Heathrow vs. Gatwick
 

What is the advantage of flying into one over the other, or is there any? Which is closer to central London?

Hi<BR><BR>Gatwick (S) or Heathrow (W) ?<BR><BR>Both have easy to access to London by rail or underground.<BR>Gatwick is further away, but timewise much the same by train.<BR><BR>If you are only visiting London, it doesn't matter too much. If you intend to tour England by car take the one in the best location.<BR><BR>Peter<BR>

Heathrow is a hellish nightmare. Any opportunity I have to fly into Gatwick, I take it.

If you like a car service to meet you at the airport, assist you with your luggage and take you right into London directly to your hotel, then Heathrow is considerably cheaper for this service -- I pay 25 pounds (per car, not per person). Taxi is also much cheaper from Heathrow than from Gatwick, but as mentioned above if doing a train into London and then changing to a taxi or whatever to your hotel then it really makes little difference.

I flew into Gatwick last February and could not get over how convenient and easy to navigate this airport was. The Victoria Express train on to Victoria station is right after customs clearing, you pay the attendant, you don't even have to worry about buying a train ticket before boarding the train.

We took the Gatwick express (three of us) then spend another 12 pounds for a taxi to our hotel which was not far. In retrospect, we'd have done much better with a car service the whole way, and wouldn't have had to fight our way through the crowds with our luggage at Victoria Station then wait in a "queu?" for nearly 20 minutes for a taxi when the express dumped out there. We used one to go back and the total was about 35 pounds, less than the multi transportation fiasco going into London.