London Areas Airports-Which one?
 

In August my wife and I will be flying (on a Sunday) from Dublin to London. Need to decide which airport to fly into. Gatwick, Luton or Stansted seem to be the most likely ones. Which one works best to get transport into London city? I know with each you can do it. But which one would be easiest. And what would be suggested bus or train? Thanks.

Gatwick would have the shortest and cheapest journey to central London. However, it depends to a great extent on where you're aiming to get to.

From the station in Gatwick airport you can get to Victoria, London Bridge, Blackfriars, City Thameslink, and Kings Cross/St Pancras in about 30 minutes.

From Stansted you can get a train to Liverpool St, or a bus to Liverpool St or Victoria Coach station (not sure about intermediate stops in central London), but it would take quite a bit longer.

Luton is on the line from Brighton to Bedford that also serves Gatwick and the stations between Blackfriars and Kings Cross. Not sure how long it takes, but I would assume also a bit longer than from Gatwick.

But you need to check where you're staying on the map, against where the different London termini are (and make due allowance for onward travel by London local transport), and the train timetables.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

The Stansted Express also stops at Tottenham Hale, which is on the Victoria line so depending where you are heading, may work for onward connections.

I'd think the cost of flights and convenient, comfortable flight times might come into the picture too.

Not all transport options are available all the time (very early or presumably very late to the smaller airports). I once booked an early flight out of Luton and found there was no early train. Fortunately, realized in time and booked a room at the airport the night before. That's been a puzzle for me ever since, a flight but no train? But if you're traveling at a civilized hour it won't be an issue.

For most central London addresses, the couple of quid saved by not flying into Heathrow or London City will be easily wiped out by the extra cost of transport.

If you really mean you want an address in the City, London City is easily the handiest, and by far the least painful international airport on earth.

Thanks. We'll be staying near marble Arch.

If possible fly into London City. Get the DLR to Bank and then change to Central Line for Marble Arch.

Fly to London City on Cityjet - great airport, good airline, DLR to Bank. Second best for me is Gatwick on Aer Lingus, First Connect to London Bridge.

Just another vote for London City-a dream compared to the others IMO.