Gatwick Airport to London

[ACL]

On June 27th I will be flying into London Gatwick airport. I haven't flown into Gatwick in many moons. I want to take the train into London where we will be staying. I fly into Heathrow occasionally and take either the Heathrow Connect or the Tube into London. I never want to pay the higher fares for the Heathrow Express, nor do I want to pay the nearly 20 Pounds per person for the Gatwick Express when there are perfectly good trains headed to the same place for much less. (Note: I will buying two tickets, one for me and one for my 18 y/o nephew.) These tickets will not be return. We are leaving London on the Eurostar.

Edit: I should note that our final destination is in the area of the Earls Court Tube Station

My questions are:
How much should I expect to pay, off-peak, for two train tickets to London Victoria Station if I purchase the ticket just before boarding? I see that it is 11 Pounds each on the National Rail Enquires website, but is that an advance fare?

Where would be the best place to get Oyster Cards? Are they for sale in the train stations (Gatwick or Victoria) or will I have to get them in the Tube Station?

Thank you.

 

[Tetchytyke]

For a single to London Victoria, it is £19.90 on the Gatwick Express or £15.30 on Southern trains only*.

*I'm not getting into an argument about when a Gatwick Express is a Southern train, and when a Southern train is a Gatwick Express.

If you're prepared to go to a different London station it is £7.90 to London Blackfriars on Thameslink.

You may be able to make it cheaper again if you are prepared to buy a single to East Croydon, leave the gateline, buy an Oyster there and then use Oyster to travel.

 

[hassaanhc]

On June 27th I will be flying into London Gatwick airport. I haven't flown into Gatwick in many moons. I want to take the train into London where we will be staying. I fly into Heathrow occasionally and take either the Heathrow Connect or the Tube into London. I never want to pay the higher fares for the Heathrow Express, nor do I want to pay the nearly 20 Pounds per person for the Gatwick Express when there are perfectly good trains headed to the same place for much less. (Note: I will buying two tickets, one for me and one for my 18 y/o nephew.) These tickets will not be return. We are leaving London on the Eurostar.

My questions are:
How much should I expect to pay, off-peak, for two train tickets to London Victoria Station if I purchase the ticket just before boarding? I see that it is 11 Pounds each on the National Rail Enquires website, but is that an advance fare?

Where would be the best place to get Oyster Cards? Are they for sale in the train stations (Gatwick or Victoria) or will I have to get them in the Tube Station?

Thank you.

£11 each is indeed an Advance fare. The walk-up is £15.30 each for an Anytime Day Single, so total £30.60 (Southern services only).
If you wish to use another operator's services to London (such as travelling to Waterloo) then it is 10p each extra (so £15.40 each or £30.80 total for "Not Gatwick Express"), also remaining valid to Victoria on Southern services.

Gatwick Airport does not sell Oyster cards, but some windows at Victoria can, or you can use the Tube station offices or machines.

There seem to be no off peak tickets for a Gatwick Airport to Victoria journey yet two miles down the line at Three Bridges has Super Off Peak tickets at £10.40 each :roll:.

 

[Bletchleyite]

There is this - buy it (the TVMs do remote issue) and start long at Gatwick. BoJ is allowed.

http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=TBD&dest=1072&rte=789&tkt=CBB

Edit: it seems to be barely valid ever, looking at the restrictions. Possibly no use

There is this though.

http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=TBD&dest=1072&rte=789&tkt=CDS

 

[ACL]

For a single to London Victoria, it is £19.90 on the Gatwick Express or £15.30 on Southern trains only*.

*I'm not getting into an argument about when a Gatwick Express is a Southern train, and when a Southern train is a Gatwick Express.

If you're prepared to go to a different London station it is £7.90 to London Blackfriars on Thameslink.

You may be able to make it cheaper again if you are prepared to buy a single to East Croydon, leave the gateline, buy an Oyster there and then use Oyster to travel.

Thanks for the advice on London Blackfriars. It's on the District Tube Line, ( as is London Victoria) which I would use to get to Earls Court. Is the 7.90 Pounds an advance fare, or can I buy a ticket for that price before I catch the train?

 

[steamybrian]

Is West Brompton or Kensington Olympia stations near where you are staying?
If so to avoid the tube and catch a train from Gatwick Airport to Clapham Junction and change and get another train thence to either of the two stations above.
West Brompton station is only a brisk 5 mins walk to Earls Court (Warwick Road entrance) tube station.

