North Terminal parking at Gatwick

Which car parks serve the North Terminal, how long each one takes to reach the check-in desks, and when it is worth using a South Terminal car park instead.

Last reviewed 6 September 2026. Prices and car park rules change often — confirm the current details before you travel.

Gatwick has two terminals, North and South, and they are far enough apart that the choice of car park genuinely matters. The North Terminal sits on the northern side of the airport, reached from its own spur off the airport approach road, and it has its own dedicated short stay and long stay car parks.

The official North Terminal car parks

The airport operates two categories of car park on the North Terminal side, and they are built for completely different trips.

Short Stay North

This is the multi-storey immediately beside the terminal building. It is the closest you can get to the check-in desks with your own car, and the walk from the car park to departures is measured in minutes rather than requiring any kind of transfer. That convenience is priced accordingly: short stay tariffs climb steeply once you are past the first few hours, and they are a poor choice for anything longer than a day or two. Use it when you are meeting someone, dropping bags, or taking a very short trip where the premium is worth not dealing with a bus.

Long Stay North

The long stay car park is further out, on the airport perimeter, and is connected to the terminal by a free transfer bus that runs frequently. The per-day rate falls a long way below short stay, which is what makes it the default choice for a holiday. The trade-off is time and handling: you park, unload, wait for a bus, ride in, and do the whole thing in reverse when you land tired at the end of a fortnight.

If you are travelling with small children, a lot of luggage, or anyone who finds standing and waiting difficult, factor that transfer into the decision rather than looking only at the headline day rate.

Off-airport car parks serving the North Terminal

Beyond the airport's own car parks there is a substantial independent industry around Gatwick: off-airport compounds within a few miles of the perimeter, running their own transfer buses to both terminals. These are often cheaper per day than the official long stay car parks, sometimes considerably so.

The quality varies far more than the price does, so the things worth checking before booking are practical ones:

• How long is the transfer, really? Advertised times tend to be the drive itself, not the wait for the bus. Ask about frequency, not just duration.
• Does the bus serve your terminal directly, or drop at one terminal and leave you to take the inter-terminal shuttle?
• Is the transfer included in the quoted price, and is it included for the return leg at whatever hour you land?
• Where exactly is the compound? "Gatwick" in an operator's name is marketing, not geography.
• Who holds the keys? Some off-airport operators park the car themselves and keep the keys, which is a meaningfully different proposition from a self-park compound where you keep them.

Meet and greet at the North Terminal

Meet and greet reverses the whole model: instead of you driving to a car park and travelling to the terminal, a driver meets you at the terminal forecourt, takes the car away, and brings it back to you when you land. For the North Terminal this means driving straight to the designated meet and greet area rather than to a car park at all.

It is the fastest option by some distance and the most expensive of the mainstream choices. It also involves handing your car and keys to someone else, so the operator's insurance arrangements and their storage location matter more here than with any other parking type.

Should you use a South Terminal car park instead?

Sometimes, yes. The two terminals are joined by a free automated shuttle that runs continuously and takes only a couple of minutes end to end, so a South Terminal car park is genuinely usable for a North Terminal flight. If a South Terminal option is substantially cheaper for your dates, the shuttle ride is a small price to pay.

The caveat is that you will make that transfer twice, the second time with your luggage after a flight. It is a minor inconvenience outbound and a slightly larger one on the way home. Weigh the saving against how much you will care about it at the end of the trip, not how much you care about it now.

Getting to the North Terminal by road

Road access to Gatwick is from the M23, and both terminals are signposted from the motorway spur onto the airport approach. The North and South Terminal turnings come at different points, and the signage assumes you already know which one you want — so confirm your terminal before you set off rather than trying to read signs at speed.

If you take the wrong turning you are not stranded; you can follow the signs round and come back. It simply costs you time you would rather have spent in the departure lounge, and it is the single most common way people run late at Gatwick.

Before you book

Whichever option you choose, the checks that actually prevent problems are the boring ones: confirm your terminal against your booking, confirm the car park's exact address and postcode for your satnav, confirm what the price includes, and confirm the cancellation terms. Airport parking is normally booked weeks ahead of a trip whose details can still change, and the cheapest rates are frequently the least flexible.