How to choose the cheapest Gatwick Airport Parking?

Used to just rocking up to the official Gatwick Airport parking on the day and paying as you enter? Perfectly understandable as you just want to relax and enjoy your holiday; however, by using Airport Parking Shop and a tiny bit of planning, you can save money and perhaps find an option better suited to you.

A comparison: Just rolling up to Short Stay at either terminal costs £70 for the first day and then another £70 per additional day — that’s £490 for a week. Our lowest price last week was £40.38 for a 7-day stay.

Tempted? Then, whether it is the nearest car park or the cheapest, we give you the answers below in just five bite-sized chunks.

1 – Understand Your Parking Type Options (and what’s usually cheapest)

Quick Insights

Park & Ride is usually the cheapest (you park further away and take a bus), while Short Stay/Multi-Storey, right by the terminal, is the most expensive.

A Deeper Dive

(but don’t worry you will be back to the surface in no time)

The four main types of parking are Short Stay, Long Stay, Meet & Greet and Valet Parking:

• Short Stay (or Multi-Storey) — usually very near to the terminal and just a few minutes’ walk to departures. (Gatwick quotes ~4 minutes.)
• Long Stay (or Park & Ride) — these two names exist because Long Stay is more often used for official airport car parks, while Park & Ride is used by third-party providers. What they have in common is that they usually require a shuttle bus or a longish walk of 10+ minutes. (At Gatwick it’s a free shuttle ~5–20 minutes depending on terminal/time of day.)
• Meet & Greet — you leave your car and keys near the terminal; it’s parked for you in a secure compound. (Official “Valet” at Gatwick meets you at a designated area; car is returned to the same spot.)
• Valet Parking — like Meet & Greet but typically the official premium handover location and closest walk (Gatwick quotes ~2 minutes after handover).

If you’re travelling with the family, you may find the Meet & Greet service is best suited to you; if you’re not carrying huge amounts of luggage then a cheaper off-airport Park & Ride may be the best option for you.

Gatwick Airport Carpark Specifics

First things first: London Gatwick has a North and South Terminal.

The Short Stay and Long Stay options are specific to their terminal so make sure you book the right one. Otherwise, most of the park & ride car parks and meet & greet operators serve both terminals so you just need to remember to get off the shuttle bus at the right stop – or, for Meet & Greet, let them know at which terminal to pick your car up.

Oh, and, only Gatwick Airport sells its official on-airport car parks, so if you are interested in any of the official options below, head over to their website.

Walkable (Official)
• Short Stay North / Short Stay South — Walk just 4 minutes.
• Mid Stay — Only available for the North Terminal you can walk in about 6 minutes.

Park & Ride (Official)
• Long Stay North — The shuttle has a transfer time of 10–20 min and goes every 10–12 minutes.
• Long Stay South — 7–12-minute transfer time for the shuttle and a frequency of every 10–12 minutes.

Park & Ride (Third Party)
• APH Gatwick Park & Ride — Shuttle transfer time is 10 minutes with a typical frequency of 10–15 min.
• Cophall Parking — Expect 7–12 minutes to transfer; typical frequency is every 15 min.
• Purple Parking (Park & Ride) — Shuttle takes 10–15 min.
• I Love Park & Ride — Shuttle is only 5 min and available on on-demand.
• Maple Parking Park & Ride — Shuttle typically takes 10 minutes and goes every 15 min.

Meet & Greet (Official)
• Valet (Official Meet & Greet) — Handover at designated area; after drop-off it’s a 2 min walk into the terminal.

Meet & Greet (Third Party)
• Providers include Maple Parking Meet & Greet, I Love Meet & Greet, Ace Meet & Greet, Tudor Rose, Sure Parking and Help Me Park. All of them will meet you near, or at, your terminal so you just have a couple minute walk.

Note on “Approved Operators”: Gatwick runs an Approved Off-Airport Operator scheme (used by brands such as I Love, APH, Tudor Rose, Help Me Park, Maple, Ace, Sure, Cophall) to help passengers avoid rogue firms. Always check meeting points and credentials.

Which parking type is cheapest?

Expect to pay more for convenience. Short Stay/Multi-Storey is usually the most expensive since you’re closest to the terminal and you keep your keys. Where Park & Ride is available, it’s typically the best value. Even though you’ll drop your car very close to the airport and have a short walk, Meet & Greet can sometimes rival Long Stay/Park & Ride on price: your car is usually parked offsite where storage is cheaper — and you have to leave your keys and arrange drop-off and pick-up times.