 

[James Wake]

Thanks for the advice on London Blackfriars. It's on the District Tube Line, ( as is London Victoria) which I would use to get to Earls Court. Is the 7.90 Pounds an advance fare, or can I buy a ticket for that price before I catch the train?

No, it is a walk up fare that you can buy on the day, Thameslink fares are very well priced, you need to board a Bedford bound Thameslink train, then change at London Blackfriars onto the westbound District line after buying your Oyster card, taking either a Wimbledon, Richmond or Ealing Broadway train.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Although if you can walk from West Brompton, it is only £12 for a single from Gatwick Airport, catch a Southern train to Clapham Junction and then change to a London Overground train from platform 1, or the once hourly Milton Keynes Central service on platform 16.

 

[sheff1]

There is this - buy it (the TVMs do remote issue) and start long at Gatwick. BoJ is allowed.

http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=TBD&dest=1072&rte=789&tkt=CBB

Edit: it seems to be barely valid ever, looking at the restrictions. Possibly no use

There is this though.

http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=TBD&dest=1072&rte=789&tkt=CDS

Why complicate things with either of those when there is a cheaper fare from Gatwick to Blackfriars ?

 

[MarlowDonkey]

Although if you can walk from West Brompton

I assume it's also possible to change from National Rail to the District Line (Wimbledon branch) at West Brompton and go to Earls Court at the cost of an Oyster journey.

Check the journey times, but travelling almost directly to the hotel area may well be quicker, certainly than via Blackfriars and possibly Victoria.

 

[ACL]

Thanks everyone for the great information. My nephew will think old Uncle ACL is a real Londoner with this kind of knowledge.

One last question. I was looking at a tube map on-line https://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/large-print-tube-map.pdf and I noticed that zone for Earl's Court Tube Station's is shown as 1/2??? What does this mean?

 

[sheff1]

One last question. I was looking at a tube map on-line https://www.tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/large-print-tube-map.pdf and I noticed that zone for Earl's Court Tube Station's is shown as 1/2??? What does this mean?

It is in both zones. The main effect is that if you are travelling in from an outer zone you will only pay the fare to Zone 2 rather than higher Zone 1 fare.

 

[ACL]

Thanks.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Although if you can walk from West Brompton, it is only £12 for a single from Gatwick Airport, catch a Southern train to Clapham Junction and then change to a London Overground train from platform 1, or the once hourly Milton Keynes Central service on platform 16.

Would I need an Oyster Card for the Clapham Junction to West Brompton train or would the ticket I bought at Gatwick suffice?

 

[yorkie]

For a single to London Victoria, it is £19.90 on the Gatwick Express or £15.30 on Southern trains only*.

*I'm not getting into an argument about when a Gatwick Express is a Southern train, and when a Southern train is a Gatwick Express.

The £19.90 fare is routed "Any Permitted" (and is set by Southern).
The £15.30 fare is routed "Southern Only"

Gatwick Express is - and has been since 2008 - operated by Southern.

I am aware of a small number of people who have been charged a Southern supplement by Southern rail staff when travelling on Southern's Gatwick Express route (see Southern route map) on a ticket routed Southern Trains only, because a member of Southern staff claimed the existence of a fictional company that has been defunct since 2008. In all cases I'm aware of, they have been at least adequately compensated for the Southern supplement and their time by Southern customer services. I am aware of many more cases where passengers produced evidence, such as a copy of the Southern route map, and were then not charged an excess fare.

 

[sarahj]

The £19.90 fare is routed "Any Permitted" (and is set by Southern).
The £15.30 fare is routed "Southern Only"

Gatwick Express is - and has been since 2008 - operated by Southern.

I am aware of a small number of people who have been charged a Southern supplement by Southern rail staff when travelling on Southern's Gatwick Express route (see Southern route map) on a ticket routed Southern Trains only, because a member of Southern staff claimed the existence of a fictional company that has been defunct since 2008. In all cases I'm aware of, they have been at least adequately compensated for the Southern supplement and their time by Southern customer services. I am aware of many more cases where passengers produced evidence, such as a copy of the Southern route map, and were then not charged an excess fare.

I tell them and tell them, sometimes they listen.:roll:

Whatever you do, dont buy the Southern only ticket to London Bridge, unless you like to sing the Louis Armstrong song.....'We have all the time in the world.'. The looks you get when you say 55 mins. hock:

 

[yorkie]

Would I need an Oyster Card for the Clapham Junction to West Brompton train or would the ticket I bought at Gatwick suffice?

