With millions of people travelling abroad from the UK, via the Heathrow airport, the Number one question on the holidaymaker’s mind is where best to arrange car parking at Heathrow for the duration of their trip. After all, the last thing you want after arriving back after an enjoyable holiday is that your car hasn’t been parked where you were lead to believe, or even missing. Car parking at Heathrow can be a real headache for those who are unprepared, but with a little forward planning before your departure, parking your car safely and securely at or around Heathrow needn’t be a chore.
The parking space outside Heathrow is very large. Cars and tourist buses often park here. Tour operators endeavor to crowd the parking space in order to woo tourists as soon as they step out of the Airport. Gigantic tourist buses are often seen rumbling up to this area to pick up tourists who’ve booked the buses and won’t need car parking at Heathrow.

One option for car parking at Heathrow, is to actually make the trip a bit longer by staying in a Heathrow hotel the day before departure. There are many hotels that offer a discounted rate for using their parking facility which means, even staying for one night with two weeks parking, can work out cheaper than using car parking companies for the same time. Of course, you will still have to pay for the room, but its well worth leaving a day before, using a hotel parking at Heathrow and not worrying about where your car will end up when you’re out the country on holiday.

When it comes to car parking at Heathrow, many people prefer to use one of the long stay car Parks. There are four on-airport car parks with transfers running every 10 minutes to terminals 1 and 3 (journey time of around 8 – 16 minutes). Terminal 4 transfers arrive every 12 minutes and take around 4-8 minutes, while transfers to terminal 5 run every 10 minutes with a journey time of only 5 minutes.

There are other options for airport parking at Heathrow as well. Park and Ride is one way, where you drop off your car at a car parking facility somewhere on the outskirts of Heathrow, hand in your keys to reception and board a transfer bus to your designated terminal. Make sure you allow enough time to check in early enough, Heathrow is witnessing some serious bottlenecks in the form of delayed departures and arrivals and long queues of travelers waiting to undergo checks.

But enjoying your holiday abroad is the main thing. After all, you deserve it. But paying too much for car parking at Heathrow can be avoided with just a little online research.

At Heathrow airport there are a number of people living very close that will let you park on their drive for as little as £3 per day. Rather than leave their driveways empty, they offer them to airport travelers for long term cheap parking at Heathrow. This is certainly the cheapest parking at Heathrow airport, and is flexible too. In addition these local residents provide a shuttle service direct to the terminal building which is only a 5-minute drive away. They also pick you up upon your return. You can SMS text them when you are waiting for your bags and when you walk out someone will be waiting for you.

It is a win-win situation as both residents and travelers benefit. There is a website which provides a meeting place for driveway owners and people that need cheap parking at Heathrow. Using Google Maps (which can be found at http://maps.google.co.uk/), the system lets travelers view exactly where they are going to be parked. It includes a rating system for users to rate their service, so you know what to expect. This really is an excellent way to save money when parking. The service is also available at other major airports in the UK.