Gatwick transport into city

The Thameslink train would get you close and then you could take a taxi from London Bridge Station to your hotel.

Any car service will cost a lot of money and be very very slow - the roads in from Gatwick are tortuous.
The Thameslink train will be much quicker and cheaper.

There are 8 Thameslink services to London Bridge per hour so it is almost a walk up and go service.

TY, I'll look into that train :-) I do see options Sunday afternoon. Is this something I could stop at the train station (I'm assuming at Gatwick) and buy a ticket day of ? It is a Sunday :-)

Yes, all tickets can be purchased at the station- either from a human being or from a machine. If buying from a machine be careful to choose a Thameslink fare, not a Gatwick express fare.
Even easier just swipe your contactless card on the gates

We have a problem. I have just gone to check fares. There is engineering work that day, and Thameslink trains are diverted, not calling at London Bridge.
To get to London Bridge you would have to change at East Croydon onto a Southern train.

You are better off staying on the train to London Blackfriars, then either changing to the Tube (District or Circle Line) to Tower Hill (the hotel is walkable from there), or hailing a Black cab at Blackfriars.
Blackfriars National Rail and Tube stations are integrated within the same building.
The other route is a Southern train to Victoria, then tube or taxi as above, but that's a longer journey across London.

The fare is £11.30 each

Oops- didn't think to do a day specific check.

Oh, thank you for checking! It's good to know this ahead. I think the Blackfriars stop then taxi plan?
I didn't see mention of this on the Thameslink web page when searching for times to London bridge that day?
But I am not familiar with the webpage..
even if more expensive I would be open to a taxi from Gatwick to the hotel; but my I am hearing this would be tedious, even on a Sunday?

This is the relevant web page- https://www.thameslinkrailway.com/travel-information/plan-your-journey/planned-engineering-work?date=2023-07-30#engineering-departure-board

It's a bit vague, so I then checked in journey planners that the trains were still stopping at Blackfriars as I for one was a bit less than clear in my mind from that page.

A taxi is going to take you likely twice as long (yes, traffic is lighter on a Sunday, but emphasis on the 'er' bit of the word) and cost you obviously far much. And I do know that cost isn't everything.

To me at least train is totally the way to go.

There is no highway or motorway into London from the Gatwick Direction. The M23 motorway ends just north of the M25 orbital motorway and you are then in the land of traffic lights, traffic, 30 mph roads (ha!!), traffic, rat runs, traffic, traffic lights, 20 mph roads (ha! just you try to go that fast) and more traffic. Even on a Sunday.

Taxis have no magic powers and I don't think that most of the A23 Brighton Road has a bus/taxi lane.

Unless you really really need that car/taxi/minicab the train is the way to go.

I'm a little concerned about "with some bags". How many is "some"? Can the two of you easily handle what you have? On trains and tubes you are responsible for all the bag handling and the trains don't stop very long.

If you have too much to deal with easily you should submit and take the long slow dreary expensive taxi ride, and just call it a luggage penalty.

on a Sunday don't be tempted to try to use City Thameslink station instead of Blackfriars. On Sundays City Thameslink is closed but Blackfriars is open 7 days a week.

Bear in mind that there are frequent trains from Gatwick to Blackfriars and some are a lot quicker than others. The fastest take 39 minutes and only stop at East Croydon. The slower stopping trains take over an hour. All are much quicker than any road transport though.

There are a couple of other options.....slightly more expensive than others listed above but less than a car service from Gatwick.

The National Express bus is direct from Gatwick to the Victoria Coach station. From there a taxi to your hotel.

Gatwick Express train or Southern rail ( slower but cheaper than Gatwick Express) to Victoria Station. Then either District line to Tower Hill or taxi.

Sometimes convenience trumps cheapest way.

July 30 is the day after a planned rail strike so don't expect any trains prior to 7 AM.

As far as bags, this inspires me to look hard at how much luggage we will bring for our long awaited 12 day England and Ireland trip. (After retiring we did a 2019 "independent traveller", trip around Scotland, but then had a long delay due to the pandemic followed by, joyfully, our first grandchild :-) We were impressed by all the public transport choices in Great Britain, sadly lacking here in the US. We did a carry on and checked bag each for that, can improve upon that this time!

For this trip, we land at Heathrow on 7/20 and go straight to Bath (via Celtic journeys car service per RS). The itinerary then includes Bath, York, fly to Dublin, train or bus to Galway, then fly into Gatwick as stated on Sun 7/30. I have booked a room at the Premier Inn, London city (Tower hill). We fly home out of Heathrow on Tues. 8/1, needing to be there by 2:00 Pm for our 6:00 PM flight.

All flights and lodgings are set, but thinking about this short London bit I wonder if it would make sense to look for lodging somewhere closer, easier to one of the airports (unfort, it is the 2 different airports) and just train into the city for a day of sightseeing on Mon 7/31? We learn something each trip. Maybe next British journey we will pick a spot, stay longer, and do some day trips out of there ...But for now we are excited about this trip and appreciate any tips on our London stay!

As it is now so late in the day I personally would leave the PI as is. Unless you are on the most flexible rate you probably can't cancel at this stage and get your money back. And trying to find an airport hotel now at a reasonable price may be an uphill struggle, and take your time up now as well.
You would waste valuable sightseeing time commuting to and from Gatwick or Heathrow on both days. If I was staying near Gatwick I'd want to stay in Horley, a mile away and with its own station. It is a commuter village with all facilities. I wouldn't want a sterile airport hotel.
The stations are so close you can see Gatwick platform from Horley and vice versa!!
I lived there for about a year when working at Gatwick- a nice village.
From Tower Hill to Heathrow is one hour on the tube, change across the platform at Hammersmith or Barons Court. A leisurely 9.30 or so start for 11am check in.
To me it works well as scheduled.

Yes, I think you are right, leave the itinerary as is,and just come up with good transport plans for 7/30 and 8/1...

I normally use the Gatwick Express to Victoria station. It's a bit pricey but always works well - https://www.gatwickexpress.com/ . In this case, that will probably be a faster and more convenient option than a car service or taxi.

Going via Victoria for a journey to Tower Hill makes no sense at all. Whether you use the expensive Gatwick Express or the cheaper and slightly slower regular Southern trains, or the even slower bus, it is daft to go to Victoria, a large busy and complex station further away than you need to be. Blackfriars is 39 minutes from Gatwick on the fast trains, is an excellent compact station with easy access to the tube and is closer to Tower Hill. It also involves the novelty of getting off the train actually on top of the river.

kristin Y

you will be arriving in the middle of the large strike announced today at Gatwick. Details at https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/gatwick-airport-strike

Just a bit of fore-warning. Forewarned is forearmed, so they say.

If it goes ahead.

Ok, thx for the info !