We’d arranged early morning flights from Heathrow airport and rather than making an early start from home we opted to book a package with Holiday Extras offering parking and overnight accommodation.
Purple Parking at Heathrow Airport
Purple Parking at Heathrow airport T2 and T3 is one of the most convenient airport car parks around. We simply drove up to the entrance barrier then followed signs to the arrivals bay where we parked in one of the arrival lanes. After removing our luggage we then headed to reception where we checked-in and handed over our car keys. Formalities took just a couple of minutes and as there was a shuttle bus waiting to depart, we were able to hop on straightaway. Buses run every 20 minutes from 4.00 a.m. to 11.40 p.m. taking between 12 and 30 minutes depending on which terminal you are going to. As we had booked an overnight stay package at the Sofitel in Terminal 5, we alighted there.
The five star Sofitel is an ideal choice as it is the only hotel passengers can walk to from Terminal 5. While there are numerous other Heathrow hotels with Terminal 5 in their name, please note that they do require a transfer bus. The Sofitel, on the other hand, is actually connected to the airport by a covered walkway and takes just five minutes to reach. For passengers flying from Terminals 2, 3 or 4 it’s still convenient as you can catch the free Heathrow Express or Elizabeth Line train from Terminal 5.
The Sofitel London Heathrow Airport
On arrival at the Sofitel we were checked in promptly by a friendly receptionist who enquired if we had an early flight booked. After letting him know that we were indeed departing early, he arranged a wake-up telephone call for us which was a good back-up to our own phone alarms. Next we took the glass lift up to our floor. The hotel has an unusual design as the building is arranged in a series of rectangular glass atriums which are divided by the main accommodation blocks. This means that most of the 605 rooms look out over an internal space rather than having external views. This suited us very well as it makes them very quiet and as it was dark the entire time of our stay external views would have been minimal.
The hotel has a large entrance hall decorated with orchids and fountains. The ground floor comprises several covered atriums onto which four levels of rooms look down over this internal area. There’s an external entrance for guests arriving by car or taxi and to the other side, lifts and escalators leading along corridors to Terminal 5
Although we hadn’t stayed in this particular hotel previously, we have enjoyed stays in other Sofitel hotels finding them to be of a high standard so we were hoping for a relaxing start to our holiday again.
Guest room
Our spacious room was furnished in neutral shades with a comfortable leather armchair with matching footstool, a super king size bed, large wall mounted television, radio, desk and hospitality tray.
The bathroom was traditionally styled in white and came equipped with both a bath and separate shower, large fluffy towels, a hairdryer, radio and fragrant Balmain toiletries.
Dining
Due to our late evening arrival and early morning departure we did not have an opportunity to dine in the hotel’s La Belle Époque restaurant as the kitchen was about to close. The restaurant looked very attractively furnished and on taking a look at the menu we discovered that it serves a distinctive fusion of British and French cuisine making for a unique dining experience.
Facilities
The hotel boasts a cocktail bar, coffee shop and numerous cosy lounge areas on the ground floor and with a well equipped gym, spa and reliable fast Wi-Fi throughout the building it makes for an enjoyable stay.
Returning to Purple Parking at the end of our holiday
After a lovely weekend away, all we had to do after reclaiming our luggage was to locate the Purple Parking bus stop outside the arrivals hall and take the shuttle bus back to the car park from there. We then just had to pop back into the office with our receipt to collect our car keys and within a few minutes we had the car loaded with our luggage and were on our way home. If your flight returns to a different terminal from your outbound flight there is no need to worry as the car park runs shuttles to Terminals 2, 3 and 5 so just ask the bus driver where you need to go on your return.
Pre-arranging our weekend car parking and overnight hotel package had removed the stress of an early morning journey with the possibility of traffic delays and actually given us an extra night’s holiday. We have used Holiday Extras several times before from various U.K. airports and have always found them to offer an excellent, reasonably priced service with their package deals. If you might also be interested in using Holiday Extras then you can find more detailed information in their Fact Box below.
Fact Box
Holiday Extras is the market leader in UK airport parking, hotels, lounges, and transfers – and in 2025 its customers saved an average of £200 per trip by booking their airport parking in advance.
Booking an airport hotel with parking means you can enjoy more holiday with less hassle – and can actually cost less than booking airport parking alone. One night in a standard room at Sofitel, with four days’ at Purple Parking Park and Ride at Heathrow Airport is available for £316.00 based on arrival on 20/04/2026. Plus with Flextras, if you need to cancel or amend you can without charge.
For more information and to book, HolidayExtras.com or call 0800 316 5678.
*All costs supplied are the cheapest available rates for the product specified and therefore availability may be limited at this price. Prices are correct as at 26/03/2026.
We were guests of Holiday Extras and as always all views and opinions are entirely my own.
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