Gatwick to Heathrow: how to make the transfer and how long to allow

Worth getting this out of the way first because it is the most common search disappointment on this topic. No rail line connects Gatwick and Heathrow directly. The two airports sit on opposite sides of London, on different rail networks, and there is no shuttle train between them. Every rail option for the transfer involves a change at a central London station, usually Victoria or Paddington, and takes around 90 minutes door to door.

The only direct public transport between the two is the National Express coach. Direct in the sense that it leaves Gatwick and arrives at Heathrow with no change of vehicle. For most travellers, most of the time, this is the right answer. The next sections cover when it is not, and what the alternatives look like.

Four ways to move yourself between the two airports.

• National Express coach. Half-hourly direct services, 50 to 75 minutes, from £13.20 advance. The default option, and the one most connecting passengers use.
• Rail via central London. Gatwick Express to Victoria (or Thameslink to Farringdon), then a Tube hop and the Elizabeth Line to Heathrow. Around 90 minutes total, around £30 to £35 on contactless. More changes, more luggage hassle, rarely the best call for the inter-airport trip.
• Taxi or Uber. 50 to 90 minutes depending on M25 traffic, fare from around £49 for a pre-booked minicab through to £130 for a black cab. Fastest in good conditions, expensive, luggage-friendly.
• Pre-booked private transfer. A scheduled fixed-price service, often used by groups of three or four to spread the cost. Effectively a posh minicab; differs from Uber mainly in the flight-monitoring and meet-and-greet element.

One option that no longer exists in any meaningful way: helicopter shuttle. The scheduled Heli Air service between the two airports stopped years ago, and chartering a private helicopter is far above the price band any sensible traveller would consider for this trip. Discount any old guide that mentions a helicopter as a routine option.

National Express runs the only direct public service between Gatwick and Heathrow, with around 80 departures a day in each direction. The route uses several service numbers including the 727 (which continues beyond Heathrow to East Anglia) and other inter-airport services; from the passenger's point of view, the practical answer is "look up National Express, pick the next departure, book". The booking flow is the same as any other National Express trip.

Pickup at Gatwick

Coaches call at both Gatwick terminals. The North Terminal pickup is at the coach station immediately outside arrivals; the South Terminal pickup is similarly close. Allow a 5 to 10 minute walk from the gate to the coach station once you clear baggage. The departure boards inside the terminal show the next services and the relevant bay.

Pickup at Heathrow

Coaches call at Heathrow Central Bus Station between Terminal 2 and Terminal 3, and at Terminal 5. Some services also call at Terminal 4; not every service does, so check the timetable before booking if T4 is your destination. The Central Bus Station is connected to T2 and T3 by short covered walkways; from there, the free inter-terminal transfer handles any onward terminal-to-terminal hop.

Frequency and journey time

Services run every 30 minutes through the day, with the first services from Gatwick around 04:30 and the last around 23:30. Overnight coverage is thinner and depends on the calendar day; check the timetable for an exact time if you are travelling late. Journey time is 50 to 75 minutes depending on M25 traffic, with the worst delays on Friday afternoons and weekday morning peaks.

Booking and luggage

Book on the National Express Gatwick to Heathrow page, in the app, or at a desk at either airport. Advance singles start at £13.20; walk-up fares are a few pounds higher. Mobile tickets work fine; bring photo ID matching the booking name. Luggage allowance is generous (two pieces up to 20kg each plus a small carry-on), which makes the coach a much better fit for a connecting passenger with checked bags than the rail option.

The honest answer first: the train is rarely the right call for an inter-airport transfer. It is slower than the coach, more expensive than the advance coach fare, involves a change in central London with stairs and crowds, and is materially worse with luggage. It only makes sense if you happen to be ending or starting the journey somewhere already on the Gatwick Express or Thameslink line.

For completeness, the realistic rail route. From Gatwick, take the Gatwick Express non-stop to London Victoria (30 minutes, from £20.70 walk-up). From Victoria, take the Underground to Paddington (about 15 minutes including the change). From Paddington, take the Elizabeth Line to Heathrow (about 30 minutes to T2/T3, longer to T4 or T5). Total journey time is around 90 minutes; total cost on contactless is around £30 to £35.

The Thameslink alternative substitutes the Gatwick-to-Farringdon train (about 45 minutes, from £15) for the Gatwick Express, then walks to the Elizabeth Line at Farringdon (a few minutes inside the same station) for the trip to Heathrow. The total time is broadly similar; the saving against the Gatwick Express route is small.

For a traveller with hand luggage only, the rail option is workable. For anyone with a checked bag, the change at Victoria or Paddington (lifts, escalators, and crowds at peak times) is unpleasant. The coach wins this comparison for almost everyone making the connection itself.

The fastest option in good traffic, and the most expensive. The distance between the two airports is about 45 miles, broadly an hour on the M25 in clear conditions, with the route avoiding central London entirely.

Pre-booked minicab or private transfer

The most common taxi pattern between the airports is a pre-booked minicab, with fixed-fare quotes from around £49 to £110 depending on the operator, the vehicle class, and the time of day. Most include flight monitoring (the driver tracks your arrival and adjusts pickup time) and meet-and-greet at the arrivals hall. Book in advance; on-the-day walk-up minicab arrangements at Gatwick are limited and often more expensive.