The cheapest way to get from Gatwick Airport to West Brompton on a flexible ticket without faffing about appears to be to not use Oyster and instead buy a ticket from Three Bridges to West Brompton routed via Clapham Junction not London: http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=TBD&dest=WBP&rte=602&tkt=SDS

This is not the absolute cheapest, but the cheapest would involve faffing about delaying your journey using a combination of paper ticket to somewhere like East Croydon and using Oyster PAYG (or contactless payment card) from there.

 

[maniacmartin]

I was just about to suggest buying a through ticket to West Brompton or Kensington Olympia too.
It's a single change at Clapham Junction from a Victoria-bound Southern train (most trains go from platform 1 at Clapham Junction), and avoids the crowds, hassle and expense of transferring to the tube at Victoria.

It's a very short walk to Earl's Court from West Brompton.

The ticket from Gatwick is only 20p more than the ticket yorkie suggested if you don't want the hassle of explaining to staff you want to buy a ticket to start short. here it is. As its routed NOT LDN, you cannot use it to travel via London Terminals such as Victoria

 

[ACL]

Thanks again to everyone for taking your time to help me. I think I will go to West Brompton via Clapham Junction. It will be nice to see the huge intersection of tracks at Clapham Junction again, and also not feel like all of the other tourists heading to Victoria.

I checked google maps and it's not much further from West Brompton Station to where we are staying than from the Earl's Court Tube station.

Again, my thanks to everyone who took their time to help me.

Cheers

 

[Bletchleyite]

The cheapest way to get from Gatwick Airport to West Brompton on a flexible ticket without faffing about appears to be to not use Oyster and instead buy a ticket from Three Bridges to West Brompton routed via Clapham Junction not London: http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=TBD&dest=WBP&rte=602&tkt=SDS

This is not the absolute cheapest, but the cheapest would involve faffing about delaying your journey using a combination of paper ticket to somewhere like East Croydon and using Oyster PAYG (or contactless payment card) from there.

And this is far easier to do than it was, as Southern's TVMs allow tickets to be sold from any origin, not just the one where the TVM is located.

 

[bb21]

Are you going to be staying in London for long and would you be travelling around London?

 

[ACL]

Are you going to be staying in London for long and would you be travelling around London?

We'll be arriving on Saturday the 27th and leaving on Wednesday the 1st. We'll run around and see some of the normal tourist things. I've been to London a few times over the past 25 years, but most of my trips to the UK are up towards Newcastle where I have friends.

It will be my 18 y/o Nephew's first trip abroad. We will have spent a couple of weeks walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage down in Spain. I'm going to take him to a few more places in Europe before we return. The first place is London.

Thinking about taking a day trip out of London to Stonehenge and a couple of other places. Too many people from the US come to the UK and never leave London. London is a wonderful place, but the rest of the UK should not be missed either.

 

[bb21]

I think you are better off in that case with an Oyster PAYG card as I doubt you would want to be going outside London everyday, so for the days you stay in London, you could benefit from the lower PAYG caps compared to buying a Day Travelcard. They would also be useful getting you to/from relevant mainline railway stations.

In that case, the cheapest option for you is probably the Thameslink ticket to Blackfriars. Because it is a Saturday when you arrive, you will benefit from lower fares on Thameslink at weekends, and only pay £7.90 for a single from Gatwick Airport. Both the London Underground part and the National Rail part of Blackfriars station are accessible by lifts (elevators), so you should be able to navigate the station easily. Upon arrival at the London Underground part of Blackfriars station, you will be able to purchase your Oyster card. Unused credits can be refunded (together with the £5 deposit) when you leave, but you will need to provide a form of ID for that. The single fare from Blackfriars to Earl's Court is £2.30

 

[sheff1]

In that case, the cheapest option for you is probably the Thameslink ticket to Blackfriars. Because it is a Saturday when you arrive, you will benefit from lower fares on Thameslink at weekends, and only pay £7.90 for a single from Gatwick Airport. The single fare from Blackfriars to Earl's Court is £2.30

I'm glad you have confirmed what I thought from the start. All this talk about higher priced fares from Three Bridges being the best option was making me think I had gone mad !

Add in the fact that Blackfriars station is, in my experience, very quiet on a Saturday and the view of the Thames from the National Rail platforms there is one of the best there is, then there is no competition in my view.

