Gatwick to downtown London, daily. Best method?

[King Herald]

I have an American friend, and her mum, attending a two week training course, staying at Gatwick Airport Hotel. What is the cheapest way for the mum to get down town, daily, for sightseeing etc?

Is there anything near Gatwick to actually see or do, places to eat etc?

[Vixpy1]

Gatwick express

[DrTre]

King Herald said:

I have an American friend, and her mum, attending a two week training course, staying at Gatwick Airport Hotel. What is the cheapest way for the mum to get down town, daily, for sightseeing etc?

Is there anything near Gatwick to actually see or do, places to eat etc?

train, dead quick, straight to Victoria (I think..I catch it at Cla'am)

[King Herald]

What sort of money are we talking for these trains/buses? She told me checked on line, and Gatwick express is about £6 each way.

[anonymous-user]

King Herald said:

What sort of money are we talking for these trains/buses? She told me checked on line, and Gatwick express is about £6 each way.

Gatwick express is more like £20-30 depending on when you travel. It's certainly not the cheapest way into london but probably the quickest.

All the other trains are much cheaper.

The Gatwick express goes to Victoria and most other trains go towards London Bridge. There are loads of trains into London going all the time. They probably take 30-40mins.

Edited by el stovey on Wednesday 7th January 22:18

[DrTre]

sounds about right...I imagine that's the "normal" train rather than the express?

I couldn't see the difference between the two, except for the price (GE being more expensive) but no doubt someone who does the journey more frequently will be able to say more.

[NiceCupOfTea]

"Normal" train will be slower and maybe not as nice - if you can stomach stopping at East Croydon you should be OK

[DrTre]

yes, it's a longer journey (Gatwick to Victoria).... by all of 3 to 6 mins.

ETA...which is more what I mean about there being a surprising lack of difference to justify what can be quite a large difference in price between the two (although the £6 seems on the cheap side now I think about it)

FETA I guess peak times the GE will be less crowded than "normal", justifying the premium.

Edited by DrTre on Wednesday 7th January 23:10

[King Herald]

So, it looks like the normal train is the best option, seeing as she'll be doing the trip every day for a week or so?

[thehawk]

The normal train service between Gatwick and London is actually very good, I certainly couldn't see the justification for paying extra for the Gatwick Express even on one-off trips. The trains are all modern and most go to Victoria, not London Bridge.

[jamoor]

Please don't refer to central London as "downtown London"

[NDA]

King Herald said:

I have an American friend, and her mum, attending a two week training course, staying at Gatwick Airport Hotel. What is the cheapest way for the mum to get down town, daily, for sightseeing etc?

Is there anything near Gatwick to actually see or do, places to eat etc?

Gatwick Express is probably the most efficient. Very quick and straight into London Victoria.

There's nothing to do in Gatwick, unless she wants to go to the amusement arcade at the airport!

From Victoria she can walk to Buckingham Palace or catch a cab to Trafalgar Square (5 minutes) and walk to some interesting bits of London from there.

[cjs]

Not that much to do or see near Gatwick. Crawley is the nearest big town, not a bad place, it has a reasonable shopping centre and a 'Leisure park' with cinema, bars and restaurants. I would also suggest she takes a trip to Brighton for a day or two instead of London.

[GetCarter]

I use Gatwick Express every few months and it's £18 each way (Slight reduction if you book a return IIRC) Takes 30 mins, runs every 15 - you can pay on the train

[johnnywb]

NDA said:

King Herald said:

I have an American friend, and her mum, attending a two week training course, staying at Gatwick Airport Hotel. What is the cheapest way for the mum to get down town, daily, for sightseeing etc?

Is there anything near Gatwick to actually see or do, places to eat etc?

Gatwick Express is probably the most efficient. Very quick and straight into London Victoria.

There's nothing to do in Gatwick, unless she wants to go to the amusement arcade at the airport!

From Victoria she can walk to Buckingham Palace or catch a cab to Trafalgar Square (5 minutes) and walk to some interesting bits of London from there.

Gatwick Express is a rip off. If she's doing it for a week or two, just get the Southern Service from Gatwick Airport to London Victoria. They run regularly, about four or five times an hour and it's only about 5 or 10 minutes slower than the Gatwick Express.

Gatwick Express, off-peak day return - £23
Southern Trains off-peak day return £11.60

FOr £12.30 a day, there's also an off-peak day travel card, but i'm not sure what zones this covers

She should also get a weekly season ticket which will reduce the cost further. Once she's in London, get her to work out what she plans on seeing and get a travelcard for those zones, rather than getting the zone 1 to 6 travel card, which a lot of people seem to do!

[Whitean3]

What Johnnywb says.
Weekly travelcard on Southern is the best option.

[NDA]

I hadn't considered the cost - merely the efficiency. Bit like marriage.

[King Herald]

Thanks folks, I'll forward all info to her.

[anonymous-user]

King Herald said:

Thanks folks, I'll forward all info to her.

Just forward her this link to the Gatwick Airport web site.

The 'to and from Gatwick' section has lots of information about getting to and from the airport. It took all of 8 seconds to find.

http://www.gatwickairport.com/portal/page/Gatwick^...__/448c6a4c7f1b0010VgnVCM200000357e120a__/

I did a search for "Gatwick airport information" to find it.

The trains section is on the left, titled 'trains'.

It contains information about trains to and from the airport.

Edited by el stovey on Thursday 8th January 20:45

[NDA]

el stovey said:

The trains section is on the left, titled 'trains'.

And the times section is on the right, titled 'times'.

Glad to be of help.