Thistle Hotel T5- A guide to spotting

Thistle Hotel is a fantastic location for spotting, located on the North-western corner of London's Heathrow, barely a few hundred metres from the Threshold of Runway 09L. It's at it's prime for photographs when they are landing on 09L or taking off on 27R and still brilliant for viewing whatever the runway.

How to get to Thistle Hotel.

If you are coming from T5 you either drive to the hotel with a Satnav or take the pods. You normally have to book a room but from what I gathered from calling them, if you ask nicely and give them a bit of business by buying some food they should let you through the gate at the other side. (I have not tried this yet but I plan on doing so in the weeks following publishing this article).

If you drive to the hotel, you can park either on the road that it is on (Make sure you park in the designated parking area and read the signs) or you can park in the car park (Remember to get a ticket and get it validated at the reception). They usually don't charge you for the parking ticket at reception but, if you are there for over an hour, they sometimes do.

When you are there.

I usually use the main entrance with the reception and snack bar and buy myself some lunch or a snack from there and then follow the signs up to the viewing terrace. This is your best bet if you are new to the hotel. If they are serving breakfast, lunch or dinner in the dining hall, go over to the other entrance which says above it "Viewing terrace" and then go up the first stairs on your right. The entrance to the viewing terrace should be self-explanatory from there.

If you are unsure, ask a member of staff, I'm sure they will be happy to help!

Photography from the viewing deck.

I generally use a 70-300mm lens on about half way zoom and further if I want to get pics of the planes taxiing. I have seen some people use longer lenses which enable them to get pictures of aircraft on the other side of the airport up close, however you do not need to, a 300mm lens is good enough for any spotter there. 09L is generally a better runway to catch aircraft on (Please note: there are only landings on 09L unless there is single Runway Ops) but departures on 27R are aslo very good with departures on 27L making for OK but not outstanding pictures. Below I shall enter a few of my shots from Thistle hotel.