Flying to Gatwick on Jan 20th, arriving 1pm. What is the best way to get to our hotel - The Bloomsbury? I have carried out a search here and on the Gatwick website and the choice is overwhelming!
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]From Gatwick to Bloomsbury take the Gatwick Express train to Victoria. There are commuter trains which perform the same route and are fractionally cheaper.
The Gatwick Express is the quickest way but the cheapest (but fractionally slower) way is to buy a day travelcard at Gatwick for zones 1 to 6 (GBP 11?) for Southern rail. This will get you to Victoria and then you can use the underground as described by papercut without having to buy a new ticket.
Transport For London have an excellent and comprehensive website for transport options around London. Personally I tend to just hop on the Gatwick Express but the Southern trains into Victoria are only marginally slower though less frequent so it is probably a better choice. Papercuts route seems good but you might also want to consider the bus from Victoria (I think the 38 goes that way) - may be a little slower but there would be no lugging bags up and down stairs - which would be the case with that route.
Thanks so much! I think we will go with the Southern trains - more money for shopping!
Would a taxi bu much from Victoria to Bloomsbury area?
What travel card would you reccomend we use for the trip - will be using the underground a lot i imagine! or is walking between the main sights a better way to go?
Taxi to Bloomsbury would be probably £10, maybe £15 at worst. (I'm being cautious here )
Check on the TfL website for the best options, chances are a three-day off-peak zones 1-2 would suffice (unless you are planning some major out of town shopping I wouldn't bother with a longer range travel card). Getting an Oyster card may also be an option but I am not sure if you can pick them up at Gatwick anymore and I would only do so I if was planning on returning a few times a year to London.