Cruising out of Southhampton

[debut]

Which airport would be better to fly in, Heathrow or Gatwick? Looking for the shortest route. Thank you

[Hatters cruiser]

Heathrow is shorter, the route to Southhampton is about 60 miles long, Gatwick is about 90 Miles if you travel using the Motorways.

[Bob++]

There is a direct coach transfer between Gatwick and Southampton which takes around 2½ hours and costs <£20.

 

A coach from Heathrow is a little faster and around the same price.

 

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

 

The coach station in Southampton is a short taxi ride (£5.00), or a walk if you are reasonably mobile and it's not raining, from the cruise terminals.

[Cruisingthesuitelife]

It depends how you are getting to Southampton. By roads, Heathrow has the shorter and more direct route with an average journey time of 1 hour 20 minutes, from Gatwick would be around 1 hour 45 minutes. Obviously, it would take slightly longer by coach or if you are travelling during peak travel times.

 

If you are looking at getting to Southampton by train, from Heathrow its around 2 hours 20 minutes with a minimum of 1 change and from Gatwick is around 1 hour 50 minutes and there are direct trains available.

Edited January 25, 2016 by Cruisingthesuitelife

[debut]

Thanks for your help, the express bus looks good from Gatwick, think we will do a little more research on this,

[Bob++]

Thanks for your help, the express bus looks good from Gatwick, think we will do a little more research on this,

 

Just in case you are wondering, these buses (we call them coaches) are a fairly good way to travel. Seats are aircraft style with seatbelts and there is a tiny on-board toilet. The driver will stow your luggage in a compartment at the side, under the passenger compartment.

 

It would be likely that the majority, if not all, of your fellow passengers will also be joining a cruise.

[John Bull]

Thanks for your help, the express bus looks good from Gatwick, think we will do a little more research on this,

 

I won't disagree with Bob about the bus, but the train is an excellent alternative - quicker at under 2 hours, more comfortable, better frequency, no need to pre-book (though that's a little cheaper), about the same cost, pretty countryside instead of motorway, and Gatwick station is in the airport's south terminal.

But there's no direct train service on sundays, so the bus is very definitely the better bet on a sunday.

There's major long-term engineering work to upgrade the Gatwick to London train tracks, I don't think it affects trains in the Southampton direction but best to check that out.

Here's the train website, your destination is Southampton Central station.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

The above for Gatwick.

 

For Heathrow the Nat Express bus is way better than the train - there's no train line from Heathrow toward Southampton, so your journey starts with a 30 to 50 minute shuttlebus transfer from Heathrow to a rail station where you switch to the train. So the total journey time is about the same as Nat Express, it's way more expensive, and there's some schlepping to do.

 

JB :)

Edited January 26, 2016 by John Bull

[Keith1010]

I would take a hard look at the flights available too and factor that into which airport you fly to.

 

Keith