Southampton is about an hour from Heathrow/London and it has all the usual travel links.
We have our own international airport, serving Europe in particular.
We tend to get to and from Heathrow direct by airport taxi (which must be pre-booked; pay the driver cash to get a preferential rate - credit card needs pre-arrangement).
The main provider is National Express and service 032 from Heathrow will drop you on the University Campus. We recommend that you pre-book the bus, due to availability of seats, especially if you are travelling on a Friday or a Sunday.
There are several ways to get to central London from Heathrow. Again, National Express is one option. There is also the Heathrow Express train or the Heathrow Connect train. The trip to/from London is only about 15 minutes and there is a train departing every 15 minutes. Also, there is the London Underground, from Terminal 1, 2 and 3.
The train from London to Southampton leaves from Waterloo station every 20 minutes. The journey takes just over an hour. In Southampton you should disembark either at the Southampton Parkway station or at Southampton Central.
An alternative route would be to catch a Railair link to Woking and catch a train from there to Southampton Parkway or Southampton Central.
Note. On Saturday 20 May and Sunday 21 May, there will be engineering work on the main line between London and Southampton. Trains will go by a different route and will not stop at Southampton Parkway. Travel to Southampton Central and take a taxi from there. Trains will call at Woking for the Railair bus link.
From Gatwick, use an airport taxi, or take a train direct to Southampton Parkway or Southampton Central.
There is the Stansted Express train to London Liverpool Street Station. From there you can take the London Underground to Waterloo Station. (Change tube at Bank.)
As shown by the map of Southern England, we are on the coast. Southampton is one of England's largest ports, and you could even take a cruise liner to get here!
If you choose to hire a car, remember that we drive on the left in the UK. Most cars have manual transmissions and traffic densities in the south of England are very high. If you plan to do some tourism on your trip, don't even think about driving into central London!
The conference venue is the Hilton Hotel, which is about 5 km/3 miles north of the city centre. Other hotels are located in the city. The Chilworth Manor (hotel and venue for the Sunday night reception) is located outside the city. The Sunday tutorial will be held at the University. If arriving by train, take a taxi or consult local bus information at the station.
Bluestar bus 1 and Uni-link U2 run from Southampton City Centre past the conference centre. Get off the bus at Chilworth Roundabout.
(Thanks to 7th International Conference Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, FG2006 for most of this page.)