Brighton, England — Travel Tips
Getting There By Air
London Gatwick Airport (LGW)
Tel: 0844 335 1802.
Website: www.gatwickairport.com
Another useful website for passenger information is www.gatwick-airport-guide.co.uk. Gatwick Airport is halfway between London and Brighton, 45km (28 miles) from either city. It is directly linked with the A23 London-Brighton road. There are train services regularly from the rail station by the airport's South Terminal (just a few minutes from the North Terminal via a free transit train link). Coaches operate from the upper terminal forecourt (South Terminal) and run approximately every half an hour during the day. Checker Cars (tel: 0800 747 737; www.checkercars.com) is the airport's official taxi services partner. Information on travel to or from Gatwick Airport is available through the airport Travel Line (tel: 0871 200 2233).
Both terminals have bureau de change and ATMs. Wi-Fi is available throughout the airport. There are also several fixed computer terminals with Internet access at the airport. A post office is located in the South Terminal. There are many restaurants, bars and cafés located in both terminals, and plenty of shops, including several duty-free outlets.
The United Business Centers (tel: 0800 169 9822 or 0190 835 7822; www.unitedbusinesscenters.co.uk) is located on the seventh floor of Norfolk House (South Terminal). It has 17 meeting rooms available for hire, all with broadband capabilities, phones, faxes and full secretarial support. The facility is open Mon-Fri 0800-1800. Business facilities are also available at London Gatwick Hilton Hotel (tel: (01293) 518 080) at the South Terminal and Le Meridien London Gatwick Hotel (tel: (01293) 567 070) at the North Terminal. There is the Servisair Executive Lounge (tel: (01293) 507 349) in the South Terminal, and the Aviance Lounge (tel: (01293) 507 203) in the North Terminal.
Getting There By Road
Brighton is a 45-minute drive south along the M23/A23 from the M25 London orbital motorway. East-west traffic north of the city is served by the A27, leading to Eastbourne and Hastings in the East and Chichester and further on to Portsmouth in the west.
Emergency breakdown services
s: AA (tel: 0800 887 766); Green Flag (tel: 0800 051 0636).
Coach services
Pool Valley Coach Station (tel: (01273) 383 744) is the main bus and coach station in Brighton. All out-of-town services stop and start here. National Express (tel: 0871 781 8181; www.nationalexpress.com) shuttle coaches run regularly to and from London.
Getting There By Rail
Brighton's main train station is managed by Southern (tel: 0845 127 2920; www.southernrailway.com), which also operates a large rail network in the south of England. Along with Thameslink, which is run by First Capital Connect (tel: 0845 026 4700; www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk), it runs frequent train services to Gatwick Airport and London. The journey time for express services to London is 50 minutes. There are frequent train services from Brighton to many local stations in the area surrounding the city. For train travel information, contact National Rail enquiries (tel: 0845 748 4950; www.nationalrail.co.uk).
Getting Around in Brighton, England
Public Transport
Brighton is quite a compact city and for many purposes the best way to move around is to walk. Still, bus travel in Brighton and Hove is easy and convenient thanks to a well developed network of routes and frequent services run by Brighton & Hove Bus and Coach Company (tel: (01273) 886 200; www.buses.co.uk). A Metro network of five bus lines (1, 5, 7, 25 and 49) provides excellent links across the central areas, with plenty of bus stops and buses running every few minutes during daytime. For general advice on travel options, the local council's public transport team can be contacted (tel: (01273) 292 480).
Taxis
There are several taxi ranks in the city center, and cabs can be hailed on the streets as well. Brighton & Hove City Cabs (tel: (01273) 205 205; www.205205.com), Brighton & Hove Radio Cabs (tel: (01273) 204 060; www.brightontaxis.com) and Streamline Taxis (tel: (01273) 202 020; www.202020taxis.com) are some of the city's taxi companies. Asian-style tuk tuks also made their appearance on the streets of Brighton in July 2006 (the first initiative of its kind in Europe) and Tuc Tuc Ltd (www.tuctuc.co.uk) now provides an alternative, eco-friendly form of transport in the city (they run on compressed natural gas with super low emission).
Car Hire
There are many car hire companies in Brighton. Alamo (tel: (01273) 202 426; www.alamo.co.uk), Europcar (tel: (01273) 329 332; www.europcar.co.uk) and National Car Rental (tel: (01273) 202 426; www.nationalcar.co.uk) are all situated centrally at Cannon Place. Hertz (tel: 0870 850 4882; www.hertz.co.uk) can be found at 1 Melville Road.
Bicycle Hire
Bicycles can be hired from Planet Cycle Hire (tel: (01273) 748 881) on the Kings Road Promenade, near the remains of the West Pier. M's Cycle Hire (tel: 0785 298 6165/3; www.m-cyclehire.co.uk) delivers bicycles to customers' doorsteps, whether staying in a hotel, a bed & breakfast or any other place in the Brighton area.
