lol2g

We're arriving at Gatwick at 6:20pm on a Monday. Since we have an early flight out of Heathrow the next day, we plan to go straight to Heathrow, spend the night at a nearby hotel and rest up for the long flight home.We are planning on taking the National Express bus instead of using the underground just for convenience. Is the traffic bad around that time? Would it be better to use the underground to avoid traffic jam? Thank you.

nona1

There isn't an underground between the two airports. Were you thinking of going into London and back out again?

Just get on the bus and relax. It shouldn't be bad at that time of day, but of course, you never know about delays caused by broken down vehicles etc. Not much you can do about it either way, but it's got to be better just to chill out on the bus than drag your luggage all the way to London and back.

flanneruk

The M25 rarely settles down before 8 pm. So the bus is going to take you a bit longer than if you'd got it at midnight - but unlikely to be much more than an extra half hour.

In spite of its reputation, the M25 at and around rush hour very, very rarely seizes up completely. Accidents are surprisingly rare, since speed's tightly controlled and most drivers are in 100% concentration mode, and it's so wide, accessible and minutely monitored that broken down vehicles usually get dragged away before causing much more than the usual delays.

alanRow

I'd be tempted to have your evening meal at LGW - by the time you get out of LGW and on the coach it's likely to be around 7:30pm and by the time you get to your hotel it's going to be around 9:00pm

BUT what's the defintion of "early flight". If it's after 9:00am you could just go to Victoria, stay the night there & take the tube to LHR in the morning - or have a car service pick you up if you have a lot of luggage. Probably would work out about the same as the coach plus hotel

helen_belsize

I think you will find that you will be lucky to get through customs and immigration in less than one hour unless you have only hand luggage. Eating at Gatwick might be sensible although not ideal. How early is your next day's flight? Remember you have to check in 2 hours before flight time if going out of the UK. There are local bus services which connect the airports.

janisj

&quot;<i>How's traffic around 6:30-7pm from Gatwick to Heathrow?</i>&quot;

If you land at 6:20, you won't be anywhere near the National Express coach by 6:30, and 7:00 would be quite optimistic. You probably won't be on the coach until at least 8:00. And in that case you wouldn't get to LHR until around 9PM - which is awfully late to be thinking about dinner. So - to solve all your problems, have dinner at LGW and the catch the coach around 9:00.

As already mentioned - there is no tube from LGW. What time is your morning flight? That would be the decider for me. If the flight is before 9:30AM, I'd stay at a Heathrow hotel. If it was later - I'd stay at/near Victoria Station or in South Kensington in central London.