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Heathrow and Gatwick airport transfers – all the options explained and reviewed

Do you have a flight connection to make from Heathrow to Gatwick or from Gatwick to Heathrow? Want to know the minimum time to get from one airport to another? This is a complete list of your options: how much cost and how long they take.

London airport transfers: what you need to know

There are no direct trains between Heathrow and Gatwick.
You can’t take the London Underground (tube) all the way between Heathrow and Gatwick as it doesn't exist
Gatwick and Heathrow are a hefty distance apart (40 miles by road) and it’s going to take a while whichever form of transport you choose.
You won't be allowed to check luggage from Heathrow to Gatwick, you'll have to carry it all.

This guide shows the best ways to get between Heathrow and Gatwick airport. I've got seperate guides if you want the best ways to get from Gatwick to central London or from Heathrow to Central London.

So what are my options to get from Heathrow to Gatwick (or vice-versa)?

The best: National Express Bus.
The quickest: taxi (book privately for the best deal)
The cheapest: A tube/Easybus combination.

I'll review each option, including how much they each cost and how long they take.

National Express Airport Transfer Bus

The only direct bus operator between Heathrow and Gatwick is National Express. There are around 100 buses a day on the route.

How long does it take?

Around an hour and a half, from terminal to terminal. Be aware though there is always the chance of traffic adding to that time so factor this in.

Where does it go to and from?

Runs between Gatwick’s South Terminal (free monorail to North Terminal – takes around 12 minutes, including waiting time) and Heathrow Airport’s Central bus station – from there it’s only a short walk to terminals 1,2,3,4 and 5 (between 5 and 15 minutes to check in desks, depending on which terminal you’re going from).
There are plenty of signs at both Heathrow and Gatwick. Check with the driver too that he’s going where you think he is!

How much is it?

£19.50 on the bus, though you can also book in advance on the web for a discount. Make sure you decheck the spurious ‘insurance’ charge though you’d be wise to get decent travel insurance covering your all trip (I’ve got a guide to the best insurance deals for travellers coming from the US)

So how long should I allow?

Clearing customs/baggage/security at arrival airport: 55 mins
Finding bus stop and waiting for bus: 10 mins
Travel time: 1 hour 30 mins
Check-in time at other airport: 2 hours
ABSOLUTE MINIMUM: 4 hours 40 mins

Final comment:

Because it's frequent, direct and not that expensive, it’s the least hassle, and the option I’d probably go for.

Get a Taxi between Heathrow and Gatwick

Yes, a taxi – you can pick up a London black cab at Heathrow or a minicab at London_black_taxi Gatwick. This way you’ll definitely get a licensed taxi. Taking an unlicensed taxi is a very bad idea.

How long does it take?

Roughly one hour, though the total journey time is massively variable.

If you’re travelling through the rush hour on a weekday (which is about 0700 to 0930, and 1630 to 1900) the time allowed should be doubled. This is no exaggeration, the traffic really is that heavy. It’s also often bad around Saturday lunchtime too: I’d allow an extra thirty minutes to journey times if travelling between 11am and 2pm on a Saturday.
However at any time you could be delayed by accidents or the weight of traffic. Once you’re on the M25, the main road you’ll be using between the two airports, it can be very difficult to get off again to find an alternative route. This makes planning a sensible amount of time to use very difficult.

How much will they cost?

Quite a lot. Anywhere from £80 to £120, though the cars carry up to four people. It will be a squeeze with luggage and four of you though. Taxis you’ve booked in advance will be cheaper than just turning up and hailing one. At Gatwick you can't hail a cab, you have to book in advance before you leave or use one of the free phones and one will come in less than five minutes to pick you up. I'd recommend booking in advance anyway through airport taxis, they’re keenly-priced and reliable.

So how much time should I allow to make my connection?

Clearing customs/baggage/security at arrival airport: 55 mins
Finding taxi rank/meeting driver: 10 mins
Travel time: 1 hour if you’re lucky
Check-in time at other airport: 2 hours
ABSOLUTE MINIMUM: 4 hours; 5 or 5 and a half if it’s rush hour

Comment:

Convenient but not cheap and you have to factor-in delays on the roads.

Bus then tube (from Gatwick to Heathrow) OR tube then bus (from Heathrow to Gatwick)

easybus The Easybus is a cheap bus that does the bulk of this journey, the stretch between Fulham Broadway underground station and Gatwick airport. It’s a lurid orange colour and thus very easy to find.