 

[bb21]

In fact, having thought about it a bit more, if you will be making at least one more journey after you drop your bags at the hotel that day, eg. to go sightseeing in central London at night, you would be better off with a Thameslink only Super Off-Peak Day Travelcard at £12.00, which includes unlimited travel on London Underground, buses, Tramlink and DLR for one day across Zones 1-6, plus a journey from Gatwick Airport to the edge of Zone 6 on Thameslink. (It also includes a return journey back to Gatwick Airport that day but you don't need it.) You will in that case not need to use Oyster for that particular day.

A word of warning: don't get taken in by the "helpers" who loiter around the ticket machines at Gatwick Airport. They will try and "mislead" you into buying an over-priced Gatwick Express ticket, which is very poor value. If I were you, I would go to the ticket windows and ask for the cheapest ticket to Blackfriars, and not accept anything other than the £7.90 ticket, or the Thameslink only Day Travelcard I mentioned. Thameslink trains run four times an hour from Gatwick (mostly to Bedford, but also another two per hour to London Bridge). Make sure that you check which train you are boarding prior to doing so as getting on a Southern service with such tickets would make you liable for a Penalty Fare. You can of course change at London Bridge with the Travelcard, but it is a bit of a nightmare at the moment, especially with luggage, so I would stick with Blackfriars if I were you.

There are in fact some even cheaper ways to make that journey but I think on the balance of cost vs convenience, the Thameslink tickets are the best options. The cheaper options all involve either faffing around with your luggage at busy mainline stations or walking across town with your luggage and changing a few times en route.

I'm glad you have confirmed what I thought from the start. All this talk about higher priced fares from Three Bridges being the best option was making me think I had gone mad !

Add in the fact that Blackfriars station is, in my experience, very quiet on a Saturday and the view of the Thames from the National Rail platforms there is one of the best there is, then there is no competition in my view.

You should know by now that on this forum, we have a habit of drifting off in our own little world quite a long way away from the original topic in hand.

 

[ACL]

Thanks for the information. Especially the "helpers" at Gatwick Airport Station. We won't be in any rush so I won't mind waiting in line at the ticket window.

 

[James Wake]

Those "helpers" have caused one of my friends a poor experience, he was trying to buy a Clapham Junction to London Waterloo single off the machine with a 16-25 discount, as he has a Go Ahead travel pass for Southern, but the helper kept on making him go back to the first screen, even though he knew what he was doing. I would suggest going to the ticket office and ensuring you get the Thameslink tickets previously mentioned and don't let them try and sell you anything more expensive.

 

[ACL]

Thanks.

 

[talldave]

bb21's £12 option into Blackfriars is an excellent choice for a tourist's arrival into London (views of the Thames AND avoiding Victoria).

If you want to shut the helpers up at Gatwick, just tell them you want to buy an off peak ticket for the following day!! When they tell you that you can't do it from their lovely TVM, get out your mobile, buy it on Southern's website and immediately collect it from the TVM!

 

[ACL]

bb21's £12 option into Blackfriars is an excellent choice for a tourist's arrival into London (views of the Thames AND avoiding Victoria).

If you want to shut the helpers up at Gatwick, just tell them you want to buy an off peak ticket for the following day!! When they tell you that you can't do it from their lovely TVM, get out your mobile, buy it on Southern's website and immediately collect it from the TVM!

That's beautiful. If I had a mobile that worked in the UK I'd do it.

 

[sarahj]

bb21's £12 option into Blackfriars is an excellent choice for a tourist's arrival into London (views of the Thames AND avoiding Victoria).

If you want to shut the helpers up at Gatwick, just tell them you want to buy an off peak ticket for the following day!! When they tell you that you can't do it from their lovely TVM, get out your mobile, buy it on Southern's website and immediately collect it from the TVM!

Had a guy on my train the other day buying a ticket. He then moans its cheaper online (the 5-10% on line discount). 'If you want to pay that' says I' get off the train, buy it, collect from a machine and get on another one'.

advance ticket, the hints in the name. :roll:

 

[andrewkeith5]

bb21's £12 option into Blackfriars is an excellent choice for a tourist's arrival into London (views of the Thames AND avoiding Victoria).

If you want to shut the helpers up at Gatwick, just tell them you want to buy an off peak ticket for the following day!! When they tell you that you can't do it from their lovely TVM, get out your mobile, buy it on Southern's website and immediately collect it from the TVM!

I think from now on I might just make a point of doing that all the time! It'd be quicker than waiting for them to select a Gatwick Express ticket so that I can press "start again" and buy the ticket I want once they've gone to mug the next customer!