Quite - Heathrow is about 14 miles away and will take you the best part of an hour to get into the centre by tube. It's right on the edge of the Greater London area, but still the nearest airport and at the end of one of the tube lines, so it's not hard to travel back and forth but it takes time. You'll end up sharing the tube every day with crowds of commuters - NOT fun.
Look at Premier Inn, Travelodge and ibis for hotel chains that will give good basic accommodation at a reasonable price. When you are presumably going to be out exploring London most of the time, that's all you need, isn't it? - a good bed, a bathroom to use, and a decent breakfast. You can find these hotels in the centre itself. And then you only need to do the trip to and from Heathrow once, when you arrive and when you leave.
Or just google for reasonably priced hotels. The tube Zones are often used to describe location so you want one in Zone 1 or 2.
Oyster is a must! It works on almost all public transport in Greater London and solves all your problems about what the fares are, what Zones you're in etc - just put money on it and it does all the sums for you. The main thing that doesn't accept it is the trains from Heathrow to Paddington.
Touch the card on the yellow reader both when you enter and leave a tube station - even if the gates are open, that's vital so the system knows where you've been and can deduct the right fare - or when you get on a bus. Bus fares are all one price to make Oyster workable without having to "touch out", so you only need to "touch in" when you get on the bus. Just watch what everyone else does. All YOU have to do is add more money at a ticket machine when it runs out. Buy one each from http://www.tfl.gov.uk/travel-information... before you go and that's one thing less to do at Heathrow when you arrive - ignore the ticket office because you've already paid :)
Hammersmith, Earls Court, South Kensington, Victoria areas. All in or near central London with good transport to Heathrow. Look at the Chains Premier Inn, Travelodge, Easy Hotels, Hampton by Hilton
I am sorry that you "hear" that Heathrow is not close to central London.. Why don't you get a map so you can see the geography for yourself? They're not expensive, or you could even use Google Maps.
London is an enormous connurbation and it's easy for someone with no sense of geography to get confused and assume that the whole city is the same and that everywhere is within easy walking distance of everywhere else. That's why you MUST have a decent map, and not just of the central areas.
The parts which most tourists are interested in are:
1) the "West End" (which is nowhere near the west of London, but this is where the main theatre and clubbbing areas are);
2) "Covent Garden" (which is one of the key tourist restaurant and market areas);
3) Leicester Square (for the cinemas and "grockle shops");
4) Piccadilly Circus (focal point for several major shopping streets as well as a meeting place for homosexuals);
5) The "South Bank" (for concerts and arty-farty stuff);
6) The "London Eye" (bloody great ferris wheel, gives great views on clear days, has been used in many films).
7) Trafalgar Square (for the National Gallery and "the lions") - not far from the Houses of Parliament.
All of these areas are within walking distance of each other (if you are reasonably fit) and are located more or less in the geographic centre of London. But hotels in this area are expensive (even by London rip-off standards).
A little further to the west (but too far to walk) is Kensington (look for South Kensington station on a London Underground map). This is where you'll find the Natural History, Science and V&A museums. All of these are well worth visiting even if you don't consider yourself to be a "museum type". You'll enjoy them. Within walking distance of Kensington is the famous Hyde Park with it's lakes and statues.
So to be well placed to get to these areas on a daily basis (ie after breakfast) you should look for hotels that are on either the Central Line, or the District Line (Wimbledon branch), or the main line out of Paddington.
So you need a street map of London (or use the Google map) AND a London Underground route map (also availble on line from the "Transport for London" web site).
Use these two maps to work out areas within walking distance of the stations and then look for hotels in those areas. You will be looking for hotels in the boroughs of Hammersmith, Chiswick (the "w" is silent), Ealing (but NOT Southall), or Richmond. These will be about 15-20 minutes ride into the central London districts.
If you are prepared to spend a bit more time travelling in each day then you'll find that hotels get better and cheaper the further out you go. But don't stay anywhere around Heathrow or it'll take you at least an hour to get into central London, will be an uncomfortable journey (crowded trains) and use a lot of your oyster card balance.
The hotel chains "Premier Inn", "Travel Lodge", "Novotel", "Ibis" all offer basic facilities (ie without conference centres, fancy restaurants, pools or gyms) at reasonable (by UK standards) costs. But if you're American then you must be prepared for a nasty surprise at the prices of British hotels.
Before coming you must also learn English or you'll get some confusion. Look at some of US-British language translation sites. You'll be amazed at the number of differences there are.
Now stop posting these questions - you have all the information that you need to plan your holiday. It's time to look at maps and hotel chain brochures, they're all on line if you can't find a bookshop, travel agent or library.
Hammersmith