It has two main benefits:

(a) Easybus is very cheap – as little as £2 if you book in advance online, though it’s £10 in cash to the driver if you haven’t done this. Services run up to every 20 minutes to and from Gatwick’s North Terminal (there’s a short, free monorail between the North Terminal if you need it). The drop-off and collection point in London is Fulham-Broadway underground station, which is on the district line.

(b) Easybus is non-stop between Gatwick and Fulham-Broadway, and takes around 70 minutes.

Yet there are (perhaps more significant) disadvantages to it too:

(a) It’s not that easy to get to Heathrow from Fulham Broadway. You need to take the London Underground, with a change - the district line to Earl’s Court and then change to the Picadilly line. This involves quite a bit of walking underground including going up and down stairs.

(b) You’re going to need to buy a tube ticket from Fulham Broadway to Heathrow – this will probably cost you around £4 one way, marginally cheaper if you have an Oyster card (which isn’t worth buying just for this)

How long should I allow for this journey?

Well, let’s assume that after you’ve landed:

55 minutes getting luggage and clearing security at first airport then:

20 minutes waiting for a bus (you may be lucky but it’s good to build in some redundancy)
1hr 10mins travel on Easybus to or from Fulham Broadway.
45 minutes tube journey from Fulham Broadway to Heathrow
15 minutes getting between underground station and terminals at Heathrow
But obviously you’ll also need to arrive on average around 2 hours before a flight departs to check in, and you’ll have had to pass through security and baggage control at the second airport.

In short I reckon this takes a MINIMUM of 5.5 hours.

The above reckonings of time also work in reverse, so if you’re going from Heathrow to Gatwick it will take basically the same amount of time.

You also need to make sure that there’s not scheduled engineering work on the tube network. Plug the Fulham broadway to heathrow into the London TFL’s journeyplanner with the dates you’re travelling to make sure.

Final comment:

Cheapest but not very convenient.

Train then tube

There are no direct trains between Heathrow and Gatwick.

gatwick express train During your internet wanderings you may have heard of the Heathrow Express. It’s a fast train that goes to and from Heathrow airport. For the purposes of getting between Gatwick and Heathrow airports though, it’s essentially useless as it goes between Heathrow and Paddington in north west central London, from where it’s very difficult to get to and from Gatwick. So there you go, you can ignore any further nonsense about the Heathrow Express. This route though uses the Gatwick Express - a similar idea which goes from Gatwick.

So how should I do it?

Coming from Heathrow to Gatwick:

So the best way to get between Gatwick and Heathrow in this scenario is to (coming from Heathrow) take a London Underground train direct to South Kensington then switch to the district line until Victoria (47 minutes, including the change), climb the stairs/escalator to the main part of Victoria station and then get on the Gatwick Express train. (30 minutes, trains every 15 minutes).

From Gatwick to Heathrow:

If you’re coming from Gatwick you get on a Gatwick Express train from the airport (having bought a ticket at the train station which is in the airport terminal) and then get the tube to South Kensington and change onto the dark blue (Piccadilly) line.

How long will it take?

The journey time is around 1 hour 30 minutes. So:

55 minutes getting luggage and clearing security at airport 1
15 minutes waiting for Gatwick Express
30 mins travel on Gatwick Express to Victoria
10 mins walk at Victoria between the platform and the tube station platform, including waiting for a tube train.
47 minutes tube journey from Victoria to Heathrow, including a change of lines at South Kensington.
15 minutes getting between underground station and terminals at airport 2 (heathrow)
2 hours check in before flight time at Heathrow.

So, in sum: A Minimum of 5 hours before your next flight is scheduled to depart.

How much will it cost?

Around £4 for the tube and £16.90 for the Gatwick Express, so about £21.

Can I get it cheaper?

Yes. If time is not a total issue to you, you could take the Southern to Victoria or the First capital connect to London Bridge. Both are significantly cheaper and if you’ve time to kill you could spend some hours in central London before your next flight. More details about those trains on my page about getting to and from Gatwick alone (note: Victoria station has a left luggage facility, London Bridge doesn’t)

Final comment:

This is the most certain, fixed time of any of the options. There’s always the slight possibility that trains won’t run on time but 99% of the time there will be no serious problems so if I needed cast-iron certainty and wasn’t prepared to risk the (very small) chance that the National Express bus would be delayed then this is what I’d do. The changing is a lot of hassle though.