Ryanair to London - Which airport is best?

Dinarius

I want to go to central London.

Taking into account ease of travel from the airport, mode of transport and cost:

Should I fly Ryanair to Luton, Gatwick or Stanstead?

Many thanks.

D.

BuffyBot

Personally, I find Gatwick best for central London, but it depends where in central London you are going. You can get the Gatwick Express or the (cheaper) normal train for £9 from the airport straight into Victoria Station. The Gatwick Express takes about 25-30 minutes, the slower train 35-40. Victoria has a lot of onward connection possibility via the Tube

Luton requires bus transfer from the Airport to the Rail Station (not long, but still a pain), while the train brings you into Kings Cross. Kings Cross has good transport connections to other parts of London via the Tube.

Stansted is the furthest out, and the Stansted Express brings you to Liverpool Street, which isn't as central as the others.

Go to. www.stanstedexpress.com, www.gatwickexpress.com and www.nationalrail.co.uk. The first two should give you fares and times for the two "express" routes, while the third will give you travel times for Luton and the normal "slow" train to Gatwick.

mox54

Go to Stansted, the others are the most miserable and hideous airports you'll ever visit, they're crowded and awful places, Stansted is a great little airport, once called 'the best kept secret in London by the Irish' because we all used it but kept it to ourselves! train into Tottenham or Liverpool street, tubes are easy and quick (smelly and overcrowded)...Stansted 4 me:D

dermot_sheehan

My favourite is Luton, the bus ride is literally 2 mins from airport to train station. You can get the midland mainline train to St. Pancras, or the first capital connect trains to Kings Cross Thameslink. These stations are across road from each other and connected underground to a big transport hub (Hammersmith & City, Circle, Metropolitan, Victoria, Northern (Bank Branch) and Picadilly all go to Kings Cross. Midlandmainline takes 35mins, first capital about 45 (it stops at some stations en route). Also First Capital Connect Services continue south from thameslink to farringdon, city thameslink, london bridge, elephant and castle, all the way out towards gatwick and brighton. So depending on where you're going in london it might be better (and slightly cheaper) to get them instead of the gatwick express even if you decide to fly to gatwick.


You can see map of rail connections here: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/system/galleries/download/print_maps/LxSE_Dec_x05.pdf

Train from Luton is blue line that goes right down through the city centre

jetsonx

mox54 wrote:

Go to Stansted, the others are the most miserable and hideous airports you'll ever visit

I'll second that - Gatwick is like a run down shopping centre from the 1980's
- awful dreary place.

tabatha

i prefer gatwick. gatwick express 30 minutes into victoria station. cant beat it.

Oobie

If you're not restricted to Ryanair you could try Aer Lingus to Heathrow as this is the easiest and cheapest to get to (about £3.80ish on the tube to central London). Even if the flight is slightly more expensive than Ryanair to Stansted it can work out cheaper because you don't have to pay £20 or £30 for the Stansted Express train.

babaduck

Why not fly into Heathrow with Aer Lingus? It's about £4 on the Picadilly line straight into London then. By the time you add in the cost of the Stansted Express train, the Ryanair deal ain't so cheap!

We compared both airlines for a trip to London next month & EI were better value - €60 incl. tax for the fare & then a 3 day off-peak travel pass is £18/€27 per person which includes travel between the City and Heathrow

Snickers Man

Depends 100 per cent on just where it is you want to go to in London.

When I last went to visit friends in South East London for a weekend I actually flew to London City (at first glance the most expensive destination) and got them to arrange for a minicab (hackney) to pick me up. It worked out about a fiver more expensive than flying to Stansted and coming in on the train/tube/bus etc. And I saved about four hours, I reckon.

If you want to go to North West London, Stansted + Liverpool St Express to Tottenham Hale can't be beaten. If you want to go anywhere West of Picadilly you should really look into Heathrow. (Check out the price of flights, you could be pleasantly surprised even though Ryanair doesn't go there). If you're going to the centre or south centre of the city, consider Gatwick.

Remember that the price of express trains can really add a lot to the cost of getting over. Factor these in and trade off against the times of flights and the real value you're getting. eg Ryanair typically does a midday Sunday flight from Stansted that nominally costs a few cents but you've got to be there by 11, which means you;'ve got to get the train from Liverpool St at 10 which probably means you've got to be out of your bed before 8. Is this what you want after a night on the piss?

Naked Lepper

Heathrow if possible but if not then definetly stanstead.. get train into liverpool street, takes bout 50 mins but thats not too bad... stanstead nice open clean airport, not too busy either

eskimo

jetsonx wrote:

I'll second that - Gatwick is like a run down shopping centre from the 1980's
- awful dreary place.

And I'll second that! It's so repulsive I actually couldn't find a clean place to eat the food I bought in one of it's restaurants. Everywhere I looked was either littered or stained. It was shameful.

After 5 hours in *Gatwick* airport the place just pure brought my spirits down!

(edited, thanks Dinarius :-P)

Ruu_Old

Gatwick here too. I have been flying to London City more often though, much easier for me but more expensive and only Cityjet fly there.

Dinarius

eskimo wrote:

And I'll second that! It's so repulsive I actually couldn't find a clean place to eat the food I bought in one of it's restaurants. Everywhere I looked was either littered or stained. It was shameful.

After 5 hours in Stansted airport the place just pure brought my spirits down!

Not sure which airport you're opting for!? ;-)

D.

stormkeeper

Oobie wrote:

If you're not restricted to Ryanair you could try Aer Lingus to Heathrow as this is the easiest and cheapest to get to (about £3.80ish on the tube to central London). Even if the flight is slightly more expensive than Ryanair to Stansted it can work out cheaper because you don't have to pay £20 or £30 for the Stansted Express train.

Well, you can pay 12 pounds return and catch the National Express bus to Stratford, or other parts of London. I usually catch it from Stratford to Stansted.

jjbrien

jetsonx wrote:

I'll second that - Gatwick is like a run down shopping centre from the 1980's
- awful dreary place.

Gatwick is now far superior than Stansted they have just revaped it. Plus Ryanair uses airbridges there no walking accross the tarmac.

Hagar

Stansted/London is 40.1 miles from Central London.
It's like landing in any of the following places in Ireland and saying its Dublin:
Inch (Wexford)
CastleDermot(Carlow)
Rhode(Offaly)
Kilucan(Westmeath)
Castlebellingham(Louth)

Luton/London is 33.8 miles from Central London.
It's like landing in any of the following places in Ireland and saying its Dublin:
Baltinglass(Wicklow)
Rathdangan(Kildare)
Athboy(Meath)
Wilkinstown(Meath)
Grangebellew(Louth)

Gatwick/London is 28 miles from Central London.
It's like landing in any of the following places in Ireland and saying its Dublin:
Lughnaquilla(Wicklow)
Newbridge(Kildare)
Trim(Meath)
Navan(Meath)
Drogheda(Louth)

By comparison Dublin Airport is 8 miles from the GPO.

Distances worked out using MS Autoroute with Buckingham Palace as Central London.

honru

All the Express trains suck donkey balls. Fare could very well cost more than the actual flight itself.

Aer Lingus and Heathrow ftw.

r3nu4l

Stansted express train is €19 return if bought on a Ryanair flight. I know because I was flying back to Stansted last night

You used to be able to buy stansted express tickets at Dublin Airport and it was cheaper than buying the ticket when you got to the ticket desk at Stansted.

Buying ont he flight is also cheaper than buying at the ticket desk in Stansted.