Gatwick Airport to Finsbury Park

august12

Best and cheapest option for transport from airport to Finsbury Park. Arriving in at 13.00. Return journey is 13.10 take off. Heathrow flights are working out at 100 euro per person more expensive. Should I just book Heathrow and be done with it. Three people travelling, same family. I know there is a cheap bus option at 1.95 sterling each way. Takes at least hour and a half. Opinions please?

august12

Anyone?

LXFlyer

Heathrow is the opposite side of London - it's a long trip on the Piccadilly line.

Gatwick again is a long trip also - Thameslink to Kings X/St Pancras and Victoria Line to Finsbury Park

London City is much closer (BA and Cityjet fly there) and will be cheapest transfer:
DLR to Shadwell; London Overground to Highbury & Islington; Greater Anglia or Victoria line to Finsbury Park

Stansted: Stansted Express to Tottenham Hale, Victoria Line to Finsbury Park

august12

lxflyer wrote:

London City is much closer (BA and Cityjet fly there) and will be cheapest transfer: DLR to Shadwell; London Overground to Highbury & Islington; Greater Anglia or Victoria line to Finsbury Park

lxflyer wrote:

Stansted: Stansted Express to Tottenham Hale, Victoria Line to Finsbury Park

Am flying from Shannon airport, Stansted is a better option in your opinion than Gatwick and Heathrow. Will try and work out the cost as per your directions above. Thanks

Nomis21

Gatwick express train to Victoria then Victoria line tube to Finsbury park

Nomis21

Gatwick express train to Victoria then Victoria line tube to Finsbury park

LXFlyer

Nomis21 wrote: »

Gatwick express train to Victoria then Victoria line tube to Finsbury park

Absolutely not.

If flying into Gatwick avoid the Gatwick Express at all costs as:
1) It is massively overpriced
2) Other trains are just as fast
3) Southern and Thamelink services are much cheaper

LXFlyer

august12 wrote: »

Am flying from Shannon airport, Stansted is a better option in your opinion than Gatwick and Heathrow. Will try and work out the cost as per your directions above. Thanks

You can get advance singles from Stansted Airport to Tottenham Hale online from £7.50. Buying on the day will cost £15.70.
www.stanstedexpress.com


Gatwick to Zone 1 fares on Thameslink operated trains is £10.40 cash and £8.10 on Oyster. As per above - avoid Gatwick Express at all costs. Southern trains are also more expensive.
https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/


From a geographic perspective Stansted is closer so it's a shorter trip by about 20 minutes.

august12

Thanks for all the suggestions so far, have three options from Shannon, Heathrow, Stansted and Gatwick. Will decide by weekend which option to take. I know Stansted and Gatwick have less flight time options, do these trains run 24/7?

LXFlyer

Why would you need to go to the airport at night? ;-)

They do run seven days a week - operating hours vary but will cover all flights to/from Shannon.

august12

lxflyer wrote:

Why would you need to go to the airport at night? ;-)

Two flight times from Shannon to stanstead i.e. 7 am or late night flight arriving in at 22.45. the early one isn't an option.

LXFlyer

august12 wrote: »

Two flight times from Shannon to stanstead i.e. 7 am or late night flight arriving in at 22.45. the early one isn't an option.

Last train ex-Stansted is 00:30.

purplepanda

Thameslink Gatwick to St Pancras / Kings X runs all night, there's night buses to Fins Pk from Kings X.

Gatwick & Heathrow has Oyster, but Stansted doesn't so will be more expensive on the day.

LXFlyer

purplepanda wrote: »

Thameslink Gatwick to St Pancras / Kings X runs all night, there's night buses to Fins Pk from Kings X.

Gatwick & Heathrow has Oyster, but Stansted doesn't so will be more expensive on the day.

Just to add that you can buy an advance ticket online from Stansted which isn't tied to a specific departure that will be cheaper than on the day.


