London Stansted Airport to Central London (Liverpool Street)

Forty-six minutes, four trains an hour

Stansted is about 60 km north-east of the City by road, off the M11. For most people landing here the question is not how to reach Liverpool Street but how much to pay for the same train. The Stansted Express leaves from the station directly under the terminal every 15 minutes and stops at Tottenham Hale. It reaches Liverpool Street in 46 to 48 minutes on the current timetable. Some departures also call at Harlow Town and Bishop's Stortford. That adds a few minutes but you still end up in the same place.

The walk from arrivals to the platform takes about two minutes, with lifts, escalators and ramps all the way. A trolley full of bags is no reason to avoid the train.

Three prices for one seat

Since 8 March 2026 you can tap a contactless bank card or phone at the gates. Transport for London's fare table is now the clearest reference: £21.00 off-peak, and £23.00 Monday to Friday between 06:30 and 09:30. That covers the whole run to Liverpool Street. If your hotel is near King's Cross, Oxford Circus or Victoria, get off at Tottenham Hale and take the Victoria line. The through fare to those Tube stations is £22.10 off-peak, so the Tube leg costs only about £1.10 more.

The second price is the advance ticket. The airport quotes Stansted Express advance singles from £9.90, bought online and tied to one train. If your flight is reliable and you can pick a departure, this is the biggest saving on the route. If it is not, a missed advance ticket means buying a new one. That is why many people simply tap in and pay the difference.

The third price is for railcard holders. Discounts are not applied to contactless, so a ticket with the railcard attached usually beats tapping in.

One thing does not work at all: Oyster. Oyster cards are not valid to or from Stansted, although they work on the Tube once you reach Tottenham Hale or Liverpool Street. Tapping an Oyster at the airport gate is the easiest way to end up with an incomplete journey and a charge you did not expect.

Where the coach wins

National Express runs three London routes from the coach station opposite the terminal. The A8 goes via Tottenham Hale, Stamford Hill, Dalston and Shoreditch to Liverpool Street, then on to Southwark, Waterloo and Victoria. The A9 reaches Liverpool Street from the east, via Stratford. Advance fares start at £7 and the service runs 24 hours. National Express's fastest timed journey between Liverpool Street and the airport is 1 hour 10 minutes. A standard ticket is also valid on a similar departure up to three hours either side of the one you booked, which helps a lot after a slow passport queue.

Flibco is the other coach company. It runs every 30 minutes around the clock, with fares from £7.49 online. The ticket is valid on any departure that day until 04:00 the next morning. Its Liverpool Street run via Redbridge and Stratford takes about 90 minutes, and the airport also lists a non-stop Flibco service to Liverpool Street.

Here is how it adds up for a group. Two people tapping in pay £42 between them. Two advance coach seats can cost £14. National Express also gives 33% off one-way tickets booked for four or more people together. Against that, the train is quicker and is not affected by traffic in Hackney.

The 00:30 cut-off

The last Stansted Express to London leaves at 00:30. The first one in the morning runs at about 05:30, or 05:55 on Tuesdays to Thursdays. If you land after midnight, plan on a coach. National Express runs through the night on all three London routes; its first departure of the day is the 00:05 A9 to Stratford. Flibco keeps its half-hourly pattern overnight. The station ticket office is open 06:30 to midnight every day. Outside those hours, use the machines or contactless.

Cars, by arrangement

Stansted has no rank of London black cabs. The on-airport operator is Street Cars. It has a desk in the arrivals concourse and a courtesy phone in domestic baggage reclaim, and it quotes per address rather than publishing a London price list. One independent estimate puts a taxi into central London at about £105. Comparison sites list pre-booked saloons from about £99. In clear traffic the drive takes around an hour and ten minutes, and the M11 and the East London approach can make it much longer at rush hour. A car mainly makes sense for three or four people sharing, or for an address a long way from any station.

Choosing where to get off

Liverpool Street connects to the Elizabeth, Central, Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City lines. Tottenham Hale is the better stop for anywhere on the Victoria line. If you are going to the City itself, stay on to the end of the line and walk out of the station.