LGW - Gatwick

London Gatwick is the second largest airport in the United Kingdom and serving London, and in the top ten busiest in Europe. It has two terminals (North and South) and saw 33 million passengers in 2023. Its website can be found at www.gatwickairport.com

Parking

Gatwick has a range of parking options - short stay (five minutes from the terminal), Premium short stay (two minutes from the terminal), long stay (ten-minute shuttle bus in operation), valet parking (hand over your car five minutes from the terminal, optional wash and clean).  The full details of the options are here www.gatwickairport.com/parking

Drop Off

Gatwick drop-off is right outside the terminal and costs £6, payable by phone or online.

Security

Security details at Gatwick can be found here www.gatwickairport.com/passenger-guides/security Gatwick utilises eye scanning at the point you first enter security and scan your boarding pass.  Gatwick offers a fast track for £6.

Restaurants and Bars

There are plenty of restaurants in the two terminals. 

Terminal North - Black Sheep (takeaway, cafe), The Breakfast Club (food cafe), Brewdog (pub), Juniper and Co (food), Krispy Kreme (cafe), Nicholas Culpeper (food), Pret a Manger (takeaway, cafe), Pure (food), Red Lion (pub), Shake Shack (food), Sonoma (food), Starbucks (takeaway, cafe), Tortilla (food), Wagamama (food)

Terminal South - Beehive (pub), Black Sheep (takeaway, cafe), Caffe Nero (takeaway, cafe), Caviar House & Prunier Seafood (food), Flying Horse (pub), Giraffe (food), Grain Store (food), Greggs (takeaway, cafe), Itsu (food), Joe and The Juice (food), Nando's (food), Pret a Manger (takeaway, cafe), South Downs (wine bar), Starbucks (takeaway, cafe), Vagabond (food), Wagamama (food), Wondertree (food)

Shops

Gatwick has a large number of shops in both terminals.  You can find out more about each store here www.gatwickairport.com/shopping-directory.html 

Terminal North - Accessorize, Bobbi Brown, Boots, Boss, Case, Change Group, Collection, Curi O City, Dune, Excess Baggage Company, Fatface, Glorious Britain, Hamleys, Harrods, Havaianas, InMotion, JD, Jo Malone, Kid's Stop, Lego, M&S Simply Food, Ray-Ban, Reiss, Sim Local, Sunglass Hut, Superdry, Ted Baker, Watches Of Switzerland, Well Pharmacy, Whittard, WH Smith, World Duty Free 

Terminal South - Accessorize, Aerospa, Bobbi Brown, Boots, Boss, Case, Change Group, Curi O City, Dune, Excess Baggage Company, Fatface, Hamleys, Harrods, Havaianas, InMotion, JD, Lego, M&S Simply Food, Reiss, Sim Local, Sunglass Hut, Superdry, TAG Heuer, Ted Baker, Tudor, WH Smith, World Duty Free 

Gatwick has a Reserve & Collect option.

Lounges

There are a range of options at the airport.

Terminal North - The Gateway, 0500-1600, food included, from £30

Terminal North - Plaza Premium, 0400-2000, complimentary buffet and drinks, from £36

Terminal North - No1, 0400-2100, complimentary food, from £36

Terminal North - Flight Lounge, 0600-1400 hot and cold food included, from £38

Terminal North - Clubrooms, 0600-1530, waiter service, from £42

Terminal South - My Lounge, 0400-2000, food included, from £30

Terminal South - No1, 0400-2100, complimentary food, from £36

Assistance

Gatwick recommends travellers contact their tour operator, travel agent or airline at least 48 hours prior to departure so that your details can be passed to the Assistance team.  You can find some very detailed information via the following link.

Assistance - www.gatwickairport.com/passenger-guides/special-assistance

Hotels

There are three hotels that can be considered as being in the airport and are officially recommended by Gatwick Airport.

Terminal North - Hampton by Hilton

Terminal South - bloc, Yotel

In close proximity you will find

Terminal North - Sofitel (5 minute walk)

Terminal South - Courtyard by Marriott (15 minute walk), Hilton (10 minute walk), Premier Inn (5 minute walk)

Other hotels fairly close to Gatwick include

Airport Inn, Best Western Skylane, Ibis, Arora, Premier Inn A23, Holiday Inn, Travelodge, Crown Plaza

Just click on the Expedia link below for hotels at Gatwick.

