Crawley Mini Guide
I go Through Crawley on the way to Gatwick Airport, Have I Missed Much?
Crawley is a big town that has prospered since the opening of Gatwick Airport but prior to that it was a sleepy market town over a thousand years old. In fact the area’s been inhabited for millennia. The town itself is renowned as a commuter centre for
London and also for its shopping with one of the biggest shopping malls in the south east located there and there are plans to redevelop another.
Apart From Flying Into Gatwick, how Else can I get There?
Coming any distance to get to Crawley you should use the airport which is served by many low cost airlines from across the
UK. If closer to hand, Southern Railway operates a route from the South Coast to
Victoria Station in London that stops there. Travellers from the north or west would be advised to take a London connection to Victoria. It’s also a stop on the National Express route.
What can I do if Staying in Crawley?
Most people go there for the shopping where almost every high street name and others are under the same roof in the Crawley County Mall. Once in the town and your shopping is done, you can take a break and have a picnic lunch in one of the two main parks in the town. Buchan Country Park is beautiful with old lakes and shaded walks between the trees. Tilgate Park is the setting for the annual summer ‘Proms in the Park’ concert. Crawley has a very up and coming football team that have rocketed out of the Blue Square Premier and are shortly to be seen in League 1 where money has talked once more bring excellent players into the team that is hungry for success.
What About if I Hire a car?
We’d recommend that you head out of Crawley and explore the little villages of the ancient Sussex Weald, the plain that lies between the South and North Downs. Sweeping miles of fertile countryside dotted with farms are typically English on a fine summer’s day. We can arrange car hire at over 250 locations across the UK and have a comprehensive list of all locations on our website,
see it here.
Crawley’s main claim to fame is that it is the town where Gatwick Airport is located. Whilst the airport has helped the town to prosper, it is other things than flying that brings people to the town.
Crawley is in the middle of beautiful countryside otherwise known as the Weald which means woodland, and easily accessible with a hire car. The Weald is a flat plain that lies between the North and South Downs and divided into the High Weald and the Low Weald, both of which are charming in their different ways.