Day 1: Lloret de Mar - Barcelona Airport - London - How to get from Gatwick Airport to London
We are at the end of July, the perfect month to start this trip that will take us back to enjoy the tourist places of London, the city we were looking forward to returning to and where we will arrive after taking an Easyjet flight at 11:15 a.m. tomorrow that and implement the tips and recommendations on how to get from Gatwick airport to London.
On this occasion we take into account that we are in high season and precisely the Prat airport is not at its best, with a considerable saturation in security controls and passports, so in this case we travel with hand luggage In addition to having priority boarding, something we hope will allow us to speed up the process a bit.
We also leave from the T2C, much less crowded than the rest of the terminals, so we hurry up the time and leave home when it is 7 in the morning to have breakfast in our usual coffee shop and when it is 7:30 , go towards Prat airport.
To get to the Prat airport from Lloret de Mar we always go through the highway and then the rounds, either the Coast or the Dalt Round, but from the trip to New York we choose to change this itinerary and do it inside the city, something that although it seems impossible, allows us to skip the huge queues that form in the busiest sections, especially at peak times.
Airport of Barcelona
So it's a little after 9 in the morning when we leave the car in the parking lot and go straight to T2C, from where our flight leaves.
In these last days it is news the enormous things that are happening in the T1 in the security controls, for an alleged concealed strike, these becoming even more than three hours. The truth is that we have been lucky that in this case since we left by the T2 and although we have to make a queue of almost two hours, there are many fewer passengers than in the T1, finding ourselves at the boarding gate with just enough time to Review the itinerary we have scheduled for this trip to London in 6 days.
When we are about to embark, they announce that our flight is delayed practically 45 minutes, so we take it easy, we take out a book and so we pass the delay in a much faster way that makes us find ourselves, almost without giving us Count, boarding and sitting on the flight that will take us back to London.
Road to London
And this is when the second part of this trip begins, and when we are on the plane, we have to wait an hour and a half more until they give us a clue, taking off at the end when it is 1:40 p.m., when our flight should have taken off at 11:15 a.m. It's time to be patient and understand that when you travel at this time, these things are most likely to happen, so we take things easy, taking advantage to read and enjoy a while of headers.
Flight from Barcelona to London
After a quiet flight, we landed in London Gatwick when it's almost 2 noon, giving us time while they open the doors to check how to get from Gatwick airport to London, which will be the first step we should take on this trip.
But before, seeing what time it is and knowing that we still have a while to get to the Garden Court Hotel, we decided to stop along the way and eat a couple of sandwiches at the same airport and then put into practice the advice we have written down on how to get from Gatwick airport to London.
How to get from Gatwick Airport to London
Go from Gatwick airport to London It is much easier than it might seem initially.
There are several options to do it, we leave you the fastest and most common:
- Buy a ticket for the Gatwick Express that will take you to Victoria Station, in our case, we will stay at the Garden Court Hotel, in Notting Hill, here to take the subway to Bayswater Station, just 5 minutes from what will be ours accommodation in London The next 6 days.
The round trip ticket from Gatwick Express to London Victoria is £ 35.50 per person round trip.
If you buy it separately the price is £ 19.90 per person per trip. You can make the trip in the next 5 days and the return within the following month.
- Easybus: Easyjet has a service to go from Gatwick airport to London, which connects Victoria Bus Station with the south terminal of Gatwick.
In Gatwick you have to go to the South End and there take the National Express A3 bus or 025 at Stop 3.
For the opposite route, at the Victoria Bus Station, the National Express A3 or 025 bus is taken at platform 8 or 9.
Once at Victoria station you can connect with the subway or bus to get to your accommodation.
The price of the Easybus depends on the dates, times and advance of the reservation, in case of doing it, but in general lines it does not exceed 9 pounds.
The journey takes 1 hour and a half, so the first option is worth the price / time.
- Taxi: the price of a taxi from Gatwick to London It is between 85 to 110 pounds and the journey is approximately 1 hour, depending on traffic.
- Private transfer: If you want to go quieter and not have too many complications you can book a service Transfer from Gatwick Airport to London, with which a driver will wait for you at the airport arrivals hall with a sign with your name name to take you to your accommodation.
Book your transfer from Gatwick Airport to London here.
How to get from Gatwick Airport to London
To catch the Gatwick Express from the North Terminal, where you have left the Easyjet flight we have to go to the train station that is in the South Terminal. For that you have to take the elevator, go up to the Departures Terminal and follow the indications that take you to the transfer (a train), which in three minutes takes you to the destination.
If you land at another airport in the city you can find all the information for the transfer in this post about how to go from Luton airport to London, in this how to go from Heathrow airport to London or in this how to go from Stansted airport to London.
