Take the coach. Stansted Airport itself publishes coach fares from £5 one-way and Stansted Express advance fares from about £9.45, and the coach runs all night when the train does not. Take the train only if you are going to Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale, are travelling light, and the forty-eight minutes matter.
Both leave from within two minutes of the terminal: the railway station is directly underneath it, and the bus and coach station is opposite the main entrance, both step-free. So this is not a comparison about convenience at the airport end. It is about price, about the time of night, and about where in London you are actually going.
Our guide to Stansted to central London sets out the coach routes stop by stop and the rail timetable in detail. This page does the arithmetic and gives a verdict.
Stansted Express against the coach, September 2026
- Train, fare
- Advance from £9.45 one-way (the airport also advertises "from £9.90" on the same page). Contactless accepted, tap in and out; Oyster is not valid
- Train, time
- 48 minutes to Liverpool Street; about 36 minutes to Tottenham Hale; about an hour to Stratford. Every 15 minutes, seven days a week
- Coach, fare
- National Express from £5 one-way booked in advance, at 38 pick-up points including 15 in central London
- Coach, frequency
- Services 24 hours a day. National Express runs more than 200 a day to London; Flibco runs every 30 minutes round the clock
- The gap
- No trains from the airport between about 00:30 and 05:30 (05:55 Tuesday to Thursday). Coaches run through it
- Distance
- 40 miles from central London, off the M11. The coach is subject to traffic; the train is not
The fares, and the one figure nobody publishes
The airport's own page on getting to London gives the coach as "From £5.00 (one-way)" and the train as "From £9.90 (one-way)", then says in the body text that train tickets "can be booked for as little as £9.45 one-way when bought in advance". Both figures appear on the same page, so we print both rather than picking one.
What no source we could read publishes is the contactless pay-as-you-go single fare from Stansted Airport into London. Stansted Express accepts contactless, and that is genuinely useful because you can walk up and tap in without buying anything. But it is not the cheap option, and tapping in is not the same as booking ahead. National Rail publishes the caps for the route, not the singles: from Stansted Airport to Zones 1 to 9, £47.20 peak, £35.20 off-peak, and £179.40 over a Monday-to-Sunday week. Our page on how contactless fare caps work explains what a cap of that size actually protects you from.
Oyster does not work to or from Stansted. Contactless bank cards and phones do; Oyster cards do not, and that includes Visitor Oyster cards bought at the airport itself. Use the Oyster for onward journeys from Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale instead. Our guide to Oyster and contactless explains why the two behave differently here.
What it costs two adults and two children
On the train, book ahead. Children aged 5 to 15 get 50% off Advance and Off-Peak National Rail fares, so a family of two adults and two children buying advance tickets at the £9.45 level pays in the region of £28 one-way, £57 return. That is an estimate from the published adult fare and the standard child discount, not a quoted family price.
The critical detail is that those discounts do not exist on contactless. National Rail states that discounts cannot currently be applied to contactless pay as you go: there is no child rate, no railcard rate and no concession rate if you simply tap in. A family that taps four cards is paying four adult fares. On a route where an adult advance single is under a tenner and the walk-up fare is higher, that is an expensive mistake.
On the coach, the £5 starting fare is per person booked in advance, and children's coach fares are not published on the airport's page. The direction of the answer is still clear: four coach seats booked ahead cost less than four rail tickets bought on the day. Our page on children's fares on London transport covers what happens once you reach the city, and buying UK train tickets explains Advance fares.
Where you are going decides it more than the price does
The Stansted Express goes to three places: Liverpool Street, Tottenham Hale and Stratford. If your hotel is not near one of those, or near a line that runs from one of them, you have a second journey with your luggage to make, and Liverpool Street is a large station to cross with a suitcase.
The coach goes to fifteen stops in central London, and that is the real argument for it. It is the only public transport from Stansted that reaches Paddington and Baker Street directly, and it also serves Victoria, Waterloo, Southwark, Shoreditch and Canary Wharf depending on the route. Flibco adds Finsbury Park, which puts you on both the Victoria and Piccadilly lines. The routes and their stop lists are in our Stansted to central London guide, linked above; the point here is that a single coach ride to your own part of town beats a train plus a Tube change almost every time you are carrying a suitcase.
Take the train if
- You are going to the City, Shoreditch or anywhere on the Central or Elizabeth lines from Liverpool Street
- You are staying in north London near the Victoria line, which makes Tottenham Hale the right stop at 36 minutes
- You have a fixed appointment and cannot risk the M11
- You are travelling alone or as a couple with hand luggage
Take the coach if
- There are three or more of you
- You land between about midnight and 05:30, when there are no trains
- Your hotel is near Paddington, Baker Street, Victoria, Waterloo or Canary Wharf
- Your flight might be late, and you want a booking that survives it
The five hours when the train simply is not there
From the airport, the airport gives the first departure as around 05:30, or 05:55 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, and the last as 00:30. From Liverpool Street the first train leaves between 03:40 and 04:40 depending on the day, and the last at 23:21.
