Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
other Underground line. A journey into Central London will take 60 - 90 minutes depend-
ent on your destination. Make sure you buy your Oyster Card in advance at the Heathrow
Underground Station.
Two faster direct train services run to Paddington in Central London, and tickets can be
purchased from the ticket machines at the station. The Heathrow Express takes 21 minutes
and costs £18. Heathrow Connect takes 33 minutes and costs £8.50. Make sure you buy the
correct ticket as a Connect ticket can't be used on an Express train and vice-versa.
London Gatwick
London's second airport is due south of the city and is a similarly confusing mass of ter-
minals and endless corridors. Ticket touts accost tourists and try to sell Gatwick Express
tickets to Central London, however it's double the price of regular train services and only
shaves five minutes off the journey time. London Gatwick is on the main rail line from
London to the south of England, so regular trains comes past and cost around £10 to Tower
Bridge station or £12 to Kings Cross station (both in Central London).
London Standsted
Hugely popular with budget airlines, and competing with itself to offer flights to the most
bizarre sounding Eastern European destinations, Stansted is located far to the east of Lon-
don. While the airfares to get here are cheap, the public transport is expensive. Costing
£21.50 and taking 48 minutes, the Stansted Express train goes to Liverpool Street station
and is easily the quickest option. National Express and Terravision bus services travel in-
to Central London every 20 minutes or so. It's £8-10 to Liverpool Street (70 minutes) and
Victoria (90 minutes). Despite the rather unusual name for a bus company, Terravision is
actually quite pleasant.
London Luton
Another budget airline favorite, far to the north of London, this is only likely to be your ar-
rival airport if coming from far flung Eastern Europe. National Rail services make regular
connections to Central London and local bus services are also available, although they take
double the time. There is currently no dedicated airport transport service.