Shuttles The further afield hotels can be reached by

Gatwick Hoppa

Every 20 minutes (day/evening), every 40 minutes (night), £4.50 return, the route (starting at 1300) is Holiday Inn (1300), Travelodge (1307), Courtyard by Marriott (1312), South Terminal (1318), North Terminal (1322), Premier Inn A23 (1330)

Purple Parking Shuttle buses

Courtyard by Marriott - 0400-2343, 10 minute journey (North), 3 minute journey (South), every 20 minutes, £6 return

Airport Inn - 0400-2300, 5 minute journey, every 20 minutes, £6 return

Best Western Skylane - 0600-2340, 10 minute journey, every 30 minutes, £6 return

Ibis - 0400-0045, 15 minute journey, every 36 minutes, included in hotel

Arora - 0545-2200 (North), 0435-2145 (South), 20 minute journey, every hour, £7 return

Premier Inn A23 - 0400-0045, 10 minute journey (North), 15 minute journey (South), every 20 minutes, included in hotel

Holiday Inn - 0500-0500, 10 minute journey, every 10-15 minutes before midnight, every 30 minutes midnight to 0500, £7 return

Travelodge - 0500-0500, 15 minute journey, every 20 minutes, included in hotel

Crown Plaza - 0430-2230, 15 minute journey North), 10 minute journey (South), every 10-15 minutes, £6 return

Immigration

For all international travellers you should check entry requirements on the official government site.  In this case it is www.gov.uk/browse/visas-immigration and you will find details on the ETA scheme there too.

Gatwick has a large number of eGates and you should use them if you qualify.  Namely, 

• biometric passport

• aged 10 or above (aged 10 to 17 must be accompanied by an adult)

• British citizen or

• national of an EU country, Australia, Canada, Iceland, Japan, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, USA or

• member of the Registered Travel Service

Reclaim

Just follow the signs after immigration and you will come to the baggage reclaim area.  There are boards that you should check for your flight number, and that will indicate which carousel you need to attend.  There are trolleys available in the area.

Customs

There are two channels - green (nothing to declare) and red (items to declare).  If you have used the airport in the past and remember blue channels, they have all closed.

Just like immigration you should only rely on the official government information regarding what you can bring into the UK. www.gov.uk/bringing-goods-into-uk-personal-use

If Gatwick is being used as a transit airport (i.e. your bags are checked to your final destination) then that is where you will go through customs, once you are reunited with your bags.

Taxis

Gatwick has approved taxis that can be pre-booked via Airport Cars Gatwick.  

Any other taxi is subject to a £6 drop off fee and that will be added to the fare. Do note that a taxi to (for example) King's Cross in London would take 1 hour 45 minutes upwards so is significantly longer than any rail services.

Buses and Coaches

Local buses are generally low cost and are mainly for journeys in the immediate vicinity.  Regular buses do not offer a viable route into London.  The bus stands can be found at

Terminal North - Furlong Way, five minute walk from the terminal

Terminal South - either side of the A23, take a lift from arrivals or from the inter-terminal station

A range of coach operators can be found at Gatwick and this can offer direct transport to various towns and cities.  Many of these routes use variable pricing so you may find tickets increasing in price as the date approaches.  The main routes include

National Express - Heathrow, and various towns and cities (Terminal North - lower level International Arrivals, Terminal South - lower forecourt stops 1-5)

Megabus - various towns and cities

Flix Bus - various towns and cities

Airline - to Oxford

For National Express just click below.

Rail and Trams

Located at Terminal South you will find a multi-platform train station that gives connections to a large number of places with no or just one change.

Gatwick Express - twice an hour, 30 minutes to London Victoria.  £20.50.  Book in advance for a 10% discount.

Southern - destinations include London Victoria £13.20 upwards, Clapham Junction, Brighton, Southampton and more.

Thameslink - destinations include London Bridge £13.80, London Blackfriars £14.40, City Thameslink £14.40, Farringdon £14.40, St. Pancras £14.40, Brighton, Cambridge and more.  They also operate a direct train to Luton Airport Parkway.

GWR - destinations include Reading and Guildford.

As you approach the station you will find a large number of ticket machines as well as staff to help you.  You can buy an Oyster card at Gatwick if required.  For routes into London you can use contactless or Oyster but do note that neither counts as part of daily capping, and any Oyster use will just use your balance.

For any rail bookings, we recommend Trainline. Just click the logo below.

Routes

Gatwick is a large airport with two terminals and therefore has a large amount of direct routes available. 

