Overnight before leaving through Gatwick
 

We are coming back from Paris through Heathrow around noon and taking a late morning flight out of Gatwick the next day. What is the best suggestion, stay near Gatwick, take the Heathrow express and find a hotel near Victoria for the Gatwick Express the next morning or something else...Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks.

There is no reason to stay near Gatwick unless you've got to catch a plane at the crack of dawn. There are three train services from various London stations to Gatwick, with services every 15 minutes during the day. There are even trains during the night.

For a late morning flight I'd definitely stay near Victoria since the Gatwick express is fast and frequent. This would give you an evening early morning to see some of London.

But I probably wouldn't take the Paddington Express to get there - If you have a lot of luggage (hopefully not) I'd book a car service from LHR to the hotel, and if you are traveling light, I'd take the tube.

janis...is the heathrow express not a worthwhile option due to carrying the luggage?

I like the idea of staying near Victoria.

The tube journey from Heathrow to Victoria is quite an easy one and not too long. If you stay near Victoria, for this part of the journey I wouldn't take the Heathrow Express
becauase it takes you to Paddington and you will need a taxi/tube from there. But I don't rate the Heathrow Express anywhere nearly as highly as many others do so that may be just me.

If you have lots of luggage I don't see a huge difference between the Heathrow Express and the tube.

The Victoria to Gatwick part is easy too, either get the Gatwick Express or a regular train which runs the same journey but will stop a couple of times on the way and so take a few minutes longer.

Dave_ kind of covered your question about the Heathrow express. It is fairly expensive and only gets you to Paddington which is across the city from Victoria. It won't save you time because you will have to take a tube from there, nor save money if you end up taking a cab from Paddibgton.

A car service will cost less than 2 fares on the Paddington Express + the fairly long cab ride, and be more convenient since the driver will meet you right in the arrivals hall.

And if you have light luggage, the tube would be cheapest by far, and probably not take much longer then the Express plustube or cab option.

Does anyone know how early the first morning train to Gatwick leaves Victoria?

As Geoff has already mentioned, trains run all night from London Victoria to Gatwick. These are the normal trains rather than Gatwick Express trains which I think start at 4.30am.