London City Airport to Norwich—where to stay midway?

Greenwich is just across the river, and you can use the little Woolwich ferry to cross. but my suggestion would be to stay in London, along the DLR (Docklands Light Rail) line and use that to go directly into the airport. The Bank station in the City of London is in a very nice area, with a 22-minute train ride to LCY. We like to stay right on the river at Locke at Broken Wharf, a 10-minute easy walk from Bank DLR station. They have rooms with a river view if you like (we do).

https://www.lockeliving.com/en/london/locke-at-broken-wharf

This is right near St. Paul’s, a lovely church to visit if you haven’t seen it (or to re-visit if you have). The No. 15 bus heads west to Trafalgar Square from a stop in front of the church.

And the pedestrian Millennium Bridge will take you across the river to the lively South Bank area around the Tate Modern and Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre. We never tire of walking the Thames Path along the river here, with beautiful views of the historic (and newerz0 ;buildings on the opposite side of the river. Our favorite loop crosses the bridge and heads east to Tower Bridge, crossing that iconic structure, and returning to Broken Wharf on the riverside paths on the north side, passing the Tower of London and more.

An hour's commute to LCY will cover pretty much everywhere in central London. Anywhere to the east of the centre will give a much shorter commute as pointed out above. Maybe the likes of Earl's Court or Kensington wouldn't make much sense.

Unless you have a very early or very late flight then it's probably not worth moving to be nearer the airport.

Will you be driving to Norwich or taking the train?

Trains to Norwich depart from London Liverpool St Station so if you are planning to take the train, I’d stay there if you are traveling by train.

If you are driving, you could stop in Cambridge which would be a little more than an hour and about halfway to Norwich.

Colchester could be an interesting place to stop over - well off the international tourist radar, but rather better known domestically.

It is on the Norwich line- just under the hour from Liverpool Street. As well as the commuter trains to Ipswich and Harwich, all Norwich services call there.

An interesting history, as the first Capital City of Roman Britain- https://www.visitcolchester.com/

but it's history of settlement goes back into the iron age.

I presume that your edit has reversed the flight? My previous comment was based on where to stay before a flight from LCY.

Now that it's the other way round I presume that you want somewhere to the east of London on the way to Norwich? Cambridge is perhaps the obvious choice. The direct trains from London will go through Chelmsford, Colchester and Ipswich to Norwich. None are particularly known as tourist destinations and I don't know the area at all but I bet that there is plenty to see for a day in any of them. Colchester for example was Britain's first capital.

Are you planning to drive? If so, I would get a train out of the city and hire then - any of the places mentioned above would work.

If you are getting the train from LCY, whether all the way or to a hire car, take the DLR to Stratford, where you can pick up the trains from Liverpool St and save having to go into the city and back out again.

Thanks so much everyone. We will not be hiring a car, so ideas for places easily accessible by train are what we are looking for. I should have remembered to mention that.
We were in Cambridge in May of last year, so we are thinking of another place to explore.
Edit: we are still trying to figure out this part of our trip. Arriving at LCY and spending the night not too far away, maybe in London, then heading to Norwich the next day, verses heading to Norwich late that afternoon and maybe being exhausted.

My suggestion is to take the train from Liverpool Street to Manningtree and get out to explore Dedham Vale- it's a beautiful area for walking, most famous for being "Constable Country" (as in the painter John Constable, who painted many landscapes of the area). The direct train from Liverpool Street to Norwich stops there so it will be easy to get back on the train and continue onto Norwich the next day. The train to Norwich from London is about 1 hr 45m and to Manningtree is just under an hour so it's about halfway there.

Thanks Cat , just wondering if it is easy to find the walking paths in Manningtree. If we stayed near the rail station possibly, would it be easy enough to walk to the areas you are talking abou?

Yes, great question! We did this walk a few years ago- it starts and ends at Manningtree station: https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/suffolk/flatford/flatford-and-constable-country-walk

It was a lovely day out and also takes you to the village of Dedham. We had a very nice lunch here: https://theboatyarddedham.co.uk/