Gatwick Airport Parking - Third Party Meet & Greet and Park & Ride Comparison

The table above shows that over the six months from the 1st April to 31st September 2025 the average price of a day in Third Party Meet & Greet booked two weeks in advance was £20.54 compared to Third Party Park & Ride which was £16.95. That is a saving of almost £5 a day.

Note: The above is for guidance on price differences not an estimate of your price. It includes quotes for 1 day's parking up to 14+ days and you will pay a much lower price if you book for more days. In addition, it includes all providers in that category - for example, Park & Ride - and some will be more expensive. You can see a list of the cheapest providers over the last week above or simply do a search to compare latest prices across all the leading comparison sites. We don’t own any car parks, we are only interested in getting you the cheapest price.

Using Airport Parking Shop

Tip: By default, Airport Parking Shop lists prices from low to high irrespective of the parking type, which you can see in the blue box. If you are sure what kind of parking type you want, simply hit the Filter Results option above the results and then select for just what you want under Parking Options on the left.

2 – Plan to Book in Advance

Quick Insight

Start looking at least two weeks in advance.

(The Quick Dive-Down Part)

The most expensive way to park is to turn up on the day and pay as you enter. Not only will it cost more but they might not have spaces, leaving you with a lot more stress than having to remember to book! Just rolling up to Short Stay at either terminal costs £70 for the first day and then another £70 per additional day — that’s £490 for a week. Long Stay roll-up is £38 for day one and £32 per extra day — £230 for a week. Our lowest price last week was £40.38 for a 7-day stay.

You can save substantially by booking in advance, with the amount you save depending on how far in advance you book: aim for at least two weeks ahead.

Gatwick Airport - Advance Pricing Third Party Comparison

As you can see from the table above, the average price of one day’s Third Party Park & Ride parking fell from £29.37 to £16.95 when booked two weeks in advance, compared to one day ahead.

Tip: Prices go up due to availability (or lack of) so at busier times of the year, like school and national holidays, you may want to start looking at prices even earlier.

3 – Don’t Rely Just on Gatwick Official Car Parks

Quick Insight

Comparing like-for-like, third party car parks are generally cheaper; however, as we can’t sell official ones go to the Gatwick Airport website to compare their prices to our third party ones.

A Deeper Dive

(It is only snorkelling)

Gatwick, like most airports, has its own car parks — and, like most airports, it has third-party operators providing parking options. You may have read about rogue parking operators at airports and understandably that can be off-putting, but the reality is that lots of trusted, established providers run car parks all across the UK.

Gatwick has official Short Stay, Mid Stay, Long Stay and Valet products; off-airport there’s a well-developed ecosystem of Park & Ride and Meet & Greet brands. Stick to Approved operators (and Park Mark sites) to avoid rogue providers.

Why no third-party Short Stay? – By virtue of short stay needing to offer a short walk and therefore be near the terminal and on the airport grounds, it is usually the preserve of the official airport parking – with third-party operators focused on park & ride and meet & greet.

Is official or third-party the cheapest?

Comparing like-for-like (e.g., meet & greet vs meet & greet; park & ride vs park & ride), official is more often than not pricier.

For most airports, Airport Parking Shop lets you compare official and third-party side-by-side by parking type. Unfortunately, as only Gatwick Airport sells its official parking (we have tried), we can’t show you that comparison in our search results, you will have to go to the Gatwick Airport website to check. We know going manual and checking multiple browsers windows isn’t fun (That is why we created Airport Parking Shop) but you will have to go old school for this one. Anyway, so do a search for your dates here – you can still rest assured you are getting third party results from just about everyone – and then go to Gatwick Airport’s site to compare.

Using Airport Parking Shop

Airport Parking Shop allows you to see official and third-party car parks together based around key functionality. For example, car parks that need a bus will be under Park & Ride; we don’t leave official ones under on-airport, making it difficult to filter and compare.

4 – Compare Parking Features to Find the Best Value

There is very likely to be more than one provider of your chosen parking option type – Meet & Greet has 7 providers. Once you’ve decided on a parking type, compare what they offer to get the right balance of price and convenience:

• Transfer time & frequency: walk minutes or shuttle interval
• Distance from terminal: handy if walking is preferred
• Keys: keep vs leave
• Booking flexibility: fully flexible vs pay-now/non-refundable
• Opening hours: look for 24/7 if you have late/early flights
• Security & reviews: Park Mark, recent ratings
• Total price, not headline: watch any airport forecourt/short-stay meeting fees

Using Airport Parking Shop

Tip: After doing a search the features above will be displayed in the tabs, or by hitting the More Info button.

