# Getting from Stansted into London

Stansted Express leaves from a station under the terminal and reaches Liverpool Street in about 48 minutes. Coaches cost less and run all night but take longer, and Cambridge is closer still by direct train. First, though, everyone clears passport control.

- Web page: https://stanstedlayover.com/getting-to-the-city/
- Guide: [Stansted Layover](https://stanstedlayover.com/), an independent layover guide to London Stansted Airport (STN), part of City Layover
- Updated 7 November 2026; facts checked 7 November 2026

## What's the best way from Stansted into London?

For most layovers, take Stansted Express from the station under the terminal: about 48 minutes to Liverpool Street, every 15 minutes, £21 off-peak or £23 peak with a contactless card. National Express coaches start from £7 but take 1 hour 10 minutes or more. Allow about an hour from landing to the train, and be back at Stansted 2 hours before departure.

## At a glance

- **Stansted Express**: 48 min to Liverpool Street, £21 off-peak
- **Advance train ticket**: From £9.90 one way
- **National Express coach**: 1 hr 10 min or more, from £7
- **Train to Cambridge**: 31 to 34 min, about twice an hour
- **Uber to London**: About £87 on average, about 57 min
- **Passport Control FastTrack**: From £15, booked online

## Getting through the border

Before any train, you clear UK passport control: at London Stansted Airport (STN) every international arrival does, connecting or not. Stansted doesn't publish queue times, so plan on about an hour from landing to sitting on the train, and more at busy times.

- **eGates** are the quick route if you're 8 or older (8 to 17-year-olds with an adult), at least 120cm tall, with a biometric passport, and British or Irish, or from the EU, the US, Canada, Australia or another listed country with a valid ETA.
- **Everyone else** uses a staffed desk. Allow more time.
- **Passport Control FastTrack** is a paid lane, from £15 a person and open 24 hours, booked on stanstedairport.com before you land. Every passenger needs a pass, children included. It's worth it if you can't use the eGates and your layover is tight.
- **Bags**: if they aren't checked through, you collect them in arrivals first, which adds time. See [at the airport](https://stanstedlayover.com/airport/) for what to do with them.

## The options at a glance

| | Stansted Express | National Express coach | Train to Cambridge | Taxi or Uber |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| To | Tottenham Hale and Liverpool Street | Stratford, Liverpool Street, Victoria and more | Cambridge | Anywhere |
| Time | About 48 min to Liverpool Street | 1 hr 10 min or more to Liverpool Street | 31 to 34 min | About 57 min to London (Uber's average) |
| Single fare | £21 off-peak, £23 peak; from £9.90 in advance | From £7, few seats at that price | Ticket from the station | About £87 by UberX (Uber's average) |
| Pay with | Contactless, tickets | Tickets, booked ahead | Tickets (not contactless on CrossCountry) | App, or as booked |

## Stansted Express: the way in for most layovers

- The station is directly under the terminal, 2 minutes' walk away, and trains leave every 15 minutes in the day, 7 days a week.
- About 48 minutes to **Liverpool Street**, calling at Tottenham Hale (about 36 minutes) for the Victoria line. Liverpool Street has the Central, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines and the Elizabeth line.
- With contactless, £21 off-peak and £23 peak to Liverpool Street, on TfL's fare finder from 1 November 2026. Peak is 6:30am to 9:30am Monday to Friday, and 4pm to 7pm on journeys from London; weekends and bank holidays are off-peak all day. Oyster cards aren't valid.
- Advance tickets cost from £9.90 one way if you book ahead online, and two people travelling together pay from £18.75 each way. Children and railcard holders usually do better with a ticket than with contactless.

| | Monday and Friday | Tuesday to Thursday | Saturday | Sunday |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| First train from Stansted | 5:30am | 5:55am | 5:28am | 5:28am |
| Last train back from Liverpool Street | 11:21pm | 11:21pm | 11:21pm | 11:21pm |

These are Stansted Express's own times; TfL's Journey Planner showed the first Sunday train at 5:30am on 15 November 2026, and a last train at 11:24pm on Monday to Thursday nights, reaching the airport at 12:21am. The train before the last leaves Liverpool Street at 10:51pm every night. The last trains reach Stansted after midnight, when the terminal is closed until 2am. Planned engineering works change these times, so check Stansted Express on the day.

