Hi, I will be finishing my European tour in Paris and then need to fly out of London-- Gatwick Airport. I was wondering if any one had any advice on the cheapest and fastest way to get there? I am thinking Eurostar but can't quite figure out what station I would end up at in London, and once there, how I would get to Gatwick. Thanks so much for your help!
JL, Gainesville, FL

You would end at Waterloo ...

I believe you can take a train to Gatwick from there (or maybe Victoria) .. about 45 mins.

Mark

Yes frequent rail connections from Waterloo to Gatwick, porbably involving a change of train somewhere. Direct service from Victoria. You could also get off the Eurostar at Ashford International, which has rail links to Gatwick without going into London. For schedules: www.nationalrail.co.uk. For Eurostar fares in $ i always recommend contacting BETS (800-441-2387), Eurostar experts - fares begin at $90 on certain days and there are good fares for seniors 60 and over or youths under 26. Try www.voyages-sncf.com for fares in euros from Paris. cheaper tickets are in limited number so reserve as far in advance as possible for them. (About $6 cheaper only if get off at Ashford but if you have time without going into London is a plus - timewise it may be a tad quicker to actually go into London and then to Gatwick. check out schedules.

Southern Trains will take you from Waterloo to Gatwick with a change at Clapham Junction. I don't know how much walking is involved in the transfer, but the DB site says 6 minutes between trains.

Or, you can take a short ride from Waterloo to London Bridge station and take a Thameslink train from there direct to Gatwick.

Clapham Junction, the UK's busiest train station as a sign here proclaims, could well take more than 6 minutes to find the connecting train - dozens of platforms and confusing to the novice posted schedule and track info add to the chaos. But be sure that there will be at least hourly trains or probably more than that so the 6 minute connection is not the only one. And you no doubt can leave on an earlier train for Clapham Junction from Waterloo and zillions of trains from Waterloo stop here giving you more than 6 minutes transfer time.

Eurostar works - there are several ways to get from there to LGW. But what time is your flight out of LGW? If it is a morning flight you may have to overnight in London.

British Airways just announced some cheap fares from Britain to continental Europe. I know they fly LGW-CDG, so they're worth a look.

No one flies between Gatwick and any Paris area airport.

It MIGHT be faster to change at Jersey (or even Brussels) than mess about with trains at Clapham or Ashford. But it's unlikely.

Of course CS is right. BA flies Heathrow to CDG, as does BMI. In either case, you could take National Express coach to Gatwick. In the few instances I've taken National Express, I have gotten from Point A to B, but always late. So allow extra time if you choose this method.

From the Eurostar to Gatwick via London (not all trains stop at Ashford):

Exit Waterloo International by following the signs to National Rail services (go up), walk across the concourse, take the escalators up to Waterloo East, take any train to London Bridge, change there for the train to Gatwick. It's possible that you might have to change platforms at London Bridge, but there are slopes down to the interchange corridor.

Author: PatrickLondon
Re: "Exit Waterloo International by following the signs to National Rail services (go up), walk across the concourse, take the escalators up to Waterloo East, take any train to London Bridge, change there for the train to Gatwick. It's possible that you might have to change platforms at London Bridge, but there are slopes down to the interchange corridor."

How long would that take? I have a 1:00 pm flight from London-Gatwick. Can I leave Paris in the morning and make that flight easily? Thanks for any and all help. I have four days in London (not counting my departure date) and want to use part of it to go to Paris. It is a college grad gift to my daughter. This may be our one and only trip to UK/Europe and she can only get a limited number of days off for this trip. Thanks!!!

work it out - a 1:00 p.m. flight to the States means you need to be at LGW by about 10:30, or 11:00 at the latest. So you would need to be to Waterloo by 9:30/9:45 - which means you'd need to leave Paris by 7:30 (there is a 1 hour time change). Meaning leaving your Paris hotel by 6:30 at the latest.

Plus what if there are delays on either the Eurostar or the train from Waterloo - you are up a creek . . .

Since you don't get any advantage to being in Paris that last day - it makes <u>much</u> more sense to me to take a late evening train from Paris to London and stay near Waterloo or Victoria stations. Then you just take the train to LGW around 10:30.

Why build in extra hassle/stress your last day when it isn't necessary?

Janisj makes alot of sense with her scenario -- why risk some sort of delay and end up missing your flight? Delays can happen. Also, there are alot of good ideas here regarding getting to Gatwick but only you can tell how you will manage based on the amount of luggage you have. If you are dragging alot of stuff around it may be beneficial to go for the easiest (less changes) way. If it were me I'd come over from Paris the day before (late afternoon train perhaps and remember there is 1 hr time difference) and take a train from Victoria the next a.m. to Gatwick.

Our inflexible rule is that we have at least two ways to get from where we sleep to where we fly from. In your case, this means spending the last night in London.

It is totally unnecessary to &quot;stay near Waterloo¹ or Victoria stations&quot; as there are also frequent trains to Gatwick (most of them direct) from King's Cross Thameslink, Farringdon, City Thameslink, Blackfriars, Charing Cross, London Bridge and Kensington Olympia.

¹ The Gatwick service actually operates from Waterloo East.

Thanks everyone for your informative responses!