buses)

During the day, I would go with others' recommendations of crossing the platform at Hammersmith for the District Line. The District Line platforms at Embankment are just below the surface, so although there are steps, there are not many of them.

All five terminals are served by the Picadilly Line - you will need to know which branch to take on your return - one serves T4, another serves all the other terminals, and a third serves Rayners Lane and Uxbridge and goes nowhere near the airport!

Note that the Bakerloo and Northern Line platforms at Embankment are closed until the end of the month.

Welcome to the UK, richo89...

If you want something strange on the Underground, why not try the evening Olympia services out and back from High Street Kensington? Stay on the same train for a return from Olympia and you'll see people getting on thinking its going one place, hear the announcements saying otherwise and then a mad scramble of them getting off again before the train goes - always good for laughs

As the other thread is locked don't know why, but the post I was mentioning is here.