London Stansted Airport

Located in Essex, around 30 miles from central London, Stansted Airport is London’s 3rd busiest airport. London Stansted Airport serves 140 destinations in 30 countries worldwide; the airport is also the main UK base of budget airline Ryanair who fly just under 100 destinations from Stansted.

Getting to London Stansted Airport

By Car

London Stansted is located on the M11 making it incredibly easy to access by car. Coming from London get off at Junction 8a, or if you are coming from Cambridge Junction 8. The postcode for your SatNav or for the AA route planner is CM24 1RW. The airport also has their own route planner on their website.

If you are leaving your car at the airport, then it’s worth pre-booking Stansted Airport parking to get a better price. You can choose the long-stay car park which is a 15 minute transfer from the airport (transfers every 20 minutes) or the mid-stay car park (all lengths of stay allowable) which is just a 5 minute transfer from the airport with a shuttle every 10 minutes.

The drive-up prices for the mid-stay car park are quite a bit more but if you book in advance they are practically the same price, so it’s worth doing just for the convenience. One week’s parking starts at £62.75 and you are looking at saving around £40 per week on the standard price by pre-booking.

When you have an early flight or a long drive it’s often worth thinking about booking a Stansted Airport hotel with parking deal. It’s not unusual for these deals to be far better value than booking both separately, but last time my in-laws flew from Stansted they booked a deal with Holiday Extras where the hotel was cheaper with parking that without. It cost them less than £80 for parking and a double room for the night.

By Train

The train station at London Stansted is directly below the terminal building, making it very easily accessible by train. As you might expect connections with central London are frequent.

The Stansted Express runs from London Liverpool Street every 15 minutes with a total journey time of 46 minutes. The service also stops at Tottenham Hale. An adult single costs £20 and a return £27.30. Tickets can be bought at the station and are £1 more per direction. The service operates from 0340 (weekdays) and 0410 (weekends) until 2325.

Cross Country Trains run an hourly service from Birmingham New Street to London Stansted. The journey takes just under 3.5 hours and services run from 0522 to 1922. This makes Stansted Airport easily accessible from the West Midlands, the East Midlands (calling at Leicester) and with a stop at Peterborough (on the East Coast Mainline) the North. The service also calls at several stops in Cambridgeshire.

By Coach

Several companies operate coaches from London Stations. Coaches depart London Victoria and London Liverpool regularly operated by both National Express and Terravision. From Victoria station the Terravision service is a little cheaper and a little quicker, but the National Express service is more frequent.

The Terravision coach service from Liverpool Street is 10 minutes slower than the train service but costs just under half the price of the Stansted Express.

There is also an easyBus service from Baker Street in central London to Stansted Airport which starts at £2. The journey takes 75 minutes and you do not have to by flying with easyJet to use the bus service.

National Express also operates direct coaches to London Stansted from the following destinations: Cambridge, Norwich, Oxford, Hempstead, High Wycombe, Nottingham, Leicester, Luton, Birmingham, Milton Keynes, Coventry and Ipswich.

Staying at the Airport: Stansted Airport Hotels

Anyone who has flown with budget airlines knows that the very best prices normally coincide with flights that depart at the very worst times! I’ll take the saving every time, but if I am getting up unpleasantly early I like to stay in an airport hotel.

Radisson Blu at Stansted Airport

Stansted Airport hotels don’t come any more convenient than the Radisson Blu. Located within the airport you only have a 2 minute walk to the terminal (trolleys available from the hotel) to catch your flight so no messing about with transfers in the morning.

If you are driving to the airport, the hotel does hotel and parking packages which are very good value. If you are coming on public transport, since you are in easy walking distance of the terminal you can save yourself on taxis or transfers to the hotel.

On independent review sites the Radisson Blu regularly appears as the best rated hotel at London Stansted Airport.

Holiday Inn Express at Stansted Airport

The Holiday Inn Express is located just 1.4 miles from Stansted Airport and is about as close as you can get without being on the airport. Transfers to the terminal are organised by the hotel in their shuttle bus which takes around 5 minutes and costs £2 one way. The shuttle bus runs every 30 minutes so if the time doesn’t suit you may want to take a taxi. A taxi will cost around £6-7 so for a family of 4 it might work out a little cheaper.

My in-laws stayed at this hotel recently when they flew from Stansted and they were very pleased. The hotel is well located and the service was friendly but the price was phenomenal. They booked hotel and parking from an ‘uncover hotel’ with Holiday Extras. They were thrilled when they got the confirmation and found out it was the Holiday Inn, especially since they paid less with parking than it normally costs for one night in a double room. Look out for this deal; if you can get it snap it up!

Stansted Airport Lounges

A bit of competition is always a healthy thing and with two air side lounges to choose from at London Stansted Airport that is great news for passengers. Both the Stansted No 1 lounges (one at gate 16 and one at gate 49) and the Servisair lounge cost £15 per person.

As you would expect both lounges come with complimentary tea, coffee and soft drinks. Both lounges also offer complimentary beers, wines and spirits as well as snacks. The Stansted No 1 Lounges even offer one dish from their bistro menu. Free WiFi is provided in both lounges.

Based on price and level of service, Stansted is a good place to treat yourself to lounge access.