More practical information to prepare your trip to London
- 100 things to see and do in London
- The 10 best tours and excursions in London
- 20 essential places to visit in London
- London guide in 6 days
- The best free tours in London for free
- The 5 best markets in London
- The 5 best viewpoints in London
- The 5 best museums in London
Once there you must follow the signs to "train station"to get to the lobby where the machines are to buy tickets.
Warning: Although we had read that in the different airports of London you could buy the Oyster Card, the card to pay for the subway / bus routes, after several attempts without results, they tell us that right now they are not selling them, they just recharge them .
That being the case, we have to go to some subway station where to buy them. In this case there is no problem since we will leave the Gatwick Express in Victoria Station, where we can acquire it.
Gatwick Express How to get from Gatwick Airport to London
And so, with the Gatwick Express ticket, with which we will go from Gatwick airport to LondonWhen it is 3:30 pm, we are on our way to central London.
Exchange euros to pounds in London
In our case, for a long time, we decided not to change currency in agencies or banks in any of our trips.
After checking that the commissions of our bank are quite tight, we always take money from the cashier when we arrive at the destination (commissions between 6-15 euros) and then try to pay as much as possible by card.
On this trip to London in 6 days we have also opted for this option, taking money directly at the first ATM we have found at Gatwick airport and paying 95% of our card purchases.
Remember that in order not to pay commissions and always have the current change we recommend you use the N26 card to pay and the Bnext and Revolut cards to get money at the ATMs. They are the ones we use, They are free and will save you a lot.
You can find more information in this article about the best cards to travel without commissions.
As we mentioned previously go from Gatwick airport to London It is much easier than it may seem, planting at London Victoria Station in less than 30 minutes, after a comfortable ride.
Once here the first thing we do is go find the machines to buy the Oyster Card, which will be our travel companion for the subway.
How the Oyster Card works
The Oyster card is a magnetic card, which you can recharge in the machines of the different metro stations, something that in addition to saving in relation to the purchase of simple tickets, also allows you to save time by the speed of the process and avoid having You buy individual tickets every time.
The operation of the Oyster Card is very simple:
- Where to buy the Oyster Card: Although they say it can be purchased at the airport and at the subway stations, in our case it was impossible for us to compare it at the airport, so we had to buy it directly at Victoria Station, where we linked with the meter.
- How to buy the Oyster Card: You will find machines that accept credit / debit card or cash. You must select the "Oyster Card" option and then "Purchase". You will see that the cost of the Oyster Card is 5 pounds to which you must add the balance you want.
Keep in mind that the maximum you will pay per day is 6.50 pounds (zones 1-2), provided that the cost of the trips is not less, that in that case you will only pay the amount spent. Taking this into account and that a subway ticket costs around 2.50 pounds, only with 3 journeys a day already you get profitable.
- How the Oyster Card works: Once you have it, you must pass it through the access machine, both at the entrance and at the exit of the subway and the balance you have available will be shown on the screen.
- Return Oyster Card: Once you no longer need the Oyster Card, you just have to go to a machine that says "return"and request a refund of both the balance you have and the 5 pounds of the card.
Oyster Card machines
With the card already in hand we take the Circle Line or yellow line of the subway that takes us to the Garden Court Hotel, in Bayswater Station, in less than 20 minutes.
Bayswater Station
Once there you have to check in, leave your bags in the room and after resting a few minutes, get back on track to start enjoying our trip to London in 6 days.
The hotel is very close to Queensway, where the Bayswater tube station is, a super lively street full of restaurants and shops, which will come great for us when we finish the day touring the city.
Today's planning was to walk through Notting Hill, our neighborhood these days and then go to the Sky Garden, but since we arrived almost 3 hours later than expected, we decided that it is best to go to the London Bridge to tour this area until 8 pm we have the reservation in the Sky Garden.
Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish in London by travelers:
- Full London tour with tickets
- Route of Jack the Ripper
- Guided tour of the essential London
- Harry Potter tour at Warner Studios
- Excursion to Stonehenge
- More excursions and tours here
Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish in London by travelers:After a walk in the area we go to the Sky Garden, meeting the famous Leadenhall Market, a covered market, located on Gracechurch Street.
Leadenhall Gallery
This small gallery was once a Roman market, in which the main products sold were meat, both game and farm.
Now we can say that it has changed a lot, giving way to a charming gallery, where we can find charming shops, different restaurants and several pubs, which give it an air and a very special atmosphere, especially at night, when the lights they light up and give way to a unique image.
This gallery is also famous for being the scene of some scenes of the Harry Potter movie and being included in this tour of the scenarios that inspired J.K. Rowling in London.
In addition to doing this tour, if you are a follower of the Harry Potter books or movies, it is almost essential to book this visit to the Warner studios, where the eight films of the saga were created.
