Getting to and from London's airports at night

Flights do not respect the railway timetable. A 6am departure means arriving at 4am, and a delayed evening landing can put you in an arrivals hall at 1am with no train for four hours.

Every London airport has an answer to this. It is rarely the answer people expect, and it is almost never the train.

Heathrow

Heathrow is the best-served airport at night, for one reason: it sits on the Underground.

Night Tube (Friday and Saturday nights only). The Piccadilly line runs through the night on those two nights, between Cockfosters and Terminal 5. Note the terminal: the night service does not serve Terminal 4, which sits on a loop. If you are flying from T4, plan to arrive at T2/T3 and transfer.

Night bus, every night. The N9 runs between central London and Heathrow every night of the week. It is slow — expect well over an hour from the West End — and it costs a single flat bus fare. On a Tuesday at 3am it is often the only public transport there is.

Heathrow Express and the Elizabeth line are fast and comfortable, and both stop overnight. Neither is a night service. Check first and last departures before relying on them.

Taxi or minicab. Expect a substantial fare from central London, and expect surge pricing on a private hire app at peak arrival times. A black cab is metered and predictable.

Gatwick

No Underground, and it is a long way south.

Trains. Gatwick has a limited overnight rail service on the Thameslink route through central London — better than nothing, but sparse in the small hours, with long gaps. Check the actual departure times for your night rather than assuming a train will be along.

Coaches. National Express runs through the night between Gatwick and Victoria Coach Station. This is the reliable overnight option and the cheap one.

Road. Roughly an hour from central London with no traffic, and priced accordingly by taxi.

Stansted

The clearest case of “take the coach”.

Stansted Express is quick, but it does not run all night — there is a gap in the small hours.

Coaches run 24 hours. Multiple operators run between Stansted and central London around the clock, serving Liverpool Street, Stratford and Victoria among others. Journey time is around an hour and a half depending on the route and traffic, and the fare is a fraction of the train.

For an early Stansted departure, the overnight coach is not a compromise. It is what experienced travellers actually do.

Luton

Trains run to Luton Airport Parkway, connected to the terminal by the DART shuttle. There is some overnight rail provision on the Thameslink corridor, but it thins out considerably in the small hours.

Coaches run through the night to Victoria Coach Station and other central stops. Same principle as Stansted: overnight, the coach is the dependable option.

London City

The smallest and the earliest to close. The DLR serves it during normal hours and does not run overnight. City has no meaningful night service — plan a taxi, or plan not to need one.

Three rules that save the night

1. Check your terminal, not just your airport. Heathrow T4 and T5 have genuinely different night connections. The distinction has stranded a lot of people.

2. Book the coach in advance. Online fares are materially cheaper than buying at the desk, and overnight coaches to Stansted and Luton do fill up before early-morning departure waves.

3. Do the arithmetic on arriving early. Arriving at 3am for a 6am flight is uncomfortable, but the terminal is warm, lit, and considerably cheaper than an airport hotel or a night taxi. Most large terminals have somewhere to sit landside through the night, though facilities and shops may be closed. If you plan to sleep there, take a jumper — terminals are cold at 4am.

And once you land

If you arrive at 1am with no onward train, the same logic applies in reverse: find the coach stand before you queue for a taxi. See our guide to getting home after the last train for the rest of the city.