At Christmas, no trains run on 25 December 2026, and on Boxing Day Stansted Express runs only between the airport and Tottenham Hale, every 30 minutes.

## Coaches: cheaper and all night, but slower

- **National Express** runs three routes from the coach station opposite the terminal, 2 minutes' walk: the A6 to Baker Street, Paddington and Victoria; the A8 to Shoreditch, Liverpool Street, Waterloo and Victoria; and the A9 to Stratford, Canary Wharf, Whitechapel and Liverpool Street. Stansted says coaches run 24 hours a day.
- The fastest journey to Liverpool Street is 1 hour 10 minutes, National Express says, and fares start from £7 one way, with limited seats at that price. The A9 timetable from 7 November 2026 has a coach every 20 minutes through the day: the 10:25am reaches Stratford at 11:10am and Liverpool Street at 11:40am.
- **Flibco** runs every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, direct to Liverpool Street, Stratford or Finsbury Park.

Stansted itself warns that coaches can take much longer at peak times, so this guide's plans use the train.

## Taxis, Uber and pre-booked cars

- **Taxis**: Stansted's taxi firm, Street Cars Taxis, has a desk in the international arrivals concourse. It publishes no fares on Stansted's page, and London's taxi fare card doesn't cover Stansted, so agree the price first.
- **Uber**: its Stansted page gave an average UberX fare between London and Stansted of about £87 over the past month, and about 57 minutes for the ride (seen November 2026).
- **Pre-booked transfers** give you a fixed price and a driver waiting after passport control. Prices seen in November 2026: Kiwitaxi listed transfers between London and Stansted from about £96. Check the quote for your exact trip.

A car beats the train mainly for a group with bags, or once the last train has gone.

## Cambridge instead of London

Cambridge is closer than central London. Direct trains from the airport station take **31 to 34 minutes**, about twice an hour, on CrossCountry and Greater Anglia. The first direct train leaves at 5:20am on weekdays, 5:25am on Saturdays and 8:46am on Sundays; the last direct train back from Cambridge leaves at 10:09pm on weekdays, 10:07pm on Saturdays and 9:47pm on Sundays (TfL's Journey Planner, November 2026). Buy a ticket at the station or online before you board: CrossCountry doesn't take contactless.

Greater Anglia says Cambridge station is about a mile from the city centre, a 20 to 25-minute walk, and Citi buses 1, 3 and 7 run into town. The free **Fitzwilliam Museum** opens from 10am to 5pm Tuesday to Saturday and noon to 5pm on Sundays, and is closed on Mondays. Our [itineraries](https://stanstedlayover.com/itineraries/) have a Cambridge plan, and GetYourGuide lists Cambridge tours.

## Storing bags near Liverpool Street

Stansted's own pages list no left luggage. At **Liverpool Street**, Network Rail lists a left-luggage desk run by Excess Baggage Company, open 7am to 11pm every day; it publishes no prices. App-booked storage nearby is another option: Stasher listed spaces from about £1.49 a bag a day at more than 20 places near the station, and Bounce from about £4.30 a day (both seen November 2026). You book in the app and drop your bag at a shop or hotel.

## Timing your return

Be back at the airport **2 hours before departure**, with your onward boarding pass. That's Stansted's own advice: it recommends getting to security at least 2 hours before your flight. If you have a bag to drop, check your airline's cut-off: from 10 November 2026 Ryanair's bag drop closes 60 minutes before departure.

| Layover | Time in London |
| --- | --- |
| 6.5 hours | About 1.5 hours, near Liverpool Street |
| 7 hours | About 2 hours |
| 8 hours | About 3 hours |
| 10 hours | About 5 hours |
| 12 hours | About 7 hours |

These figures allow about an hour from landing to the train, about 50 minutes into Liverpool Street and 65 back (a train every 15 minutes, the 48-minute ride and the walk to the terminal), and 2 hours at the airport. Use our [layover length guide](https://stanstedlayover.com/) to see what fits.

## Questions people ask

### Is the Stansted Express or the coach better on a layover?

The Stansted Express, for most layovers. It takes about 48 minutes to Liverpool Street, every 15 minutes, for £21 off-peak with contactless. National Express coaches start from £7, with few seats at that price, but take 1 hour 10 minutes or more and depend on the traffic.

