Taxi, train, shuttle, what do you recommend. I am arriving at Gatwick around 2 am, so prefer not to do the underground late at night.

You can't take the tube from Gatwick at any time of day. From Gatwick the answer is the train. Where are you headed? the Gatwick Express isn't always the best answer, just the most expensive.

See nationalrail.co.uk

no shuttles which leaves a prebooked car service or a train (not just the Gatwick Express).

also depends where you're going in central London??

Why not stay in a Gatwick hotel?

thrusdaysd beat me to it -- it's a good thing you prefer to not use the tube because there ain't one

A taxi would cost an utter fortune.

I normally recommend against a car service for LGW because of the distance and the trains are so handy. But - partly depending on where you are staying - a car service could make sense this time because there will be NO traffic at 0200.

check justairports.com

If you are staying near Victoria or Kings Cross . . . then a train. But at that time of night (morning) they each only run every hour, so you might have quite a wait.

OMG -- I actually <i>agree</i> w/ Pal(!) Probably a first and don't get used to it Pal

At that time in the morning -- I'd book a room at one of the Premier Inns (there are several and some are walking distance to the terminal) and take the train into London at your leisure the next morning.

nanbee - the Gatwick express to Victoria will cost you £26 one way as opposed to about £17.50 for the normal overground train there, but amazingly the overground to St Pancras [which takes twice as long] was only £11!

Unless you are desperate to get there quickly, the ordinary overground will probably be ok, plus you can change at East Croydon or Clapham Junction to connect to other parts of the system and more convenient underground stations.

Whichever you choose, you can add a day's underground ticket to Zones 1-6 for next to nothing.

However I wouldn't fancy doing this at 2am so unless you want to pay for a car service, so i think that I too would book a room in a hotel and travel into London in the morning. if you're coming into the North Terminal the Hampton by Hilton is fine and very convenient.

If taking trains in buy a return paper ticket and you will get 2 for 1 entries your entire time in London by showing it at many places - there are some hoops to go thru - just at the Tower of London you can save a lot: https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/2for1-london.