STN - Stansted

Situated to the north of London, Stansted offers a different array of destinations to the other London airports. It saw 23 million passengers in 2022. Its website is www.stanstedairport.com

Parking

Stansted has a range of parking options - short stay (up to ten minutes from the terminal), Meet & Greet (three minutes from the terminal), mid stay (seven minute transfer), long stay (fifteen minute transfer), and Jet Parks (twenty minute transfer).  The full details of the options are here www.stanstedairport.com/parking/

Drop Off

Stansted drop off is a couple of minutes from the terminal and costs £7 for up to 15 minutes, £25 for up to 30 minutes.  Payment is by card.

Security

Security details at Stansted can be found here www.stanstedairport.com/help/passenger-guides/security/ Stansted offers a fast track for £8.

Restaurants and Bars

There are a range of restaurants at Stansted.

Bottega, Burger King, Burnells Bar, Caffe Nero, The Camden Bar & Kitchen, Comptoir Libanais, Costa Coffee,  Discover Gourmet, Harris + Hoole, Itsu, The Windmill (pub), Joe & The Juice, Krispy Kreme, Leon, M&S Simply Food, The Perch, Pret a Manger, Pure Catering, Sunny Side Cafe, Terracotta Italian Kitchen

Shops

​Stansted has a large number of shops.  You can find out more about each store here www.stanstedairport.com/at-the-airport/at-the-terminal/

Shops include Accessorize, Boots, Boss, Dune, Excess Baggage, Fatface, Glorious Britain, Hamleys, InMotion, JD Sports, Lego, Mulberry, Rituals, Sunglasses Boutique, Superdry, Ted Baker, Tommy Hilfiger, WH Smith, World Duty Free

Stansted has a Reserve & Collect option as well as Collect On Return.

Lounges

Escape Lounge - 0400-2000, complimentary hot and soft drinks, food and bar to order, from £32

Assistance

Stansted 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.stanstedairport.com/help/special-assistance/

Hotels

Stansted highlight a range of hotels near the airport.

Radisson Blu - 5 minute walk

Hampton by Hilton - 5 minute walk

Holiday Inn Express - 5 minute shuttle

De Salis - 5 minute shuttle

Novotel - 6 minute shuttle

Premier Inn - 10-15 minute shuttle

Days Inn - 5-10 minute drive

Ramada - 10 minute drive

The Ash Barn - 10 minute drive

Greater Hallingbury Manor - 15 minute drive

The Harlow Hotel - 15 minute drive

Just click below for details of hotels near Stansted.

Shuttles

Four hotels use a shuttle service.

Holiday Inn Express, Novotel, Premier Inn - £3, 2 per hour

De Salis - £4.50, 3 per hour

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.

Stansted have an immigration fast track for £6.

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).  

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

Taxis

Stansted has a search device for approved taxis here www.stanstedairport.com/getting-to-and-from/by-taxi/  In addition they also have an on-site service called Street Cars.  There is a reservations desk at International Arrivals and a designated telephone at domestic baggage reclaim.  

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 a couple of minutes walk from the terminal.

A range of coach operators can be found at Stansted 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 - various towns and cities, three routes into London including A6 (Baker Street, Marble Arch, London Victoria), A8 (Liverpool Street) and A9 (Stratford, direct route)

Airport Bus Express - various towns and cities, London route twice an hour calling at Liverpool Street and Stratford

First Essex - various locations in Essex

For National Express services just click the image below.

Rail and Trams

The airport has its own station just a couple of minutes walk from the terminal.

Stansted Express - this service goes to Tottenham Hale (for the Victoria line), Liverpool Street (for Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines).  Prices are much better if purchased online and in advance.  Oyster cannot be used and is not available at the station machines.

To Tottenham Hale - £10.50 advance, £22.40 on the day

To Liverpool Street and Stratford - £11.50 advance, £23 on the day

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

Routes

Due to its location on the north side of London, and the airlines present, Stansted offers up some alternative destinations to the other London options.

Destinations

Under 2 hours - Aalborg, Aarhus, Alicante, Amsterdam,  Asturias, Basel, Belfast, Bergen, Bergerac, Berlin, Beziers, Biarritz, Bolzano, Bordeaux, Bremen, Brive, Carcassonne, Chambery, Cologne, Copenhagen, Cork, Dortmund, Dresden, Dublin, Edinburgh, Eindhoven, Frankfurt, Geneva, Glasgow, Gothenburg, Grenoble, Hamburg, Innsbruck, Jersey, Kerry, Knock, La Rochelle, Leipzig, Limoges, Londonderry, Lourdes, Luxembourg, Maastricht, Marseille, Memmingen, Munich, Nantes, Newquay, Nimes, Nuremburg, Perpignan, Poitiers, Rodez, Santander, Santiago de Compostela, Shannon, Szczecin, Toulouse, Tours, Turin, Vaxjo, Zurich

Under 4 hours - Agadir, Alghero, Almeria, Ancona, Ankara, Athens, Barcelona, Bari, Billund, Bologna, Bratislava,  Brindisi, Brno, Bucharest, Budapest, Burgas, Bydgoszcz, Cagliari, Castellon, de la Plana, Catania,  Chania, Chisinau, Cluj, Corfu, Dubrovnik, Essaouira, Faro, Fez, Gdansk, Genoa, Girona, Helsinki, Ibiza, Istanbul, Jerez, Kalamata, Karlsruhe, Katowice, Kaunas, Kefalonia, Keflavik, Krakow, Lamezia, Lanzarote, Lisbon, Lodz, Madeira, Madrid, Malaga, Malta, Marrakesh, Menorca, Milan, Murcia, Mytilene, Naples, Nice, Olbia, Orebro, Osijek, Oslo, Ostrava, Palanga, Palermo, Palma, Perugia, Pescara, Pisa, Plovdiv, Porto, Poznan, Prague, Preveza, Pula, Rabat, Reus, Reykjavik, Riga, Rijeka, Rimini, Rome, Rzeszow, Salzburg, Santorini, Seville, Sofia, Split, Stockholm, Tallinn, Tampere, Tangier, Trapani, Tirana, Trieste, Valencia, Vasteras, Venice, Verona, Vienna, Vigo, Vilnius, Warsaw, Wroclaw, Zadar, Zagreb, Zakynthos, Zaragoza

Under 6 hours - Antalya, Bodrum, Calvi, Dalaman, Dubai, Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria, Heraklion, Izmir, Orlando, Kos, Las Palmas, Ouarzazete, Paphos, Podgorica, Ponta Delgada, Rhodes, Sharm El Sheikh, Skiathos, Sondre Stromfjord, Tenerife, Thessaloniki, Tivat

Maps

A map of the terminal can be found about half way down this page www.stanstedairport.com/at-the-airport/at-the-terminal/

Meeting Points

There are no designated meeting points.  

Terminal Transfers

Not applicable.

Car Hire

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

Stansted does have its own recommended list and search tool here   www.stanstedairport.com/at-the-airport/car-rental/

The car hire area is 10 minutes away by a free bus service, that can be found outside the terminal.