On this page (7 sections)
Why Heathrow has so many postcodes
Heathrow occupies about 1,200 hectares between Hounslow and the M25, with four operating terminals, several car parks per terminal, cargo facilities, maintenance bases, and the Authorised Vehicle Area for taxis. Each of those is a separate physical address, so each has its own Royal Mail postcode in the TW6 area. There is no single "Heathrow Airport" postcode that takes a sat nav to a useful place. Type the bare TW6 and most sat navs pick a centre point that may be on a maintenance road you cannot use.
The practical effect is that you need to choose which Heathrow you are driving to before you type anything. Dropping someone at the kerb at Terminal 5 is a different sat-nav destination from parking in the Park & Ride for Terminal 2, even though both are at "Heathrow". The postcodes below are sourced from the airport's own car parks page, which is the authoritative list and the one this page mirrors. For the broader picture of driving to Heathrow, including the approach roads and what to think about en route, the car page covers the wider arrangement.
A naming note worth getting out of the way. Heathrow renamed its "Short Stay" parking to "Terminal Parking" on 29 September 2025, and its "Long Stay" parking to "Park & Ride" on 16 September 2024. The physical car parks, the postcodes, and the courtesy bus arrangement are unchanged; only the labels are new. Some signage around the airport still shows the old names and they are still followed in widespread use, which is why this page calls out both.
The airport code (LHR) versus the postcode
People often search for the "Heathrow code" and mean one of three different things, so it helps to keep them apart. The airport code is LHR, the IATA code that appears on your ticket, your boarding pass and your luggage tags, and inside flight numbers and fare rules. The ICAO code is EGLL, the four-letter code used in flight planning and aviation operations rather than by passengers. Neither is a postal address.
The postcode is a separate thing again: the airport sits in the TW6 area, and each terminal and car park has its own full postcode (the tables below). So LHR identifies the airport to an airline, EGLL identifies it to air traffic control, and the TW6 postcode gets a car to the right door. If you are programming a sat nav you want the postcode, not LHR; if you are checking a booking or a bag tag, you want LHR.
Terminal Parking postcodes (drop-off and pick-up)
The Terminal Parking car park (the renamed Short Stay) sits directly beside each terminal building, a 2-minute covered walk from arrivals or departures. It shares the same approach road as the kerbside drop-off forecourt. Type the Terminal Parking postcode into your sat nav for any of: dropping a passenger at the kerb, parking briefly to walk into the terminal, picking up an arriving passenger from the car park.
| Terminal | Postcode | Use for |
|---|---|---|
| Terminal 2 | TW6 1EW | Drop-off, pick-up, short stay at T2 |
| Terminal 3 | TW6 1QG | Drop-off, pick-up, short stay at T3 |
| Terminal 4 | TW6 3YD | Drop-off at T4 (parking: Park & Ride, TW6 3XL, while the multi-storey is closed) |
| Terminal 5 | TW6 2GA | Drop-off, pick-up, short stay at T5 |
For a kerbside drop-off, the sat nav takes you to the Terminal Parking entrance and the signed exit for the drop-off forecourt is right beside it. Drop-off remains subject to the £7 forecourt charge covered on the drop-off charges page; the postcode gets you to the right kerb, the £7 covers the use of it. For pick-up, the pick-up page covers the wider rules, including the prohibition on waiting at the kerb and the choice between Terminal Parking and Park & Ride.
Park & Ride postcodes (the free drop-off)
The Park & Ride (formerly Long Stay) sites sit further out from the terminals on the perimeter roads, with a free courtesy bus running between the car park and the terminal door. The first 29 minutes are free at each Park & Ride, which makes them the no-charge option for a drop-off if you can spare the extra 25 to 30 minutes for the round trip.
| Site | Postcode | Road |
|---|---|---|
| T2 and T3 (shared) | TW6 2SB | Eastern Perimeter Road |
| T4 | TW6 3XL | Scylla Road, Southern Perimeter Road |
| T5 | TW6 2RL | Northern Perimeter Road |
Terminals 2 and 3 share a single Park & Ride car park, with separate pick-up bus stops in each terminal forecourt. Terminals 4 and 5 each have their own dedicated Park & Ride. The free courtesy bus runs every 15 minutes between 04:00 and 23:30 at each site; outside those hours, transfers run on request by phoning 020 8745 6261. For more on the Park & Ride arrangement as a free drop-off option, see drop-off charges; for the picture across the wider parking offer, see the parking hub.
Business Parking and the Authorised Vehicle Area
Two extra codes worth knowing if you fall into the relevant case.
Priority Park & Ride (Business Parking)
The Priority Park & Ride is the premium tier with a faster bus and closer parking, used mainly by frequent business travellers. It sits on the Northern Perimeter Road for both the T2/T3 and T5 sites. There is no Priority Park & Ride at Terminal 4.
- T2 and T3 Priority Park & Ride: TW6 2RL
- T5 Priority Park & Ride: TW6 2RP
Authorised Vehicle Area (AVA)
The AVA is where licensed taxis and private hire vehicles wait between fares, on the Northern Perimeter Road. It is open 24 hours a day. The postcode is TW6 2RL, the same code as the T2/T3 Priority Park & Ride (the two are separate facilities on the same road). The AVA is relevant if you are a private hire driver or a taxi heading in to wait for a fare; ordinary drivers should ignore it.
Common mistakes to avoid
Three patterns cause most of the wrong-end-of-Heathrow stories.
- Using bare TW6 alone. The bare area code lacks the unit (the second half of the postcode) and the sat nav resolves it to its own choice of centre point. That choice is often the cargo area off the southern perimeter, a maintenance road, or the wrong terminal. Always type the full unit code from the table.
- Following an old guide. Heathrow occasionally renames or relocates a facility (Long Stay to Park & Ride, Short Stay to Terminal Parking, the AVA introduced in 2023). Some travel guides still print 2018 postcodes; check the date on whatever you are reading. This page mirrors Heathrow's current published list and is dated at the foot.
- Trusting the sat nav into a restricted area. Some perimeter roads are taxi-only or staff-only, and an older device may route a private car through one before realising. The safest approach is to follow Heathrow's own signage from the moment you leave the M4 spur or the M25; the in-airport signposting is more reliable than the device for the last few hundred metres.
Using the postcode in practice
A handful of small habits that make the trip cleaner.
- Type the exact postcode, with the space. "TW6 1EW" and "TW61EW" usually both work, but a missed character does not. Copy from the table rather than retyping from memory.
- Pick the right code for the trip, not the headline destination. "Heathrow Terminal 5" is not a postcode; TW6 2GA (Terminal Parking, kerbside, short visit) and TW6 2RL (Park & Ride, free drop-off, longer trip) are different sat-nav destinations even though both serve T5.
- Trust the sat nav to the airport, then trust the signs. The postcode gets you to the entry of the relevant facility. From there, the airport's signage handles the last 200 metres better than any device, especially on the kerbside loops.
- Mind the road charges. Driving to Heathrow puts you inside the ULEZ; the ULEZ and Congestion Charge page covers when the £12.50 daily charge applies and how to pay it before midnight on the third day after your trip.
- If you are picking up in a hire car, the rental company may have its own preferred postcode for return, listed in your rental agreement. That code may not match the Terminal Parking codes here. The wider car hire page covers desk locations and return arrangements.
- For drivers who do not need a postcode at all. Taxi and private hire drivers know the airport layout and route by terminal name alone; no postcode is needed in the booking. This page is for people driving themselves; if you are weighing up whether to drive at all, the transport hub covers the alternatives.