London airports to central London

skycatcher

I'm travelling from Belfast to London for a weekend in march. There are so many flight options to all the airports! I used to travel for business 20 years ago and used LHR and LCY but these are very expensive options now. I need a simple and not to expensive method to London from one of the"low" cost airports.  Any recommendations?

eskbanker

Much will depend on exactly where in London you're heading to, but Gatwick, Luton and Stansted all offer simple public transport options such as trains and buses - costs will obviously vary but you'd really need to weigh up the end-to-end total....

Edit: https://www.findingtheuniverse.com/get-to-london-from-airport/ has quite a good summary of options

DullGreyGuy

Depends your balance of time, comfort, cost and how far in advance you are booking... from most of these you can get a coach which is cheap if you book well in advance. Train will be quicker but more expensive and again earlier book gets cheaper prices.

You also need to factor the time/cost of traveling across London depending on where you are going to 

Emmia

If you want a cheap flight, you're probably going to Stansted and getting the train to Liverpool Street, or a bus / coach. 

lisyloo

You need to weigh up all the costs.
Getting to heathrow/Gatwick can be expensive on the trains at peak times.
I used to go LCY which is much more convenient.
Used to cost me about £3.6 on DLR rather than £50 on the train to Gatwick.
I went on business and always put in a justification for the higher flight prices being cancelled out by expensive ground transport.

If the flights are very expensive then I'd suggest looking at the Gatwick express.
It's much more central to get to victoria than paddington IMO but of course it depends on your onward journey.

I'd order it

Gatwick
Heathrow
Luton
Stanstead

skycatcher

DullGreyGuy said:

Depends your balance of time, comfort, cost and how far in advance you are booking... from most of these you can get a coach which is cheap if you book well in advance. Train will be quicker but more expensive and again earlier book gets cheaper prices.

You also need to factor the time/cost of traveling across London depending on where you are going to 

If you book the coach and your flight is delayed can you just get the next one if its not full or have you lost that ticket?

Emmia

lisyloo said:

You need to weigh up all the costs.
Getting to heathrow/Gatwick can be expensive on the trains at peak times.
I used to go LCY which is much more convenient.
Used to cost me about £3.6 on DLR rather than £50 on the train to Gatwick.
I went on business and always put in a justification for the higher flight prices being cancelled out by expensive ground transport.

If the flights are very expensive then I'd suggest looking at the Gatwick express.
It's much more central to get to victoria than paddington IMO but of course it depends on your onward journey.

I'd order it

Gatwick
Heathrow
Luton
Stanstead

To go Heathrow I'd avoid the Heathrow express (unless using T5) and I'd get the Elizabeth Line, potentially all the way to central London. Paddington is also well connected via buses and tube lines.

soolin

For convenience you can’t beat Heathrow or London City as it’s easy on the tube or Elizabeth line. Although beware, the Elizabeth line is often out of operation at weekends, we had no trains last weekend and there are several more complete close downs coming up as well, and you rarely get more than 4 weeks notice at most. 

There’s also the train strikes to consider as well which can cause issues the day before and day after the strikes as well as the actual strikes days.

skycatcher

Thanks folks. I've booked Stansted and the express train is £28 rtn

eskbanker

soolin said:

For convenience you can’t beat Heathrow or London City as it’s easy on the tube or Elizabeth line.

But OP is specifically looking for low cost flights, and is therefore choosing to avoid Heathrow and London City!

skycatcher said:

I used to travel for business 20 years ago and used LHR and LCY but these are very expensive options now. I need a simple and not to expensive method to London from one of the"low" cost airports.  Any recommendations?

skycatcher

skycatcher said:

Thanks folks. I've booked Stansted and the express train is £28 rtn

I might not book the train yet.... Is it easy to get buses at a reasonable cost from Stansted?