- Hello from London, actually south of London.
We're here at Gatwick Airport,
the second busiest airport in London behind Heathrow.
And I know a lot of you will be flying into Gatwick
to get yourself into London.
So I'm gonna tell you about all the ways that you can use
to get from the airport into the city centre,
starting with the most expensive
but the most convenient,
all the way down to the most affordable,
but maybe not so convenient.
Plus, I'm gonna tell you about a couple options
that I think you should avoid.
So let's go.
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Gatwick Airport actually isn't in London.
It is 30 miles south of the city,
so actually nowhere near London.
It's next to a town called Crawley,
and they service 30 million international passengers
every year from this airport.
Now, Gatwick has two different terminals,
the north terminal and the south terminal.
We're in the south right now.
The south terminal has its own train station,
and you can easily get between the two terminals
with the free shuttle.
Takes about two minutes,
but you'll wanna give yourself extra time
just in case there is a queue to get on.
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Let's start with the most expensive,
but the most convenient-ish option, taxi.
There are taxi booths at both terminals in Gatwick Airport.
You go up to the booth, you tell them where you wanna go,
and they will call a taxi for you.
This is the only way that you can get a taxi
when you arrive to Gatwick Airport.
They have a private service that they use
and it's virtually impossible to call Ubers here
because we're so far outside of London.
Even if one ends up showing up like they're gonna come,
it usually ends up cancelling.
So it's really not an option.
I'm gonna be completely honest.
I don't think that this is a great option.
I have used this service many times before.
It is quite expensive.
If it's late at night or early in the morning,
you'll be waiting for quite a long time
for a driver to arrive for you.
And I've just not had good experiences.
They get kind of upset
if you wanna pay with card instead of cash.
I don't know, it's just not really something
that I think is the best option, but it's doable.
However, if you want to pre-book a taxi,
I think that's actually a great reliable option for you.
And we have a partner that we work with
and we've had lots of our followers love and highly review.
We will leave a link in the description box of the video
to where you can book those.
But pre-booking a taxi
means that they're gonna track your flight,
so they'll account for any delays that you might have.
You're gonna pay in advance
so you don't have to worry about payment
when you get here and you're tired.
And also they'll come into the terminal and wait for you,
which is just really nice and convenient.
Now of course, the advantage of taking a taxi
is the convenience of getting picked up from the terminal
and dropped off right in front of your hotel,
which is also great if you've got lots of bags
or you've got the kids in tow, but you are gonna pay for it.
You should expect to pay at least a hundred pounds
to get into Central London,
and you might end up stuck in the taxi
for quite a while if you do hit a lot of traffic.
And while we're here,
before you even ask me about renting a car,
nobody in their right mind
should be renting a car in London.
Don't even think about it, for a variety of reasons.
It's a terrible, terrible idea.
Listen to me.
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The next priciest option is the Gatwick Express.
This is a train that goes from Gatwick
to London Victoria only, or of course the reverse.
And it is the most expensive option when it comes to trains
with tickets at 21.90 pounds,
or if you buy online in advance, it's a little bit cheaper.
Generally, I tell people
to avoid taking the Gatwick Express,
and that's because it gets you to Victoria Station
only, like, a few minutes earlier
than if you were to take the normal overground train.
And it's of course a lot more expensive
than taking the National Rail,
so it's not really worth the splurge.
However, some people do think it is worth it
if you travel during rush hour.
That's because the National Rail trains are commuter trains,
so they will be busy during rush hour times.
Whereas if you get on the Gatwick Express,
you're pretty much guaranteed a seat.
You'll have plenty of space to leave your bags,
and it's just a more comfortable experience.
So it's up to you what you wanna do.
(gentle music)
Hold on, pause for a second.
If this is your first time visiting London,
there is a lot of stuff that you have to remember to do
before you come to this amazing city.
So you should definitely download
our free London trip checklist,
which tells you everything you need to do,
buy, and book before your trip,
and crucially, when you need to do it all by.
So just click the link in the description box of the video
to get that completely for free.
Okay, let's get back to the video.
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Your next option is to take a National Rail train.
And in all honesty,
I think this is gonna be the best option
for most people who are watching this video.
There are a few reasons for that.
One is that the train station
is located right in south terminal,
so it is super easy to get to.
And also there are lots of different options
for trains getting into London
that go to various different terminals around the city,
like Blackfriars, London Bridge,
Victoria, and Kings Cross St. Pancras,
meaning that if you're staying in Central London,
you can take a lot of different trains
to be able to get to where you're going.
Tickets are pretty affordable for these trains.
You're gonna pay between 9 and 12 pounds,
unless you're travelling at peak time,
to get into town, which is, I think it's about
8:00 to 10:00 AM on Monday through Friday.
Then you'll pay higher prices,
but still less than 20 pounds,
still better than the Gatwick Express.
Also, you will see when you get
into the station at Gatwick South Terminal
that there's usually a big queue of people
waiting to buy paper tickets at machines.
But actually, because you're going into London,
you don't even need to do that.
If I can find any way
that I don't have to queue for something, I will.
You can actually pay to get on the train from here
with a contactless debit or credit card,
Apple Pay or Google Pay, or you can even use Oyster.
So you truly don't have to queue up.
Just pay for your ticket at the barrier,
like you would if you were on the tube.
Finally, which station you go to in London
is going to be dependent on where your final destination is,
probably your hotel.
So the best way to figure out
which route you should take and which train you should take,
is to just plug your hotel into Google Maps
when you're here at the airport
and see what it tells you and then hop on the train.
Keep in mind that these are commuter trains,
so there's no dedicated places for you to put your luggage.
You also might run into trouble
if you travel during rush hour.
The trains can get really crowded
and you'll struggle to find a seat.
So that is why sometimes people will go and splurge
for the Gatwick Express
because they're basically guaranteed a seat
and they will be able to easily tuck away their luggage.
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And now for the most affordable option, coach.
There's one main company that operates coaches
from Gatwick into Central London,
and that is called National Express.
They operate out of both of the terminals here at Gatwick,
and they have buses almost for 24 hours of the day.
Now these are quite big buses, so they're pretty comfortable
and they do have toilets in them, which is good
because it is gonna take you about two and a half hours
to get dropped off at Victoria Coach Station
because they do do a couple of stops along the way.
So it does take a long time.
However, this is gonna be pretty cheap.
The tickets are about 8 to 10 pounds,
and you can pay a little bit more
if you prefer a flexible ticket.
Now, in my opinion, if the train is running,
the train's always gonna be a bit of a better option.
It's much quicker and it only costs a little bit more.
However, these are really great to have as an option
if you've got a really early or a late flight
and the trains aren't running.
Hope you found that helpful.
And if you want more tips for your London trip,
we have literally hundreds of videos that you can watch.
Just click one of the boxes popping up around me
to watch the next video.