UK based....

[chinee boi]

I am trying to plan a trip to England, France, Italy and maybe surrounding countries and was told that it is best to fly into London (as it is the cheapest) and then take the Eurostar (or whatever it is called) to Paris and so on.  Oh yeah, trying to plan this for mid-September.

What airport should I fly into, coming from Toronto?  Heathrow or Gatwick or another?  And then how close are these airports to the train terminal.  You could see I have no clue if this making sense at all.   

Help meh nah!

Thanks people.

[Peong]

I think the train from Gatwick to London is about an hour.  Edit: I now see they say the train from Gatwick to London is 30 mins.
The train goes to Victoria Station in London.
Then a subway train to St Pancras International.

Never flew to Heathrow.

[Michael-j]

Your best bet would be to fly in to Heathrow...then take the London Underground (Picadilly Line) all the way to St. Pancras international station....quick and cheap, no hassle .  If you go through Gatwick you'll have to get the train to London Victoria then connect with  the underground to St. Pancras....that would be real horrors if you have luggage!

[Blue]

I am trying to plan a trip to England, France, Italy and maybe surrounding countries and was told that it is best to fly into London (as it is the cheapest) and then take the Eurostar (or whatever it is called) to Paris and so on.  Oh yeah, trying to plan this for mid-September.

What airport should I fly into, coming from Toronto?  Heathrow or Gatwick or another?  And then how close are these airports to the train terminal.  You could see I have no clue if this making sense at all.   

Help meh nah!

Thanks people.

London has 5 airports. In order of importance - Heathrow, Gatwick, City, Stansted, Luton

Heathrow and Gatwick are both major international airports, virtually equidistant from London. Both have express train lines back to Central London. Think they cost about £15 each, and have luggage racks etc for travellers (since only travellers use these services).

Gatwick Express takes 30 minutes into London Victoria (in South-Central London)

Heathrow Express takes 15 minutes to London Paddington (in West-Central London)

You could also take the tube from Heathrow to Central London, but that would take about an hour, and you would have to fight up with regular commuters...if its rush hour this would be near impossible.

The Eurostar to Paris leaves from Kings Cross St Pancreas, again in central London. About 15 minutes from either Paddington or Victoria. Takes just over 2 hours to get into Central Paris. I havent used it in years, but think the last time I did was about £70 return.

Flights to Europe from London are relatively cheap, sometimes cheaper than taking the train. Cheapest flights are from Stansted and Luton, but these airports are further from central London (they are just north of London, probably takes an hour to get there...not sure, I never use dem). EasyJet and Ryanair are the most well known budget airlines in England. They often offer flights to various destinations starting at about £20 return (obviously more popular destinations dont get as many cheap deals). If you book a flight with a budget airline, check exactly where the destination airport is, they often give the misleading impression that it is relatively close to the city centre. For example, I flew to Milan on Ryanair some years ago for £0.01 (yes, that was the price), but the airport was actually an hour's bus ride outside of Milan, and not one of Milan's two major airports.

Airlines flying out of Heathrow, Gatwick or City (which is in Central London) are slightly more expensive but usually reasonably priced (I think it might be around £100 return to France or Italy if booked in advance, but would depend on whether its a busy period or not). They usually fly into the destination city's main airport.

[grimm01]

If yuh plan on flying in and taking the train from the airport, make sure yuh pack light! My wife and I make that mistake already, carrying 2 pieces of luggage (one was a big heavy suitcase) and it was real horrors maneuvering the underground from Gatwick. For the return we end up hiring a taxi to avoid the commess.

[chinee boi]

thanks people i go see and update all yuh on what going on 

[lickslikefire]

not much to add to what people said.....except flights to london gatwick from toronto are normally cheaper in my experience.....there are usally chartered flights using air transat (or canadian affairs)

as many of said there are many cheap flights like ryan air and easy jet but they have weight restrictions with severe penalities....prolly best to get the eurostar if you have a lot of luggage

or if you book in advance you can still cheap flights with 'non-budget' airlines...check www.skyscanner.net