London Airport: Luton or Stansted?
 

Hi

Need some advice on choice of airport. Which airport it nearer/more accessible and also cheaper to London city? Luton or Stansted? and how much is the cost?

FD

Both are kidding you when they describe themselves as "London"; but Stansted is more conenient having a direct train link from the terminal.

Last time I did it, it was £20 return but that'sa few years ago now.

When you leave from Luton airport, you can take a free shuttle bus that takes you on a 5-minute trip to the train station. Then you take the train to Kings Cross, which is very convenient for tube access to just about everywhere (or taxi or city bus if you prefer). This train ticket costs about 10 pounds, last time I took it. I think there's a single bus option direct from Luton which is several pounds cheaper.

With Stansted, I took a bus, which was a long-drawn out if cheap option. However, on that day, I had no choice, as there was no train service. If you take the train, you end up at Liverpool Street station, and then you either take the tube, city bus, or a taxi to wherever.

Far more important is how cheap the plane ticket is, what time the flight is, and what other airport is used. Having used both Luton and Stansted, I can't see any reason to discriminate on that basis alone.

A factor can be how the transport options from different airports work in in relation to whichever part of London you want to get to. Yes, you can change to the tube, buses or taxi once you get to a London terminal from either of these airports, but you might have easier or more awkward connections, depending on where your final destination is. Some trains from Luton go on through the city and out to Gatwick and Brighton, stopping at Farringdon, City Thameslink and London Bridge - each of these has their own set of connections. Trains from Stansted stop at Liverpool St, further east, and buses from there also stop at places for easier connections to elsewhere in East London.

Frankly there's not a lot of difference between the two for access to London, unless by 'London city' you mean the the City of London. In that case, Stansted would be better, as the train stops near the financial district at Liverpool Street Station.

Ironically, Stansted is the closest 'London' airport to where I live, but none of the airlines I use fly from there. I used to fly from Luton to Athens, but easyJet dropped the overnight flight which was most convenient for me.

Perhaps you should first look at other factors such as cost of flights, arrival times, etc, and base your decision on that.

cheapest is Luton if you use the Easybus service to/from Baker Street.

Both Stansted & Luton BTW have several coach options that are a lot cheaper than the corresponding train service and they are more likely to have a stop near your final destination

Try looking at the airport websites as the different transport options are covered

We are trying to get from Paris to Cambridge. Is Luton a reasonable option?

Stansted is Cambridge's local airport. There are buses from Luton, but direct buses and trains from Stansted are more frequent, quicker and cheaper.

You might find a flight to Luton that's so much cheaper and better timed it's worth taking it. Or the opposite might be the case: only you can possibly know. But to get to Cambridge from Luton means driving past Stansted after 30 miles of dull, not desperately enjoyable, travel