Ryanair Whats the best London airport to go to?

Have always flown with Aer lingus, but just wondered which of the Ryanair to London airports are best, which is easiest to connect to central London, can you get a coach or train from Luton, Stanstead and Gatwick?
Thanks

witchymand said:

Have always flown with Aer lingus, but just wondered which of the Ryanair to London airports are best, which is easiest to connect to central London, can you get a coach or train from Luton, Stanstead and Gatwick?
Thanks

Click to expand...

Stanstead, take the coach into central London (Stops off at Camden or into Oxford Circus in 1 Hour). Last time I used it was £12 return - uses bus lanes etc. Train a rip off at £38 plus. Google stanstead airport then go into transport links for more information.

I'm a regular user of Ryanair to Gatwick. I prefer it to any other London airport.

There's a huge range of options to central London from Gatwick - a full train station with the express as well as normal stopping trains and a couple of coach options.

[broken link removed]

We have used both Stansted and Gatwick.
It really depends on what part of London you are heading to - Stansted is to the north and Gatwick to the south. We found the Stansted express to be a great service and you can get off at either Tottenham Hale and catch a tube or head into Liverpool St where the train terminates. I didnt think it was that expensive but I see it is 23.50 sterling return but I recall we could buy discounted tickets on the plane. Gatwick too has terrific train connections as it has its own train station.
I think the transfer times from Gatwick would be quicker and would probably have better options for connections.

I find Gatwick way better, The Gatwick express is faster and less crowded than Stansted. The airport itself is much more pleasant (esp the north terminal) Their are cheaper trains to Victoria and the city as well (I think about £16 and 35 mins) In general connections are better than Liverpool St.

Also Aer Lingus starts up there next month and the fares are dirt cheap with 3 airlines on the route.

Gatwick is better unless you're going to somewhere pretty close to Liverpool St./ City end of things (even then Gatwick has frequent trains to London Bridge that are faster than the Stansted Express)

I only know the train connections and usually work in terms of where on the Circle Line I will arrive to decide which one to use but:

Stanstead Express approximately 45 minutes and runs every 15 to 30 minutes depending on the time of week/day - leaves you in the north-eastern part of the circle line, Liverpool Street has the Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and Central lines running through it and is one stop from Bank station. It also has good bus links with eastern and central London and the bus stops are easy to find. Stanstead is the furthest airport out from London of the three as far as I know. The train is pretty expensive and it does seem quite slow - also it doesn't provide much in the way of alternative connections (unlike say Gatwick where you have the faster or the cheaper!)

Luton: bus to the train station, train station links pretty frequently to Kings Cross Thameslink which is near to Kings Cross on the north of the Circle Line (with the Circle, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern, Victoria and Picadilly lines running through it and pretty good bus links nearby but not so easy to find them!) and London Bridge just south east of the Circle Line (with the Northern and Jubilee lines, one stop to Bank and excellent bus links). I find this one the most onerous one to do as the train is just the normal train to Brighton and can be quite slow, plus the bus journey at the start/end and the walk to Kings Cross if that is where you get off.

Gatwick: Very good train links, both fast (Gatwick Express) and the not so fast. Train is about 25 minutes in if I recall correctly, slow trains link to the southern part of the Circle line, Cannon Street or Charing Cross or to L'Bridge - see above, Express goes to Victoria which is on the south western part of the Circle line (with Picadilly, Circle and District lines, good bus links to central London and the main intercity bus terminal)

Try the rail website for more details and for cost and time comparisons

I'd just put a slight clarification on so-crates Gatwick trains if i may

The Gatwick Express (which is ~£15 one way) runs every 15 mins to Victoria station and takes 30 mins

The other trains (which aren't much slower and are £9 one way) run to London Bridge Station (continuing via the Thameslink line to Blackfriars, Farringdon & Kings X and ultimately to Luton Airport too) - these run around 4x per hour (2 fast, 2 not so fast). The fast trains actually get to London Bridge in under 1/2 and hour .. so are faster than the Gatwick Express

The other trains to Victoria (also about £9) take 35-45 mins and are more frequent than the Gatwick Express - try to avoid the ones that stop everywhere - get one that stops at only East Croydon and Clapham Junciton - it will be about 5 minutes slower than the Gatwick Express and 6 quid cheaper.

I would only really think the Gatwick Express is necessary at rush hour (where you'll be struggling on the regular trains with any luggage) - there are loads of options other than the Gatwick Express and they're almost as quick.

Agreed on the other airports ... Stansted is just too far away .. and Luton is a shed on top of a hill with no train station in walking distance and a fairly erratic shuttlebus to the train