They're only available on www.stanstedexpress.com

august12

lxflyer wrote:

Just to add that you can buy an advance ticket online from Stansted which isn't tied to a specific departure that will be cheaper than on the day.

Thank you, this is extremely helpful, there are three options available, Tottenham Hale, London Liverpool Street and Stratford ( change at Tottenham Hale) any idea which I should select for finsbury park.

LXFlyer

august12 wrote: »

Thank you, this is extremely helpful, there are three options available, Tottenham Hale, London Liverpool Street and Stratford ( change at Tottenham Hale) any idea which I should select for finsbury park.

Already answered that in post #3!

Tottenham Hale!

You can use an Oyster card for travelling around within London (you can get one at any London Underground station), or if you have a contactless bank card you can use that to availnof Oyster fares by placing it on the yellow readers.

august12

lxflyer wrote:

Already answered that in post #3!

Great, thanks, any advantage to the oyster visitor card, this needs to be bought in advance and posted to me, not available to buy when there I think?

Spanish Eyes

You don't need an Oyster card if you have contactless debit card. You can use contactless at the train/dlr/tube barriers and on the buses.

BeardySi

lxflyer wrote: »

Absolutely not.

If flying into Gatwick avoid the Gatwick Express at all costs as:
1) It is massively overpriced
2) Other trains are just as fast
3) Southern and Thamelink services are much cheaper

This may not be the case any more as I've not lived down that way since 2009, BUT...

The Gatwick Express used to have to accept regular open tickets - ie ones that had "Route: ANY PERMITTED" on the card. Something to do with it being basically a mainline service as opposed to a special like the Heathrow Express (no idea of the technicalities).
I got tipped off to it one time at the ticket desk in Gatwick and used it (and confirmed it with train conductors) many times.

May have changed since then mind - worth investigating though.

howiya

Spanish Eyes wrote: »

You don't need an Oyster card if you have contactless debit card. You can use contactless at the train/dlr/tube barriers and on the buses.

Does this debit your card for each transaction? Or do they roll up the fares from an entire day and charge your card once?

Be an important distinction for Irish people with banks that charge for non EUR debit card transactions

LXFlyer

howiya wrote: »

Does this debit your card for each transaction? Or do they roll up the fares from an entire day and charge your card once?

Be an important distinction for Irish people with banks that charge for non EUR debit card transactions

It's done at the end of each day as a single transaction.

LXFlyer

BeardySi wrote: »

This may not be the case any more as I've not lived down that way since 2009, BUT...

The Gatwick Express used to have to accept regular open tickets - ie ones that had "Route: ANY PERMITTED" on the card. Something to do with it being basically a mainline service as opposed to a special like the Heathrow Express (no idea of the technicalities).
I got tipped off to it one time at the ticket desk in Gatwick and used it (and confirmed it with train conductors) many times.

May have changed since then mind - worth investigating though.

This is totally out of date information.

Open tickets are vastly more expensive than the other operator's tickets.

For the record here are the single & return fares from Gatwick to London (leaving out day return fares):

CASH FARES:

Any Operator (This covers Gatwick Express, Southern or Thameslink):
Anytime Single:£19.90
Anytime Return: £35.50
Off-Peak Day Return (arrive into London after 09:50 Mon-Fri): £27.20

Southern & Thameslink:
Anytime Single:£15.70
Anytime Return: £31.40
Anytime Day Return: £25.30
Off-Peak Day Return (arrive into London after 09:50 Mon-Fri): £15.80

Southern Only:
Advance Single: £12.00

Thameslink Only:
Anytime Single:£10.40
Super Off-peak Single (Saturdays & Sundays only): £8
Anytime Return: £19.80
Anytime Day Return: £25.30
Off-Peak Day Return (depart after 09:33 Mon-Fri): £11.30
Super Off-peak Day Return (Saturdays & Sundays only): £8.10


OYSTER FARES:

Gatwick Express
Single: £19.80

Southern & Thameslink:
Monday-Friday Peak (06:30-09:30 in both directions; 16:00-19:00 From London)
Single: £14.20

Off-Peak (all other times):
Single: £8.10

So looking at that, why would anyone in their right mind use Gatwick Express?

