Canterbury to Gatwick by pre-booked car: timings, terminals and the trip home

How long a Canterbury to Gatwick airport taxi takes

The published range is 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes, door to terminal. The spread reflects the M25 more than anything in Kent: the orbital is where a quiet Tuesday and a busy Friday look most different.

Expect the M25 at its slowest on Friday afternoons and as the school holidays begin, when it can cost an extra half hour to three quarters of an hour. Expect lane closures on the M2 and the M25 overnight as well, which is exactly when the cars for dawn flights are travelling.

None of this touches the price. You confirm one figure for the car, and that figure holds however long the queue on the motorway turns out to be.

The route out of the city

Almost every Gatwick run starts on the A2, which sweeps round the south of Canterbury. From the western side of the city the car joins it at Harbledown; from Wincheap and Thanington there is a slip road onto the westbound carriageway, opened in September 2011. The A2 turns into the M2 at Brenley Corner, junction 7, near Faversham, and from there it is the M25 and then south on the M23 to the airport.

From Sturry, Fordwich, Hersden or Upstreet the car first comes down the A28 into the city; from Littlebourne and Ickham it uses the A257. Bridge, Patrixbourne and Bekesbourne already sit beside the A2, and Chartham and Petham reach it from the south-west.

If you are staying inside the city walls, remember that automatic bollards have kept most vehicles out of the centre since October 2020. Give the address when you book and a meeting point at the edge of the pedestrian zone is agreed in advance, so nobody is hunting for each other at 3am.

Counting back from a dawn departure

Begin with the latest bag-drop time your airline allows, because that is the real deadline, not the departure on the ticket. Say the flight leaves at 7am and you would like a couple of hours in hand at the airport: the target is 5am at the terminal.

Allow the longest typical drive, 1 hour 45 minutes, which means leaving Canterbury no later than 3.15am. A further 15 to 20 minutes for overnight closures brings the collection to about 3am. Living out in Petham or Upstreet? Give the car a few more minutes to reach the A2.

• Note the latest bag-drop time your airline gives
• Take off the longest typical drive from Canterbury, 1 hour 45 minutes
• Take off 15 to 20 minutes for night closures, and more on a Friday or when school breaks up
• What remains is the collection time to put in the booking

Which Gatwick terminal?

Gatwick splits its flights between two buildings, North and South, and the choice is your airline's, shown on your booking confirmation. Pass it on when you reserve and the driver goes straight to the correct forecourt.

Should you be set down at the wrong building, the free inter-terminal shuttle runs day and night all year, with a departure every few minutes and a ride of roughly two minutes.

At the drop-off forecourt

Each terminal has its drop-off zone on the lower level of the forecourt; at the North Terminal you will find it between the Sofitel hotel and the multi-storey car park. A short stop there is charged per visit, the longest stay allowed is 30 minutes, and the charge has to be settled by midnight on the day after. Registered Blue Badge holders pay nothing.

Under the booking terms, parking fees and road tolls met along the route may be added where they apply. If you would like to know how the Gatwick forecourt fee is treated for your booking, raise it when you reserve.

Have passports and boarding passes out before the car turns onto the forecourt; the stop then takes a minute, and you walk in with time to spare.

Flying home: Gatwick to Canterbury

For the trip home, your flight is watched from departure and the collection follows its real arrival time without any extra cost. The driver stands in the arrivals hall holding your name, then takes a share of the bags out to the car.

From touchdown you have 45 minutes of free waiting on an international flight, or 30 on a domestic one. If the passport queue runs long, time after that is billed at the usual waiting rate, which we can tell you when you book.

Back in Canterbury the car takes you to your door. If the street is inside the bollard zone, it stops at the meeting point you agreed. Going straight to the Cathedral for an evening service? Cars cannot drive into the Precincts, so you will be set down within walking distance of Christ Church Gate in the Buttermarket.

Car, luggage and the fixed fare

Pick the car for the bags as much as the people. Saloons and executive cars both seat four; the saloon fits two large cases and the executive two or three. The estate seats four too but swallows three or four big cases, and the MPV takes six people with four or more. Ask for a child seat when booking and say how old the child is.

Type a Canterbury or village address into the booking system and the price for the car is on screen at once. It ignores traffic, roadworks and diversions, and a 3am start, a Sunday or a bank holiday costs the same. It can grow only if the trip itself changes: extra waiting past the free allowance, a stop you did not book, a big change of route you ask for during the drive, or parking and tolls along the way where they apply.

Cancel with more than a day's notice and you pay nothing; with 6 to 24 hours' notice the charge can reach half the fare; with under 6 hours, or after the car has set out, the whole fare may be due. Paying online, you can use a card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Klarna or Revolut, and entering ExpressTravelKent takes 10% off.