Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
anchors a similarly diverse short-haul network, and lies 34 miles northwest of the
center. Ryanair and easyJet are regular visitors.
London City
(LCY; www.london
cityairport.com), the only commercial airport actually in London itself, is frequented
mainly by business travelers from nearby Docklands and the City, but does have some
key intercity links with regular direct flights to New York, Paris, Edinburgh, Florence,
and Madrid. British Airways and Cityjet are the two major airlines at London City.
For information on getting into London from each of the major airports, see p. 744.
BY CAR
To anyone thinking of arriving in the capital by car, our most important piece of advice
would be: “Don't.” Roads in and around the city are clogged with traffic, and the M25
highway that rings the city is prone to major traffic jams at any time of day—but
especially between 7:30 and 9am, or 4 and 7pm on weekdays, and on Sundays from
mid-afternoon onward. On top of that, and despite the complaints and grumbles of
Londoners, the public transportation system is pretty efficient.
From the north, roads converge at London's
North Circular Road
(the A406),
then proceed in a fairly orderly fashion into the center, with the occasional bottleneck
and inevitable jam. It's horribly clogged at peak traffic hours, but otherwise a reason-
able route into the north of the city. From the west, both the M40/A40 and M4/A4
routes into the city are similarly efficient. (Remember, we're talking in
relative
terms
here; no one averse to sitting in stationary traffic should attempt any of these routes
at peak times.) From Kent and the Channel ports, the A2 usually clips along satisfac-
torily outside rush hour, although the bottleneck at the Blackwall Tunnel creates long
lines every weekday. From the Southwest, it's usually quicker to head clockwise
around the M25 to enter London via the M4 or M40 (see above), unless you're head-
ing for a southwestern suburb like Richmond, Kew, or Twickenham.
BY TRAIN
Precisely which of London's many mainline stations you arrive at depends on where
you started your journey.
Paddington Station
serves Heathrow Airport, and also
destinations west of London—including Oxford, Reading, and Bristol—as far as
South Wales.
Marylebone Station
is used mostly by commuters, but also serves
Warwick.
Euston Station
serves North Wales and major cities in northwest Eng-
land, including Liverpool and Manchester; trains also depart from here to the Lake
District and Glasgow, Scotland, via the West Coast Mainline.
King's Cross Station
is the endpoint of the East Coast Mainline—trains arrive here from York, Newcastle,
and Edinburgh.
Liverpool Street Station
is the City's main commuter hub, but
also links London with Stansted Airport, Cambridge, and Norwich. The City's other
mainline stations—Cannon Street, Moorgate, Blackfriars, and Fenchurch Street—
are also heavily used by commuters from the neighboring counties of Hertfordshire,
Essex, Kent, Surrey, and Sussex, as is
Charing Cross Station,
close to Trafalgar
Square.
Waterloo Station
serves the southwest of England: Trains from Devon,
Dorset, and Hampshire terminate here, as do Salisbury services.
Victoria Station
serves Gatwick Airport, as well as cities and towns across southern England, includ-
ing Brighton. South of the River Thames,
London Bridge Station
is another busy
commuter hub, and also serves Brighton and Gatwick Airport. Each of London's
mainline train stations is connected to the city's vast bus and Tube networks (see
below), and each has phones, sandwich bars, fast-food joints, luggage storage areas,
and somewhere to ask for transport information.
4
