Gatwick to Royal Holloway: Bus, Train & Taxi Costs

Royal Holloway, University of London is in the village of Egham in Surrey, around 35 to 39 miles from Gatwick Airport by road. Be honest with yourself before you set off: Gatwick sits south of London on the far side of the M25, so it is a lot more awkward to reach than Heathrow, which is only about 7 miles from campus. There is no quick, cheap, direct link. Here are the three sensible ways to get from Gatwick to Royal Holloway, with what each one really costs and how long it actually takes.

By Hasseeb Hussain, founder of RHUL Mobile.

The short answer

• Fastest with luggage: taxi, Uber or Bolt straight up the M25. Around 50 to 70 minutes outside rush hour, roughly £55 to £100 or more depending on the vehicle and demand.
• Cheapest by train: Gatwick to Clapham Junction, then change onto a South Western Railway Reading-line train through Staines to Egham. Around 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes with the change, single fare roughly £15 to £25.
• Cheapest by coach: National Express coach from Gatwick to Heathrow (from around £15), then the local bus onward to Egham. Close to 2 hours door to door, but the lowest fare.

If you arrive tired with a full case, the plain truth is that a taxi or Uber is worth the extra money from Gatwick in a way it is not from Heathrow. From Heathrow the bus is a genuine budget option; from Gatwick every route is long, so weigh the fare against how much faff you want on your first day.

Option 1: Taxi, Uber or Bolt (fastest)

A car straight up the M25 is the fastest way from Gatwick to campus. The drive is roughly 50 to 70 minutes outside rush hour, though the stretch near Heathrow and the M25 junctions can add time in the morning and evening peaks. Both Gatwick terminals (North and South) have Uber and Bolt pick-up zones and an official taxi rank.

• Uber or Bolt: usually £55 to £90, sometimes more at busy times or with surge pricing. Book in the app after you clear the baggage hall and walk to the signposted pick-up zone for your terminal.
• Pre-booked local firm: Egham and Staines taxi companies quote fixed fares from Gatwick to campus, often around £60 to £90. Book ahead and the driver waits in Arrivals with a name board, which is handy after a long flight.
• Metered airport taxi: the rank is quick but tends to be the priciest option, frequently £90 or more for this distance.
• Journey time: 50 to 70 minutes outside rush hour, up to 90 minutes or more if the M25 is heavy.
• Luggage: any amount. Cases, trunks, the lot.

Landing with a year's worth of clothes? From Gatwick this is the one option that does not involve dragging bags on and off trains, so many students just book a fixed-fare car.

Option 2: Train via Clapham Junction (cheapest fast-ish route)

There is no direct train from Gatwick to Egham station, which is the nearest station to Royal Holloway. Egham sits on the South Western Railway Waterloo to Reading line via Staines, and Gatwick is on a different line, so you have to change. The clean interchange is Clapham Junction, not Guildford: from Gatwick take a Gatwick Express, Southern or Thameslink service to Clapham Junction, then change onto a South Western Railway Reading-line train that calls at Staines and Egham.

• Route: Gatwick Airport to Clapham Junction, change, then Clapham Junction to Egham via Staines.
• Journey time: around 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes including the change and a typical wait.
• Fare: a single is roughly £15 to £25 depending on the time of day and how you pay. Pay-as-you-go contactless works on this whole route.
• Luggage: workable but be ready to move bags across platforms at Clapham Junction, which is a busy station with stairs. A single case is fine; a case plus boxes is a struggle.
• At Egham: the station is about a 5 minute walk from the High Street and roughly 20 minutes on foot to the main campus, uphill. From Egham station you can take the Diamond Bus onto campus, or a short local taxi.

You may see a routing suggested via Guildford on the North Downs Line. It is a real service, but reaching Egham that way needs two or more changes and is slower, so Clapham Junction is the sensible interchange for campus. Once you are at Egham station, use the campus map in RHUL Mobile to pick the closest entrance to your hall.

Option 3: Coach to Heathrow, then local bus (lowest fare)

If the fare matters more than the clock, hop across to Heathrow first. National Express runs frequent coaches from Gatwick to Heathrow, calling at Terminal 5 and the Central Bus Station, from around £15 and in roughly 50 to 70 minutes. From Heathrow you are back on the cheap local bus network into Egham.

• Coach leg: Gatwick to Heathrow with National Express, from around £15, roughly 50 to 70 minutes, more than 60 services a day.
• Bus leg: from Heathrow Central Bus Station the 8 bus runs to Englefield Green, a short walk from campus; from Terminal 5 the 71 passes along Egham Hill by the main entrance. Both use the standard single bus fare, paid by contactless (no cash).
• Total time: close to 2 hours door to door once you count the transfer, but the lowest overall cost.
• Luggage: a backpack and a small case is fine on the coach and bus; a full holiday suitcase is workable but cramped on the local bus.

The Heathrow-to-campus leg is the same cheap hop covered in full in our Heathrow to Royal Holloway guide, so read that for the exact bus stops and timings once you reach Heathrow.

Arriving at Royal Holloway: what to do once you land

The campus entrance is on Egham Hill. The main pedestrian entrances are at Founder's Square and at the bottom of the Hub, and the big white French Renaissance building you cannot miss is Founder's. Whichever route you take from Gatwick, a taxi, bus or the Diamond Bus from Egham station can set you down at an entrance close to your hall.

If you are moving into halls on arrivals day, the university runs a meet-and-greet service. Check your move-in pack for the designated drop-off point for your hall.

The campus map in RHUL Mobile works offline and uses real walking routes, so once your taxi, bus or the Diamond Bus drops you at any entrance, it will route you door to door to your hall reception.

If your flight is late

This matters more from Gatwick than from Heathrow, because the public transport routes are longer and the last connections finish earlier. The trains via Clapham Junction and the National Express coaches both stop running well before the small hours, and once they do, a pre-booked taxi or an Uber up the M25 is the only realistic option. Uber and Bolt run 24 hours, with higher prices late at night.

If you land in the evening, book a fixed-fare car before you take off so a driver is waiting, rather than gambling on a late train connection with luggage. If you arrive in the middle of the night and your hall reception is closed, contact campus security at the number on the back of your student card or in your arrival pack. They handle out-of-hours check-in.

Getting around once you are on campus

Once you arrive, the day-to-day bus options are the Diamond Bus RHU between Hox Park, the Founder's Building and Egham Station (£1 flat fare to or from Egham Station, free between Founder's and Hox Park) and the RH2 between Royal Holloway and Huntersdale Campus. Both are tracked live in RHUL Mobile's bus times feature, so you can see when the next one is leaving rather than reading a printed timetable.

The campus itself takes about 12 to 15 minutes end to end on foot, so most lectures will be within walking distance of your hall. The campus map includes walking routes from every hall to every academic building.

Other ways in

Flying into a different airport, or arriving from elsewhere in the UK? Our full guide to getting to Royal Holloway covers every route into Egham, and the Heathrow to Royal Holloway guide is the one to read if you can route through Heathrow, which is by far the easier airport for campus.