Destinations

Less than 2 hours - Aberdeen, Amsterdam, Asturias, Basel, Belfast, Bergen, Berlin, Biarritz, Copenhagen, Cork, Dublin, Edinburgh, Frankfurt, Friedrichshafen, Geneva, Glasgow, Grenoble, Guernsey, Hamburg, Inverness, Isle of Man, La Rochelle, Limoges, Lyon/Grenoble, Marseille, Milan Linate, Milan Malpensa, Montpellier, Munich, Nantes, Newquay, Paris CDG, Paris Orly, Rennes, Saint Helier, Salzburg, Santiago de Compostela, Shannon, Stavanger, Strasbourg, Toulon, Toulouse, Turin, Verona, Zurich

Less than 4 hours - Agadir, Akureyri, Algiers, Alicante, Almeria, Ancona, Athens, Barcelona El Prat, Bari, Bastia, Bilbao, Bologna, Bolzano, Bourgas, Brindisi, Bucharest, Budapest, Cagliari, Calvi, Casablanca, Catania, Corvera, Dubrovnik, Enfidha, Faro, Faroe Islands, Figari, Florence, Funchal, Gibraltar, Gothenburg, Granada, Helsinki, Ibiza, Innsbruck, Istanbul Havalimani, Izmir, Kalamata, Kefallinia, Kerkyra, Krakow, La Coruna, Lisbon, Ljubljana, Madrid, Malaga, Malta, Marrakesh, Menorca, Mykonos, Naples, Nice, Olbia, Oslo, Palermo, Palma, Pisa, Podgorica, Porto-Vecchio, Prague, Preveza, Pula, Reykjavik, Riga, Rome, Rovaniemi, Salerno, Sevilla, Skiathos, Sofia, Split, Stockholm, Tallinn, Tangier, Thessaloniki, Thira, Tivat,  Tromso, Trondheim, Tunis, Valencia, Venice, Vienna, Zadar, Zagreb, Zakynthos

Less then six hours - Antalya, Baku, Bodrum, Chania, Dalaman, Heraklion, Hurghada, Kos, Lanzarote, Larnaca, Las Palmas, Luxor, Paphos, Ponta Delgada, Puerto del Rosario, Rhodes, Sharm el Sheikh, Tenerife

Over six hours - Accra, Addis Ababa, Ahmedabad, Amritsar, Antigua St. John's, Bangkok, Beijing Capital, Boa Vista, Boston, Bridgetown, Cancun, Cape Town, Doha, Dubai, Goa, Guangzhou, Halifax, Jeddah, Kingston, Kochi, Lagos, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Marsa Alam, Mauritius, Miami, Montego Bay, Montreal, New York JFK, Orlando, Port of Spain, Punta Cana, Quebec, Saint John's, Saint Lucia, San Jose, Sal, Shanghai, Singapore, Tampa, Tashkent, Tel Aviv, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC Dulles, Zhengzhou

Maps

With two terminals and different levels, there are a few maps available.

You can find a searchable resource here www.gatwickairport.com/passenger-guides/airport-maps.html that allows you to pick a terminal and then access all the maps for that terminal on one page.

Meeting Points

Terminal North - there is no designated meeting point.  You will find that Boots, WH Smith and M&S Simply Food form a triangle about halfway between Domestic and International Arrivals.

Terminal South - there is no designated meeting point,  You will find that Boots and M&S Simply Food are close to halfway between Domestic and International Arrivals.

Terminal Transfers

If you are transiting through Heathrow you may need to change terminals.  You should have been told in advance, and advised of the terminal number, and will find boards shortly after you have alighted from the aeroplane to confirm the route required.  The exact circumstances will decide if you need to go through immigration at this point, or through a security check or just head straight through to the next area.   

Terminal North to Terminal South - there is a free monorail service between the terminals and it takes about five minutes.  

Car Hire

You can find a large number of big name car hire companies (Alamo, Avis, Budget, Enterprise, Europcar, Hertz, National) in close proximity of Gatwick.  Which is best for you will always depend on personal circumstances.  Do note that most of these will allow you to pick up at Gatwick and drop off at another location for a fee.

Gatwick does have its own recommended list and search tool here   www.gatwickairport.com/premium-services/car-hire.html

You will find desks in both terminals

Terminal North - lower forecourt, follow signs towards Jubilee House.  Information desks in the Arrivals Hall opposite Boots.

Terminal South - lower forecourt, follow signs to car hire then take the upper forecourt lift to level 0.  Information desks can be found close by.