Five days at T5 short stay can hit £175; Long Stay T5 is the fix
Heathrow regulars quote around £175 for five days in T5 short stay, so Terminal 5 Long Stay quickly starts to look like the sane option for week‑plus trips. It’s the official long-stay lot for T5, with shuttle buses linking you to the terminal instead of a terminal-side walk. If you care more about not burning cash than parking right by Departures, this is the lane.
Terminal 5 Long Stay serves only T5 flights, so you’re not dealing with T2, T3 or T4 drop-offs. The car park is off-airport roadways but within Heathrow’s perimeter, and you ride a dedicated transfer bus to the T5 forecourt. Figure roughly 10–15 minutes on the bus once you’re rolling, then lifts straight up to departures check-in zones A–K.
Review threads that mention T5 parking usually compare three numbers: ~£175 for five days in short term, ~£130 in Business Parking, and then “much less” if you push out to long stay or off-site. Terminal 5 Long Stay generally prices closer to those cheaper options, which is why it keeps coming up in the same breath as POD parking when people refuse to pay short-stay rates.
What regulars do: they avoid T5 short-stay completely for anything longer than a quick pickup and instead book T5 Long Stay or the POD parking to keep a five‑day bill from creeping over £130–£175. More price‑sensitive flyers even push to third‑party off‑site lots, using the official long stay numbers as the ceiling they’re willing to pay.
Watch out for the transfer time: bus frequency plus a 10–15 minute ride means you should add at least 30 minutes on top of your normal Heathrow buffer. One solid rule: aim to park at Terminal 5 Long Stay a minimum of 2.5 hours before a short‑haul departure and 3 hours before a long‑haul, so a slow shuttle doesn’t turn into a missed bag drop.