London

By bus

Most international and domestic long distance bus UK English: coach services arrive at and depart from a complex of coach stations off Buckingham Palace Road in Westminster close to London Victoria rail station. All services operated by National Express or Eurolines see below serve Victoria Coach Station, which actually has separate arrival and departure buildings. Services by other operators may use this station, or the Green Line Coach Station across Buckingham Palace Road. The following are amongst the main coach operators:

National Express

is by far the largest domestic coach operator and operates services to / from London from throughout England, Wales and Scotland. Advance ticketing is usually required and recommended practice in any case. Fares are low - especially when booked in advance via the web. A few journeys are fast but most are notably slower than using the train.

Megabus

operates budget coach services from/to London Victoria Coach Station to/from several major regional cities, it is even possible to get to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. Also offers service to continental Europe. Fares are demand responsive but can be very cheap £1.50 if you book far enough in advance. Megabus also offer a Sleeper service to Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Greyhound

coach services with free wi-fi, newspapers and extra legroom. From/to London Victoria Coach Station to/from several cities. Fares can be very cheap.

By plane

Due to London's huge global city status it is the most served destination in the world when it comes to flights.

London all airports code: LON is served by a total of five airports. Travelling between the city and the airports is made relatively easy by the large number of public transport links that have been put in place over recent years. However, if transiting through London, be sure to check the arrival and departure airports carefully as transfers across the city may be quite time consuming. In addition to London's five official airports of which only two are located within Greater London, there are a number of other regional UK airports conveniently accessible from London. Since they offer a growing number of budget flights, choosing those airports can be cheaper or even faster, depending on where in London your destination is.

For transfers directly between London's airports, the fastest way short of a taxi is the direct inter-airport bus service by National Express (http://nationalexpress.com/). Buses between Heathrow, Gatwick, Stansted and Luton run at least hourly, with Heathrow-Gatwick services taking 65 min £18 and Heathrow-Stansted services 90 min £20.50 note that services between Stansted and Luton run only every two hours. However, it's essential to allow leeway, as London's expressways, especially the orbital M25 and the M1 motorway, are often congested to the point of gridlock. Some buses have toilets on board.

By car

London is the hub of the UK's road network and is easy to reach by car, even if driving into the centre of the city is definitely not recommended. Greater London is encircled by the M25 orbital motorway, from which nearly all the major trunk routes to Scotland, Wales and the rest of England radiate. The most important are listed below.

M1:

The main route to/from the North, leading from the East Midlands, Yorkshire and terminating at Leeds. Most importantly, Britain's longest motorway - the M6, branches from the M1 at Rugby, leading to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester, the Lake District and onwards to the Scottish border, and ultimately Glasgow.

A1/A1(M)

The A1 is the original, historic "Great North Road" between England and Scotland's capital cities and has largely been converted to motorway standard; it runs up the eastern side of Great Britain through Peterborough, York, Newcastle and continues north through Northumberland and the Scottish Borders to Edinburgh.

M40/A40:

Arrives in London from a north westerly direction, linking the city with Oxford and providing an additional link from Birmingham.

M4:

The principal route to/from the West - leading to Bath, Bristol and cities South Wales Cardiff and Swansea. It is also the main route towards Heathrow Airport.

M3:

The main route to London from the shipping port of Southampton.

M2/M20

Together, these motorways are the main link to the coastal ferry and Channel Tunnel ports of Dover and Folkestone from Continental Europe.

M11

The M11 connects Stansted Airport and Cambridge to London, and it terminates on the north eastern periphery of the city.

In addition to the M25, here are two inner ring roads in London which skirt the central area:

A406/A205 North Circular/South Circular

The North Circular is a half circle on the North of the Thames, and is mostly a dual carriageway. It has direct connections with the M4, M40, M1 and M11 motorways and can be useful if you want to quickly get around the northern suburbs of the city. The corresponding South Circular is really a local road which is made up of segments of main suburban thoroughfares. The two roads are connected at the east end of the circle in North Woolwich/Woolwich Arsenal by the Woolwich Free Ferry, which runs approx. every 10-15 minutes and is free of charge, although it can only carry a limited amount of vehicles so avoid during busy periods as the queues can be very long! The ferry stops running after 10pm, so it's advisable to travel through the Docklands and use the Blackwall Tunnel instead.

Comparatively few people will actually drive into or anywhere near the centre of London. The infamous M25 ring road did not earn its irreverent nicknames "The Road To Hell" and "Britain's biggest car park" for nothing. The road is heavily congested at most times of the day, and is littered with automatically variable speed limits which are enforced with speed cameras. Despite the controversial "congestion charge", driving a car anywhere near the centre of London remains a nightmare with crowded roads, impatient drivers and extortionate parking charges that's if you can find a space in the first place, that is!. From Monday through Friday, parking in the City of London is free after 18:30; after 13:30 on Saturday and all day Sunday.

There are also a number of Pay as you go car rental companies operating around London including WhizzGo (http://whizzgo.co.uk/) and Car Clubs (http://carclubs.org.uk/)