Remember that it is very important to book your ticket well in advance, to avoid running out of space, as this is one of the most popular attractions in London.
Leadenhall Gallery
Being almost 7 in the afternoon we take the opportunity to have dinner in a small pizzeria that we see in one of the corners and that we have to confess, it attracts a lot of attention, not so much for the menu that is at your door, but for its location and architecture, which we must confess, fall in love.
After the experience we can say that the restaurant, called Pizza Express, although it is correct, is not remarkable to recommend unless you are in the area. We ordered a couple of pizzas plus water and soda for 29.60 pounds.
Pizza at Pizza Express. London
After lunch and when it is almost 8 pm, we make our way to the Sky Garden, a few meters from the Leadenhall Gallery.
Sky garden
Upon arrival we see that at the door right now there is a fairly long line, although as we approach we see that there are several people from the staff who are asking directly if you have a reservation and if so, as is our case, they make you go directly to the security control and directly access the building.
Once we have passed the controls, we go up to the elevator that takes us to the 35th floor, where one of the London's most spectacular viewpoints.
Sky garden
We don't need to spend much more than 2 minutes to see how spectacular the place is and to understand the reason why reservations, which are also free, sell out so quickly.
Our intention, although it costs us, is not to put too many photographs in this practical guide, since we understand that such places must be live them in a way in which surprise plays an important role, so we invite you to book your ticket for free on your website. It is advisable to do so as soon as they open the reservations, which is approximately 3 weeks before. (Update July 2018: From what a reader tells us, this has changed and now only reservations for one week are opened).
Awesome Sky Garden
Sky garden
If you have not had dinner or have not eaten, it is well worth having the Sky Garden as an option since it is not excessively expensive. As an example we can tell you that a sausage board is priced at about £ 24, alcoholic cocktails £ 13.50 and alcoholic cocktails £ 8.50.
If you like this spectacular views, especially at sunset, we have to say that the prices seem quite tight.
We have chosen to come at 8 to enjoy the sunset, which we have to say is a magical moment. At this time of the year the sunset is about nine o'clock at night, so entering at 8 you will have time to go for a walk, have a drink and enjoy this incredible hour.
Sky Garden London
- Book your free ticket here. It is advisable to do it in advance as they sell out quickly. They can be booked 3 weeks in advance.
- Keep in mind that you cannot take camera pictures. Only with mobile.
- In the Sky Garden you can enjoy several bars and a restaurant, all with incredible views of London.
Sunset Sky Garden
Cocktail at sunset in the Sky Garden
After having a cocktail with spectacular views of London and an incredible sunset, we travel the Sky Garden a couple of times when the sun has already set, we go out and head to the Tower Bridge, where we want to enjoy the views at this time of day , in which the city is really spectacular.
Night falls in London
London at night
London route
Today's tour of London will take us to the Leadenhal Gallery, to the Sky Garden and to cross the banks of the Thames until we reach the London Bridge and the Tower Bridge, spectacular areas when night falls in the city.
We go along the banks of the River Thames until we reach one of the docks of the boats that cross the river from where we have incredible views of this area of London, which give us some of the images that we are sure, we will never forget.
Tower Bridge views
London at night
From here we continue the walk across the London Bridge to continue on the Thames that at this time of night is already illuminated, giving us a clear sky, which we hope to endure for tomorrow and give us a sunny day in London, something that on the other hand It is not really easy.
Tower Bridge London
The next stop we make is already directly at Tower Bridge, one of the most emblematic places in the city and where we want to take some photographs a little closer, illuminated at this time of night.
If you want to come at this time of day, something we find highly recommended, we advise you to come here or walking along the banks of the Thames or directly by subway, as there are a couple of very close metro stations.
Tower bridge
After a walk and several dozen photos, we go to the Tower Hill subway stop where we return to take the Backwater Circle Line, our stop in Notting Hill, which we have to say is very animated despite being almost 12 at night and where We hope to spend a few hours the next few days enjoying the atmosphere.
We return to the Garden Court Hotel where it is time to rest and load energies to enjoy the next days of a city that has us in love.
A good option to know the history and anecdotes of the city is to book this tour of London in full with a guide in Spanish and tickets, with which we will save the queues of the most tourist sites or this one that does not include tickets.
Book your Airport⇆Londres transfer here
** Although the entrance to the Sky Garden is free, as we mentioned before, you have to book in advance to secure the entrance. In our case we tried to make the reservation 15 days before and we did not find availability any of the days we were going to be in London.
For this reason we request a pass through the Marketing Department, with whom we have made a collaboration that has allowed us access to the viewpoint at sunset.
Day 2: London: Little Venice, Camden Market, Camden Town, Primrose Hill, Regent Park, Warren Mews, Leicester Square, Crambourn Street, Chinatown, Soho and Carnaby Street
