One night stay-over in London before heading home... where to stay?

There is a great hotel just 5 minutes from Gatwick....The Corner House Hotel....http://www.thecornerhouse.co.uk/rates.html...they will take you to Gatwick from 6am to midnight for free, before 6am it's £5.00. There is a great pub in walking distance from the hotel. Phone number 011-44-1293 784 574

Bluebell steam railway from East Grinstead is very nice and close. An easy train ride from Gatwick Station is Brighton where you do all sorts of things.... National Trust gardens including Nymans and Wakehurst Place (part of Kew) quite close. July is perfect for English gardens.

At what airport in London will you arrive from Barcelona? What time will you arrive in London on the 3rd?

No need for a cab to get you to Gatwick. The Gatwick Express has trains appx. every 15 min. from Victoria. Or Southern Trains does the route- takes a bit longer, but a bit cheaper. You would need to leave Victoria Station about 6:30-7:00 to give yourselves a bit of a cushion to check in and get through security. We like to stay at the Victoria Thistle (name change recently- now called the Grosovenor). It is right inside the station- just a 1 min. (or less) walk to the train. Very good tube connections too, if you arrive in time to do a nice dinner, theatre, etc. If you just want to stay in that area, there are several very good restruants nearby and the staion itself has a decent food court with everything from McDonalds and KFC to a British Chain (Garfunkles), pubs and even a french restruant. Also some shopping- bookstore, Boots (pharmacy), Tie Rack, Electronics stores, even 3 decent groceries! Several of Rick's recommendations are also nearby- Luna Simone and Lime Tree get lots of good reccomendations on this board.

Since you have a 10:10am flight to catch, I would stay at the airport. You'll need to check in early enough that staying in London would push your departure from that hotel into the wee wee hours of the morning, something I work hard to avoid. Better to spend time in London and then take the Gatwick Express back late the night before. It doesn't take that long. Staying at a hotel that's actually in the airport is usually more expensive. But, the tradeoff is that you can walk to checkin rather than depending on someone else to cart you over there. And you can sleep a bit more. You don't say which London airport you are flying into from Barcelona. I'll assume Gatwick. Get to your hotel and check in. If it's too early, ask them to hold your bags and explain you will be back late that night. Catch the Gatwick Express into London. Check the timetable and plan to catch the next-to-last train back to Gatwick. If you've not been to London before, don't be shy about using a cab instead of trying to figure out what Tube line to take.

I would suggest that you stay near Victoria Station. With a 10am departure, you have time to take the train from Victoria. I would suggest that you do online check-in the day before to save you a bit of time when you arrive at the airport. I much prefer spending my last night in London; you will have time to see a show, go out to dinner, take an evening walk, etc. I have stayed overnight at Gatwick at the Yotel but only because I had a 6am flight. Since your flight is at not until 10, I think staying in London would be much more enjoyable.

Thanks for all of your responses, everyone; they've definitely given us a few things to think about! After considering the options (and your comments), we think we're going to stay at a hotel near Gatwick (the Corner House looks nice). Our flight from Barcelona will almost certainly be to Gatwick (if we fly Easy Jet, which we probably will). Two main flight options have us arrive in Gatwick at around noon, or at around 4:30. We're not ones for doing a lot of sight-seeing before travel on these sorts of travel days, so we're thinking we'd rather get the travel done with earlier and enjoy our day afterwards. So, we'll probably arrive in Gatwick around noon, and check in to our hotel. Then, we'll take the Gatwick Express into London, and have plenty of time to enjoy a half-day (lunch, dinner, maybe a show), before heading back to Gatwick late at night. The next morning will be an easy trip over to the airport. We're thinking this'll give us the best of both worlds: we'll stay close to the airport (and have an extra half-hour's sleep), but we'll be back in London with enough time to spare to enjoy a good trip into the city. Thanks again everyone! ~Geoff and Jennifer P.S.: Any other suggestions for a nice Gatwick hotel, other than the Corner House?

Looks like a plan. Hard to say how long it will take to get through passport control and out of the airport, to your hotel, and back to the airport to catch the train, but don't be surprised if it takes two hours or so. In August, though, you'll have the advantage of long hours of daylight. When I suggest targeting the next-to-last train back to Gatwick, it's to avoid planning for the last train and then missing it if something goes wrong. I hesitate to recommend places to visit during your very short visit, especially not knowing your interests. For me, though, I start every visit to London with a walk along the South Bank of the Thames. Take the Tube to Westminster Station. When you exit, you'll be just across the street from Parliament, Big Ben, and Westminster Abbey. When you are through with those, walk across Westminster Bridge, turn left, and walk along the South Bank.

When our flights used Gatwick, if we had an early flight we stayed in the Rosemead B&B on Church Road in Horley. It's a good place plus it's a just a couple of blocks from Ye Olde Six Bells, a nice country style pub with good food. The Corner House previously mentioned is in the same neighborhood. Alas, our flights now use Heathrow which isn't the same.

There's a new (opened 2009) Marriott Courtyard at LGW which is only a 5 minute 'walk' to the airport entrance. If you have a lot of luggage, you can also ride the airport shuttle bus. The current rate for a double this summer is about £ 85 which is only £ 20 more than the Corner House. With the guideline of getting to the airport 3 hrs. before a flight, you won't have to worry about early morning transportation problems. I have stayed there & would stay there again.

JC mentioned taking the next to last Gatwick Express back to the airport from Victoria. That would be at a minute past midnight. Not to worry if you're still on the tiles because the first one is at 03:30. And even better, Southern Railways, its parent company, runs at least an hourly service which takes 44 minutes all night, every night (barring any overnight engineering works - check, as always, before you travel). So, really there actually isn't a last train on that route.

Nigel, thanks for the extra info. I started the "next-to-last" train bit years ago after a friend and I missed the last train from Paddington to Reading, where I lived at the time. All the trains you mention are out of Victoria, right?

All London to Gatwick trains are out of Victoria.

JCs philosophy about second last train is sound. Some of those last Tubes of the day are awfully crowded, especially the central London stops. I seem to have avoided last (rail) train out of London, so cant comment on them

Not all trains from Gatwick to Central London go to Victoria. There are also the First Capital Connect trains which go to London Bridge and St Pancras International. There are other stops as well, which extend the number of London hotels you could stay at. Trains run every 15 minutes and take about 45 minutes from Gatwick to St Pancras. You will need to check the timetable if travelling late at night or at weekends, since the service is currently disrupted for improvement work at those times.

Thanks everyone. We think we're going to stay at that Marriott Courtyard at LGW, as recommended by Tim. Granted, probably not much "character" to it (versus, say, The Corner House), but the convenience of staying right in the airport (for our morning flight), and right near the Gatwick Express station (for our final trip into and out of the city) seems hard to beat. Good info regarding the "last" trains of the night. Thanks again! ~Geoff and Jennifer

Bob You have a point. Thameslink services (now operated by by FCC) have been so unreliable because of all the major engineering works for so many years (and so many more to come now that the new government has announced the further slowdown in the completion) that I have disregarded it. They do indeed have an hourly service from London Bridge lower level which connects with one from St Pancras upstairs. I'm probably worrying over nothing but I'm not sure I'd want to be at London Bridge at 2 in the morning. Also watch Saturday night into Sunday mornings - it looks pretty sparse.... Sorry I was so quick with my Victoria.