The new trains used on it are identical to those Southern use and there is no longer any on board service.

It's a tourist trap.

Thameslink or Southern services are the best option between Gatwick Airport and Central London.

Oyster should be used if travelling at off-peak times, except if you're doing a day trip.

Fred Swanson

This post has been deleted.

LXFlyer

Fred Swanson wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Indeed. You must go outside the ticket barriers, so it's not really an option if you've family & baggage.

For the record, Oyster fares between East Croydon & Gatwick Airport are:

Mon-Fri Peak Single: £5.20
Off-peak Single: £3

East Croydon is in zone 5 and the anytime daily cap of £11.20 will apply (in addition to the fare above).

august12

Update, have just booked flights, landing at Heathrow terminal 2 on Friday at 2.30 pm. Journey to finsbury park is straightforward on Piccadilly line. Return flight leaving Gatwick at 13.10 the following Monday so will be there for weekend.
1. What time would I need to get train to Gatwick and what's the cheapest option here? Is it the reverse of option I was given in earlier thread.
2. Should I purchase Oyster card or will the Revolut card suffice loaded with some sterling?
Any help appreciated and thanks for all help so far.

trellheim

I recommend you download the Citymapper app - it is free and by far the best option to keep your options timely and costed

Technically speaking the "cheapest" option is debit card , if you have an Irish contactless it will work - my AIB debit certainly does.

Finsbury pk-> St Pancras on the Northern line, change to BR ( St Pancras Low Level ) , thameslink to East Croydon, tap out, tap back in again and get the next Gatwick train ( there will be many ) .

tagging in and out at East Croydon is an anomaly in the fares system due to London politics and saves a couple of quid as mentioned above but if you don't mind that then pick a Gatwick-bound Thameslink at St Pancras and do it in a single trip ( we are talking prob < 10 quid in the difference if thats important to you )

Gatwick Express is faster if you can get to Victoria so swings and roundabouts

Citymapper both prices it and times it so you can see whats the faster/cheaper options and also tells you when the next trains are.

august12

Ok, thanks for that, someone else suggested same and it is a bit cheaper, I have citymapper already downloaded, problem is, I have too many transport apps.

trellheim

OK - as do I - however citymapper is what most people are using atm for London

LXFlyer

trellheim wrote: »

I recommend you download the Citymapper app - it is free and by far the best option to keep your options timely and costed

Technically speaking the "cheapest" option is debit card , if you have an Irish contactless it will work - my AIB debit certainly does.

Finsbury pk-> St Pancras on the Northern line, change to BR ( St Pancras Low Level ) , thameslink to East Croydon, tap out, tap back in again and get the next Gatwick train ( there will be many ) .

tagging in and out at East Croydon is an anomaly in the fares system due to London politics and saves a couple of quid as mentioned above but if you don't mind that then pick a Gatwick-bound Thameslink at St Pancras and do it in a single trip ( we are talking prob < 10 quid in the difference if thats important to you )

Gatwick Express is faster if you can get to Victoria so swings and roundabouts

Citymapper both prices it and times it so you can see whats the faster/cheaper options and also tells you when the next trains are.

I wish people would stop even suggesting Gatwick Express, when Southern services making the journey from Victoria to Gatwick take exactly the same time.

I would not even mention Gatwick Express - it is purely a rip-off tourist trap.

Either use Southern or Thameslink.

august12

LXFlyer wrote:

I would not even mention Gatwick Express - it is purely a rip-off tourist trap.

No, won't be using Gatwick express, will be trying one of the cheaper alternatives.

Stephen15

Also worth bearing in mind that national rail tickets are valid as travelcards on the tube not sure about buses but the gatwick express does not allow this option only this option.