Heathrow to Gatwick
 

What's the best way to get from Heathrow to Gatwick and how long does this take? Trying to get to Venice through London and not sure whether to fly into Venice (changing airports in the UK) or fly from Heathrow to Milan and take the train to Venice. Appreciate any thoughts.

Tom <BR>Several options, all of which can be time consuming. You could take the Heathrow express train from airport to Paddington station, then make your way to Victoria station (by cab or tube, if not familiar with London tube may want to use cab), then from Victoria you can take the Gatwick express train right to Gatwick airport. Time guess, um, say 30-40 minutes Heathrow to Paddington, then say 20-30 minutes to get a cab and get over to Victoria station, then the train to Gatwick is about 30 minutes or so. <BR> <BR>Another option is regular coach service (bus to us Yanks) that runs between Heathrow and Gatwick. Have done this but been a while, seems like it took about 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours, maybe longer (can someone else help here?). <BR> <BR>Finally, you could hire a car service (not a taxi that would eat you alive) to pick you up at Heathrow and take you to Gatwick. A recent post here talked about car services in London, maybe you can search for that and get some numbers. <BR> <BR>Regardless of which way you choose you better allow plenty of time for the transfer as the two airports are pretty far apart. I would personally want several hours gap to ensure that I could get from one to the other. Maybe the idea of flying direct from Heathrow to Milan is better, because it is a straight train ride from Milan to Venice, and Malpensa has a good train service into Milan to the main train station where you can connect to Venice train. <BR> <BR>Anyway hope this helps. have fun

Hello, <BR> I can't answer the London question, but I have flown into Milan and taken the train to Venice. You can purchase a bus transfer from the airport to the train station in Milan (takes about 30-45 minutes). Then I took the cisalpino train from Milan to Venice. The cost for 2nd class was about 40 dollars or so if I remember correctly. The train ride took about 3 hours, through some nice countryside. If you are flying from the states on the same day to London to Milan, and then a train trip, I can honestly say, it makes for a really long day, especially when you are tired. If it is your only chance to see the Italian countryside, I enjoyed the ride. Good luck, Sandy

I would fly all the way. Venice is too wonderful to waste a single minute sitting on a bus or a train.

Are you sure you have to change airports? <BR> <BR>According to http://www.GoByCoach.com/TravelEnq/TravelEnq.cfm, there are coach departures every half-hour, they take 1 hour 10 minutes, and it costs 12 GBP. It seems much easier than having to change from train to taxi or underground to train.