5 – Compare Sites to Find the Cheapest and Save More

Quick insight

Not every site sells every car park, and the same space can be a different price elsewhere. Check more than one site — or save time by using Airport Parking Shop.

The Detail

(I ran out of deep dive riffs)

So, you are ready to save money – you’ve even planned out how many more drinks you can get at the pool bar. But then you google for Gatwick Airport parking, you see so many sites to choose from, and your head starts to hurt. Which one is best?

The world of airport parking is made up of lots of businesses:

• The official airport car parks usually run by the airport.
• National third-party car park brands who resell official spaces or operate Meet & Greet.
• Small regional operators.
• Meet & Greet providers who take your car to a secure compound that you won’t visit.

Use a comparison site to cut through the noise

This definitely helps but not every car park works with every comparison site and sometimes, different sites charge different prices for the same space. Ever been searching for car insurance and found a provider available on one comparison site and not another, or at a different price? Airport parking is no different with the added complication that some comparison sites are selling their own spaces too.

Search more than one

The key therefore in finding the cheapest price is to check as many different sites as possible. As with anything else, there is a cost-benefit ratio so you might set yourself a target of the top 3 or 4. Or you might just give up!

All the comparison sites have a lowest price guarantee – isn’t that great?

Checking multiple sites for lowest prices is a time-consuming exercise so why not just rely on the cheapest price guarantee of the first one? Cheapest price guarantees are fantastic, but it is down to you to go find a lower price elsewhere, often within 24 hours, and then contact the original provider, send them the link, and wait for their refund. Something most of us don’t have time for.

How Airport Parking Shop Can Help

That is why Airport Parking Shop is here. We compare the car parks for you, and we even compare the comparison sites. We are independent, we don’t have any car parks of our own. Check the logos for our partners above and then look down the search results for airport parking and you can see we work with almost everyone (find one we don’t, let us know and we’ll get on it).

How we save time and money:

• See more options: both third-party car parks and comparison sites.
• Compare providers: see prices for the same space, all next to each other in one search.
• See like-for-like: compare Park & Ride with Park & Ride, Meet & Greet with Meet & Greet.
• Quickly narrow down: filter by parking type, customer reviews, providers and even distance to the terminal.
• Switch dates in a click to see the cheapest.
• Understand feature differences: check summary cards or tap through for full details.

What terminology is helpful to understand pricing?

Meet & Greet vs Valet Parking

Very similar, but at Gatwick the official Valet is the airport-run version of meet & greet with a designated handover area just by the terminal.

Park & Ride vs Long Stay

These terms are often used interchangeably with Park & Ride preferred by third-party operators and Long Stay by the official airport. At Gatwick, Long Stay uses a free shuttle (5–20 minutes depending on terminal and the state of traffic).

On-airport vs off-airport

Many comparison sites have an On-Airport filter and a separate one for Park & Ride. The on-airport category might seem self-explanatory, but the search results can sometimes include Long Stay that is a bus ride away — similar to Park & Ride. We think this can be confusing, so we don’t categorise like that. We put all bus-served options together under Park & Ride and all walkable ones under On-Airport so you can compare them like-for-like.

Short Stay

Short Stay doesn’t mean you have to stay for a short period of time. The price and closeness to the airport means it is usually used by friends or relatives sending someone off, but you can park for a week or two if you want. Just remember it will cost you a lot more.

More Information

Motorbike Parking at Gatwick

Head over to our Guide to motorbike parking at Gatwick Airport for details.

Hotels With Parking

There are also a range of hotels that allow for you to park on-site. However, these tend to be short-term and for in-bound travellers, rather than those going abroad. For a range of Gatwick Airport Hotels, we recommend visiting the official Gatwick Hotels page on their site.

Getting to or from Gatwick Airport

For passenger convenience, there is a free inter-terminal transit shuttle service which operates 24 hours a day. They usually run every 15 minutes and take 2 minutes so you can easily move between the terminals at any time of the day. The train station is integrated into the Gatwick Airport building (South Terminal) so there’s no need to transfer. Head for the escalator or a lift to get straight to first floor, and if you require North Terminal, follow the signs to North Terminal and take the transit shuttle. The Gatwick Airport Guide contains tonnes of useful information about the airport, head over to their site if you are planning on flying from Gatwick anytime soon.