My daughter and I are traveling to England and then Italy this August; we fly into Heathrow and then are flying from London to Venice a few days later. In looking at the one-way flights to Venice, the best deal I'm seeing that includes a checked bag is British Airways from Gatwick. (I'm not a fan of BA but for a 2-hour flight I'm focused on economy.) We've flown in and out of Heathrow on 4 trips so are very familiar with that airport, but never Gatwick. So I'd really appreciate any comments as to the ease of getting to Gatwick from the city and also navigating the airport. (We're pretty self-sufficient at getting around via tube/trains, etc. but still want to make sure I don't regret the choice later.) Thanks in advance!
Posted by
San Francisco area
1894 posts
I find Gatwick fairly easy to navigate. Possibly easier than Heathrow as it’s a smaller airport.
Getting to and from is easy from both Victoria rail station, London Bridge station. There are other London stations that offer train service as well but I’ve only utilized those two. From Victoria the Gatwick Express offers nonstop service which takes about half an hour to get there. Southern runs regular train service that takes a little longer as it stops along the way. With an Oyster card the Southern trains are cheaper.
More details on getting to Gatwick can be found here.
Posted by
OP
Virginia USA
27 posts
Oh that's so very helpful, thanks so much.
Posted by
Colorado Mountains, USA
8027 posts
When BA started serving Denver 20 years ago, flights went to/from Gatwick. The Gatwick Express, serving that airport from Victoria Station, couldn’t be better.
When Heathrow’s Terminal 5 debuted, BA switched the Denver connection to Heathrow. Now it’s Terminal 3, but still Heathrow. With Gatwick being the hub for connections to several of our latest trips, though, including Greece and Morocco, we’ve had many recent times at Gatwick. And Norwegian Air now is running cheap flights from Denver to Gatwick, so that means more Gatwick connections.
Gatwick works, Security and Passport Control aren’t worse than at Heathrow, and if Duty Free Shopping’s your thing, you can do that either place, but it’s not overly intrusive at Gatwick. Save on your airfare, and enjoy your trip, but Gatwick won’t make you regret your decision.
Posted by
OP
Virginia USA
27 posts
Just booked the flights, thanks again!
Posted by
Vernon, Canada
32392 posts
emilie,
I would also have recommended Gatwick, as it's smaller and easier to get around. Although you've already booked flights, for future reference you could also have used easyJet from LGW to VCE. They currently have flights listed for as low as £12.82 PP.