How to Get Between London’s Train Stations, Airports and Hotels

Visitors expect London to have a central station. It does not. It has nine main terminals arranged in a ring, each pointing at a different part of the country, and the gap between two of them can be a five minute walk or a forty minute cross town trek. Get this wrong with a booked train and you lose the ticket, because an Advance fare is tied to one departure and nobody at the barrier will be moved by your story.

Why this is harder than it looks

The reason London has no central station is a Victorian law. Parliament stopped the railway companies from demolishing their way into the middle of the city, so each line stopped at the edge of what was then the built up area and built its own grand terminal there. The city grew around them, the Underground was dug partly to join them up, and the result is the ring you see today.

The same ring decides your days out. Each of the classic day trips leaves from one terminal: Bath and Oxford from Paddington, Cambridge from King’s Cross, Brighton from Victoria and Canterbury from St Pancras. Staying near the right one can take half an hour off the morning you go.

What that means in practice is simple. Your arriving train and your departing train will very often use different stations, and the transfer between them is a genuine journey rather than a walk down a corridor. Two pairs are close enough to walk. The rest are not, and the Tube map makes them look nearer than they are because it is a diagram rather than a map.

One more thing catches people out. The terminals are enormous, platforms for intercity departures are often announced only ten to fifteen minutes before the train leaves, and the walk from the concourse to the far end of a platform can take four minutes with a case. Arriving at the station is not the same as being on the train.

Station to station, the pairs people actually need

These are the transfers that come up again and again, with the sensible route and a realistic time including the walk at both ends.

Add ten minutes to every line of that table if you are carrying luggage, and add another ten in the rush hour, when a full Victoria line train will sail past you twice before you can get on with a case.

Tickets and tours worth booking

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Station to airport, the one train that matters

Each London airport has an obvious rail route, and it starts from one particular station. Going from the wrong terminal usually means a change and thirty extra minutes.

Two of these deserve a note. The Heathrow Express is twice as fast as the Elizabeth line and roughly twice the price, so it is worth it when you are late and not when you are not. And Luton is the only airport where the train does not reach the terminal, because you finish the trip on a short automated shuttle from Luton Airport Parkway, which is included in a through ticket but surprises people who booked only as far as the station.

With luggage, the honest advice

London Underground stations were built long before anyone thought about wheeled suitcases. Many have stairs and nothing else, escalators run in one direction only at some times of day, and step free access is the exception rather than the rule on the deep lines. If you have two large cases, a pushchair or anyone in your group who cannot manage a flight of stairs at pace, the Tube is not the right answer and no amount of planning makes it one.

The realistic options are three. A black cab from the rank outside any terminal, which is metered and fine for short hops across the centre. A booked private car, which costs a price agreed in advance and waits for you if the train is late. Or the Elizabeth line, which is the one route that is genuinely step free, wide and new, and which happens to link Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street in a straight line under the middle of the city.

If your cross town transfer is between two stations on the Elizabeth line, take it and ignore everything else. If it is not, and you are carrying real luggage with a train to catch, take a car and treat the difference as insurance rather than a luxury.

What it costs and how to pay

Tap a contactless bank card or your phone on the yellow reader as you go in and again as you come out. That is the whole system. There is no need to buy an Oyster card as a visitor, paper tickets cost more, and everyone in your group needs their own card, since one card cannot pay for two people on the Tube.

A single journey in central London is about £3, and the daily cap means you will not pay more than roughly £9 a day in zone 1 however many times you travel. That cap is the reason nobody should buy a travelcard for a normal sightseeing day.

Airport trains sit outside that system. The Heathrow Express is around £25 one way if you buy it at the barrier and much less booked ahead. Gatwick Express is about £20, Stansted Express about £20, and the Elizabeth line to Heathrow about £12. All of them are cheaper booked online in advance, and all of them accept contactless for the ordinary services.

How much time to allow, honestly

Here is the arithmetic that keeps people out of trouble. Thirty minutes to cross between terminals, plus twenty minutes inside the departure station, plus whatever the map says for the Tube leg. That gives you about an hour between stepping off one train and boarding the next, and it sounds generous until the day the Victoria line is part suspended.

For an airport, work backwards from the check in deadline rather than the departure time, then add an hour for London. A Sunday morning with engineering work on your line can turn a forty minute trip into ninety, and unlike a missed Tube, a missed flight is not a ten minute problem.

The one situation worth paying to remove is the early departure. If your train or flight leaves before about 07:00, the Underground may not be running yet, night buses are slow, and a car booked the evening before is the difference between a calm start and a very expensive taxi negotiated at 05:00 in the rain.

Visiting from abroad? What to know

Before you fly: the essentials

Keep planning your trip

GoHeathrow to Central London: Every Option, Priced (2026)GoLondon Airport Transfers 2026: 9 Airports, Prices, OptionsGo17 Best Day Trips from London (2026 Guide)StayBest Hotels in London (2026): Where to Stay, by Area

Frequently Asked Questions

Which London stations are close enough to walk between?

Only two pairs really. King’s Cross and St Pancras share a block and take five minutes on foot, and Euston is about twelve minutes along Euston Road from either. Fenchurch Street to Liverpool Street is walkable in about twelve minutes. Every other pair is a Tube journey.

How long should I allow between two London terminals?

Thirty minutes as a rule, forty in the rush hour, and add ten if you are carrying luggage. Then give yourself another twenty minutes inside the departure station, because intercity platforms are announced late and the walk to the train is long.

Do I need an Oyster card?

No. Tap a contactless bank card or your phone on the reader instead. It costs the same as Oyster, it is capped daily at about £9 in central London, and there is nothing to buy, top up or return. Everyone travelling needs their own card.

Is the Heathrow Express worth the extra money?

Only when time matters. It takes 15 minutes from Paddington against about 30 on the Elizabeth line, for roughly double the price. If your flight is comfortable and your budget is not, take the Elizabeth line, which is also step free and has proper luggage space.

What is the best way to cross London with big suitcases?

The Elizabeth line if both ends are on it, because it is step free and built for luggage. Otherwise a black cab for a short hop, or a booked car for anything that matters. Many Underground stations have stairs and no lift, which is a genuine problem rather than an inconvenience.

What happens if I miss my train because the Tube was delayed?

An Advance ticket is valid only on the train you booked, so you would normally have to buy a new one. Some operators will move you to the next service if the delay was on the railway itself, but a Tube delay is not usually covered. This is the whole reason to leave an hour rather than half of one.

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