Black cab

A London-licensed black cab from a rank is metered, with the full Heathrow side covered on the Heathrow taxi page. From Gatwick to Heathrow the meter typically runs to £100 to £130 for the trip, plus any incidentals. The journey is identical to a minicab but the price is higher; black cabs win when you want a no-booking, on-demand option and are happy to pay for it.

Uber and other ride-hailing

Uber operates at both airports and is the on-demand cheaper alternative to a black cab. Fares for an Uber X between the two run roughly £55 to £90 off-peak, more in surge conditions. The pickup zones at each airport are in the short-stay car park rather than the kerb; the Uber at Heathrow page has the Heathrow-side detail. Plan for app-side coordination at pickup, including walking from arrivals to the rideshare zone, which adds time to the total.

When the taxi makes sense

Two cases mainly. First, when the connection time is tight enough that the speed difference matters (an off-peak taxi is 15 to 25 minutes faster than the coach). Second, when you are travelling as three or four with heavy luggage, where the £80 fare split four ways at £20 a head is competitive with four coach tickets at £13.20 plus the hassle of the coach station. For solo travellers with hand luggage, the coach is the better value almost always.

Fares are typical at the time of writing. Coach fares are National Express advance singles; rail is the Gatwick Express plus Elizabeth Line on contactless; taxi figures from pre-booked minicab operators and London-licensed black cabs respectively. Surge pricing and traffic can move the upper end up.

Three readings of this table that catch most cases. For a single traveller on a tight budget, the coach wins outright. For a connecting passenger with checked bags and a moderate timeline, the coach is also right. For a small group splitting a fare, or a single traveller with a tight connection, the taxi or Uber tilts. The rail route is mostly for the edge case where the rail leg is already part of your wider journey.

The most important question on this page and the one most often answered too optimistically.

For a self-transfer with separate tickets and checked luggage, the conservative line is 5 hours between scheduled Gatwick arrival and scheduled Heathrow departure. The honest maths:

• Gatwick arrival to leaving the terminal: 60 to 90 minutes. Taxi off the aircraft, walk to immigration (longer at South Terminal in particular), passport control queue (15 to 45 minutes), baggage reclaim (often 25 to 45 minutes for a fully loaded long-haul wide-body), walk through arrivals.
• Inter-airport transfer: 60 to 90 minutes by coach, 50 to 90 by taxi, around 90 by rail.
• Heathrow check-in to gate: 90 to 120 minutes for an international long-haul departure. Bag drop, security, walk to gate. Many airlines close check-in 60 minutes before departure for long-haul and 45 for short-haul; you need to be at the desk earlier than that.

That adds up to 3.5 to 5.5 hours before any margin for delay. Five hours is the minimum that gives you any safety net; six is honest. Three hours is what some airlines advertise as the official minimum on a through-ticket but it is genuinely tight for a self-transfer.

Two situations where the time can compress. Hand luggage only, no immigration queue at Gatwick (domestic UK or Common Travel Area arrival), and a domestic outbound from Heathrow: 3 to 4 hours is plausible. A through-ticket on a single airline group that handles the bag transfer internally (rare between Gatwick and Heathrow but it exists): the airline sets the minimum connection time and that figure is what matters. For the broader minimum-connection picture and what protections a through-ticket gives, see the flight connection page. For everyone else, 5 hours.

The single biggest practical risk on this kind of connection. If your inbound to Gatwick is running late, you have a finite window to make the outbound at Heathrow, and that window is yours to manage because the airlines do not own the connection.

The first action is to contact the outbound airline. Call them from the aircraft if you have Wi-Fi, or as soon as you land. Tell them what is happening, ask whether the flight can be held (almost always no, but worth asking) and what the next available alternatives are. If the booking is on a flexible fare or a paid-change option, a fee may put you on a later flight cheaper than the cost of a fresh ticket.

Second, choose the fastest transfer mode. If you booked the coach but a taxi at £80 saves 20 minutes and gets you to the desk in time, the £80 is worth it. If the time is unrecoverable, accept it and rebook calmly. The cost of a panicked decision (a £400 walk-up fare you did not need) is often greater than the cost of the original missed connection.

Third, document the delay. The inbound airline's status page, your boarding pass with the original time, and any communication from the airline are useful for travel insurance claims or for evidence if the outbound airline can be persuaded to help. For the wider rules on passenger rights when a flight is delayed, the passenger rights page covers the legal framework.

If the inbound is on a different ticket from the outbound, the two airlines have no obligation to each other and you carry the gap. This is the central reason the 5-hour rule exists.

The same options apply in reverse. The National Express coach runs the same half-hourly service in the opposite direction, picking up at Heathrow Central Bus Station and Terminal 5 (some services at Terminal 4) and dropping at both Gatwick terminals. Same fare from £13.20, same journey time of 50 to 75 minutes.

One thing worth flagging for Heathrow-to-Gatwick. The Heathrow forecourt pickup is not permitted (this is covered in detail on the pick-up page), so the coach is the relevant transport rather than being dropped at the kerb by a friend at Heathrow. For a taxi heading to Gatwick from Heathrow, the rank is at every Heathrow terminal arrivals hall and the trip is metered or a fixed minicab fare. Allow the same 5-hour rule for a self-transfer in this direction too; the maths is symmetrical.

For travellers continuing into central London rather than across to Gatwick, the transport hub compares all the modes side by side, and the rail trio (Heathrow Express, the Elizabeth Line, the Piccadilly Line) covers most central London journeys.