Getting to London

London has excellent transport links, with an extensive road and rail network around the country, and with one of the busiest airports in the world, among the five serving the city.

By car

London is encircled by the M25 motorway and there are a number of motorways (M roads) that link the city to the rest of Britain. The M1 travels north to Leeds, the M20 southeast, the M11 northeast to East Anglia and Cambridge, the M23 goes south to Gatwick, the M3 to Southampton, the M4 west to Bristol, and M40 to Oxford and Birmingham.

Cambridge and Oxford are both around 90 minutes drive from London, Birmingham about 2 hours, and Bristol about 3 hours. If youre driving from France, the Eurotunnel arrives at Folkestone, from where you can join the M20.

By rail

From London there is an extensive rail network to destinations all over the country, but the services are much maligned and can be rather erratic. Train services are provided by a number of different companies, and all information can be obtained through National Rail Enquiries (www.nationalrail.co.uk). Londons major stations provide services to different regions: Euston and Kings Cross for the north of England and Scotland; Paddington for the south west, South Wales, the Midlands, and Heathrow Airport; St. Pancras for the EuroTunnel, Liverpool Street for East Anglia, Victoria for the southeast and Gatwick Airport. There are also a number of smaller stations for regional services.

By bus

National and International long distance buses terminate at Victoria Coach Station, a short walk from the train station. There are decent facilities here; a left-luggage office, ATMs, money exchange and information desks. National Express operates services throughout the UK and Eurolines has departures from London to over 500 European destinations.

By air

London Heathrow is the major airport serving the city, but there are four other airports that are considered London airports and there are few other cities in the world with such extensive air travel connections.

Heathrow Airport, 15 miles west of London is one of the worlds busiest airports and is currently extending to a fifth terminal to cope with the ever increasing air traffic. Journey time on the express train to Paddington is around 15-20 minutes.

Gatwick Airport is around 30 miles south of London and is the UKs second busiest airport, with around 200 destinations served from its two terminals. The Gatwick express to Victoria takes around 30 minutes.

Stansted is a fast growing modern airport, around 30 miles northeast of the city centre and is popular with budget airports offering cheap flights around Europe. Luton Airport, some 30 miles north of London is also a growing facility, and is also served by a number of budget airlines. London City Airport is the most central, but also the smallest of the London airports, serving around 2 million passengers a year.

London airports

Londons Heathrow Airport is one of the worlds busiest, with over 60 million passengers passing through every year. As you would expect there are good facilities here across all four terminals, with ATMs, exchange facilities, post offices (terminal 2 and 4), shops, restaurants, cafs, bars, information desks, and car hire available in all terminals. There is also an extensive business centre located between terminal one and two. There are a vast number of airlines operating services to and from Heathrow with the highest number flying to Terminal two and three. Terminal Four is predominantly used for British Airways long haul flights, but there are also a few other airlines operating here.

Gatwick Airport is not as big as Heathrow, but has all the same facilities you would expect of a significant international airport, with plenty of shops and eateries, as well as a free train shuttle to connect the two terminals.

Stansted Airport is an expanding, modern airport and has good facilities, many of which have been recently renovated. There are a number of shops, restaurants, and bars as well as hotel booking and information desks, and all the usual car hire firms represented. Broadband wireless internet access is also available.

Luton Airport is fairly small, but has reasonable facilities with information desks, shops, cafs, and car hire available.

London City Airport is the smallest of the London airports, and has money exchange facilities, information and hotel booking desks and ATMs as well as a smaller number of shops, bars and restaurants.

London airports transportation

Heathrow Airport has excellent transport links to the city, the Heathrow express train to Paddington takes around 15-20 minutes, and there are two underground stations (Terminal 1,2,3, and Terminal 4) on the Piccadilly line from where you can link to the whole London network. There is a bus station for national express services, which include buses to link with Gatwick Airport, and there are plenty of taxis available, although this is obviously the most expensive option.

Gatwick also has an express train service to Victoria (30 minutes), as well as being on the Thameslink rail line, which travels to Kings Cross, Luton, Brighton and other destinations. Taxis from Gatwick to the centre of London are considerably more expensive than from Heathrow.

The express train from Stansted terminates at Liverpool Street, and takes about 50 minutes. There are also national express coach services available, as well as taxis.

Thameslink rail services provide trains to Luton Airport Parkways from Kings Cross with a journey time of about 30-40 minutes, and there is a free shuttle bus from the train station to the airport. There are also taxis and buses available.

London City airport is served by the Docklands Light Railway (DLR), and there are also airport shuttle buses and plenty of taxis available.