So a flight landing at half past one in the morning has no rail option at all. This is the single biggest practical difference between Stansted and Gatwick, where Thameslink runs through the night. The coaches do not stop: both operators run 24 hours a day, and Flibco departs every half hour. Our page on late-night and early-morning airport transport compares the six London airports on exactly this, and if the gap is unavoidable, staying overnight at the airport is sometimes the better answer than either.
Delayed flights: the coach handles them better
A Flibco booking is valid for 24 hours, so a late arrival does not invalidate it; you choose your stop and turn up when you land. National Express will put a passenger whose flight was delayed on the next available service. An Advance rail ticket, by contrast, is valid only on the train named on it, and changing it costs up to £10 plus any fare difference.
That is the strongest single argument for the coach on an inbound journey, and it is why we would not book an Advance rail ticket to meet a specific arriving flight. If you want the train and you want flexibility, tap in with contactless and accept that you are paying more for it.
Comfort, luggage and the bits that are not on the timetable
| Stansted Express | Coach | |
|---|---|---|
| Access from the terminal | Station directly underneath; 2-minute walk, lifts, escalators and ramps | Bus and coach station opposite the main entrance; 2-minute step-free walk |
| At the stop | Ticket machines and a rail information desk at the station | Waiting area, coffee shop, newsagent and toilets |
| On board | Luggage racks, a fixed 48 minutes, no traffic | National Express lists leather seats, toilets, power sockets and air conditioning |
| Buying on the day | Machines, the desk, or tap in with contactless | Possible, but pre-booking is cheaper and guarantees a seat |
The coach has toilets and the train's journey is short enough not to need them. Neither is uncomfortable. The train is quieter and has more space for a large case; the coach hold takes bigger luggage than a train rack does.
A taxi, for completeness
The airport names 24x7 Taxis as its recommended provider, bookable on 01279 661111, with a reservation desk in international arrivals and a courtesy phone in domestic baggage reclaim. It does not publish a fare to central London, and forty miles by road in a private car will cost several times either of the options above. It is worth it only if you are four people with a lot of luggage arriving at four in the morning, and even then compare it with four coach seats first.
So which one
For most visitors, the coach, and the reason is arithmetic rather than taste: £5 against £9.45 at best, and £5 against a walk-up rail fare at worst, on a route where the coach also reaches more of London and runs when the train does not. Book it before you fly.
Take the train when time is the binding constraint and the City is the destination. And if you are still choosing between airports rather than between transfers, note that this five-hour rail gap is one of the reasons Stansted is not always the cheapest airport once the whole journey is counted. Our page on Stansted airport itself covers arrivals, security and the terminal.
Frequently asked questions
Is the Stansted Express or the coach cheaper?
The coach. London Stansted advertises National Express fares from £5 one-way booked in advance, against Stansted Express advance fares from about £9.45 (the airport also prints "from £9.90" on the same page). Walk-up rail fares and contactless are higher still, and contactless carries no child or railcard discount.
How long does the Stansted Express take?
48 minutes from London Liverpool Street, about 36 minutes from Tottenham Hale, and about an hour from Stratford. Trains run every 15 minutes, seven days a week. The airport does not publish an end-to-end coach time, and Stansted is 40 miles from central London by road, so the coach is slower and depends on traffic.
Can I use an Oyster card on the Stansted Express?
No. Oyster cards are not valid to or from Stansted Airport, including Visitor Oyster cards sold at the airport. Contactless bank cards and phones are accepted: tap in and out. You can use an Oyster for onward journeys once you reach Liverpool Street or Tottenham Hale.
What if my flight lands in the middle of the night?
Take the coach. There are no trains from the airport between about 00:30 and 05:30, and 05:55 on Tuesday to Thursday. Both coach operators run 24 hours a day, and Flibco departs every half hour, so the night is covered on the road but not on the rails.
Which is better for a family of four?
The coach, booked in advance. Four rail tickets bought on the day, or four contactless taps, cost considerably more, because National Rail applies no child discount to contactless pay as you go. If you do take the train, buy Advance tickets before you travel so the 50% child discount applies.
Sources
- London Stansted - Stansted to central London: coach and train fares (checked September 2026)
- London Stansted - Travel by train: journey times, first and last trains, contactless (checked September 2026)
- London Stansted - Travel by bus or coach: operators, routes and facilities (checked September 2026)
- National Rail - Advance tickets and child discounts (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Contactless pay as you go and capping (checked September 2026)