London is overwhelming.
Nothing captures this more than its six airports: Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted, Luton, London City Airport, and Southend.
Only two airports are actually in London - Heathrow and London City Airport. Some have train access, some don’t. Some have London Underground access, others don’t.
To stop this blog from becoming overwhelming, we’ve split this up into four parts. This post will provide you with the following:
Where are London’s six airports;
Which countries fly into these airports;
We have then posted blogs to highlight the specific airports in more detail to help with your journey in and out of London. These are posted at the bottom of the page.
Two Passports Top Tip
Do your best to avoid travelling into Central London between 7:30-9am with your luggage. This is prime rush hour and you’ll be at the mercy of Londoners who will be in more of a hurry than you. Keep in mind that London is a working city after all.
Right, let’s get stuck into it.
Heathrow (LHR)
Where: The second busiest airport in Europe, Heathrow is on the outskirts of West London.
Which: Heathrow flies direct to all continents on the major airlines, apart from East Australia and New Zealand.
You won’t find many budget airlines like EasyJet or Ryanair, so it is often the most expensive to fly in or out of. However (for us) it has the simplest routes to travel into all parts of London, so you may save money and time getting into the city after you land.
Gatwick (LGW)
Where: The UK’s second largest airport, Gatwick is 30 miles/48 km South West outside of London.
Which: Gatwick predominantly flies to all of Europe, East USA, Canada, North Africa and the
Caribbean. Unlike Heathrow, Gatwick does accommodate budget airlines.
Stansted (STN)
Where: Stansted is 42 miles/67km north of London.
Which: It’s a budget airline hub in England, so predominantly European destinations (with a few additional routes like Morocco, Egypt and Dubai). Typically, Stansted is the best budget airport to fly into for London and offers more destinations than Luton.
Luton (LTN)
Where: Luton is 28 miles/45km northwest of London.
Which: Very similar to Stansted, Luton is a budget airline hub for England, serving predominantly European destinations as well as Egypt and Morocco.
London City Airport (LCY)
Where: The most central of the six, London City Airport is in Zone 3 of East London.
Which: It is typically known as the business airport of London due to its proximity to business hubs. It only flies to a select few destinations within Europe, with the more expensive airlines. If you have the opportunity to fly into LCY at a reasonable price, and you’re staying in East London, take it!
Southend (SEN)
Where: Southend is 36 miles/58km east of London.
Which: A very limited selection of destinations, Southend only carries Ryanair and Wizz Air to southern Spain and Portugal.
If you want to save money and plan on staying in East London, fly into here.
Two Passports Top Tip
Do your best to avoid travelling into Central London between 7:30-9am with your luggage. This is prime rush hour and you’ll be at the mercy of Londoners who will be in more of a hurry than you. Keep in mind that London is a working city after all.