### How long does it take to get out of Stansted after landing?

Allow about an hour from landing to sitting on the train, and more if you queue at a staffed passport desk or collect bags. Stansted doesn't publish queue times. The station is directly under the terminal, 2 minutes' walk away.

### Can I pay with a contactless card on the Stansted Express?

Yes. Tap the same contactless card or phone in at Stansted and out at Liverpool Street; each person needs their own card. Oyster cards aren't valid to or from Stansted Airport, and railcard discounts don't apply to contactless fares.

### How do I get from Stansted to Cambridge?

By direct train from the airport station: 31 to 34 minutes, about twice an hour, on CrossCountry or Greater Anglia. Buy a ticket before you board: CrossCountry doesn't take contactless. Cambridge station is about a mile from the centre, a 20 to 25-minute walk.

### How much is a taxi from Stansted to central London?

Stansted's taxi firm, Street Cars Taxis, publishes no fares, and London's taxi fare card doesn't cover Stansted. Uber's page gave an average UberX fare between London and Stansted of about £87, and about 57 minutes (seen November 2026).

### How early should I be back at Stansted?

2 hours before departure, with your onward boarding pass. That's Stansted's own advice: it recommends getting to security at least 2 hours before your flight. With a bag to drop, keep an eye on the cut-off: Ryanair's bag drop closes 60 minutes before departure.

## Sources (checked 7 November 2026)

- [Stansted: passport control (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.stanstedairport.com/help/passport-control)
- [Stansted: Passport Control FastTrack (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.stanstedairport.com/at-the-airport/passport-control-fasttrack)
- [Stansted: by train (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.stanstedairport.com/getting-to-and-from/by-train/)
- [Stansted Express: timetables (first and last trains, checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.stanstedexpress.com/travel-information/timetables)
- [Stansted Express: timetable from 17 May 2026 (PDF, checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.stanstedexpress.com/media/buvdwfag/stex2605-tt01-v1-1.pdf)
- [Stansted Express: contactless (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.stanstedexpress.com/tickets-fares/pay-as-you-go-contactless-ticketing)
- [Stansted Express: ticket types (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.stanstedexpress.com/tickets-fares/ticket-types)
- [Stansted Express: planned service alterations (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.stanstedexpress.com/travel-information/planned-service-alterations)
- [TfL: single fare finder (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://tfl.gov.uk/fares/find-fares/single-fare-finder)
- [TfL: Journey Planner (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://tfl.gov.uk/plan-a-journey/)
- [Stansted: by coach (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.stanstedairport.com/getting-to-and-from/by-coach/)
- [National Express: A9 timetable from Stansted (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://timetables.nationalexpress.com/routes/NX/A9/Stansted_Airport-London_Liverpool_Street_Stn/O)
- [National Express: Stansted to Liverpool Street (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.nationalexpress.com/en/destinations/london-liverpool-street/stansted-to-london-liverpool-street)
- [Stansted: by taxi (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.stanstedairport.com/getting-to-and-from/by-taxi/)
- [Uber: London Stansted (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.uber.com/global/en/r/airports/stn/)
- [Kiwitaxi: London Stansted transfers (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://kiwitaxi.com/en/united-kingdom/london-stansted-airport)
- [Greater Anglia: Cambridge station (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.greateranglia.co.uk/travel-information/station-information/cbg)
- [Fitzwilliam Museum: visit us (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/visit-us)
- [Network Rail: London Liverpool Street (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.networkrail.co.uk/communities/passengers/our-stations/london-liverpool-street/)
- [Stasher: luggage storage at Liverpool Street (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://stasher.com/luggage-storage/united-kingdom/london/liverpool-street-station)
- [Bounce: luggage storage at Liverpool Street (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://bounce.com/luggage-storage/london/liverpool-street-station)
- [Stansted: checking in (checked 7 Nov 2026)](https://www.stanstedairport.com/help/checking-in/)
- [Ryanair: bag drop closes 60 minutes before departure](https://corporate.ryanair.com/news/ryanair-reminds-passengers-of-60-min-bag-drop-closure-from-tue-10-nov-airport-bag-drop-will-close-60-mins-before-departure/)