Where Can I Fly Cheaply from London Right Now?

London has five airports, which means more cheap flight options than almost any city in Europe. The trick is knowing which airport to use for which destination — and right now, in late April and early May 2026, there are still genuinely good prices on routes that will be significantly more expensive by June.

The answer to 'where can I fly cheaply from London' changes by month, by day of week, and by which airline is running a sale. But some patterns hold consistently. Portugal is always well-priced from London. Eastern Europe is consistently cheap from Stansted. The Canary Islands are competitive year-round from Gatwick. And there are always a handful of routes each month where an airline has more seats than it expected to sell — and those excess seats get priced to clear.

Here's what's actually cheap from London airports right now.

London Stansted to Faro, Portugal (FAO) — Ryanair: Around £55–75 one-way for May. Faro is the gateway to the Algarve — arguably the best beach region in southern Europe for the quality-to-price ratio. The water is cooler than the Med but the beaches (Meia Praia, Praia da Marinha, the Ria Formosa lagoons) are extraordinary. May is perfect: 22–25°C, low crowds, fully open. This is the best cheap flight from London right now for a beach trip.

London Stansted to Krakow, Poland (KRK) — Ryanair: Around £35–55 one-way for May. Krakow is one of the best city breaks in Europe at any price, but at £35 it's remarkable. The old town is one of the most intact medieval city centres on the continent. The food is excellent. Auschwitz-Birkenau is 90 minutes by bus and should be on everyone's list. Budget £40/day on the ground and eat and drink well.

London Gatwick to Tenerife (TFS) — easyJet: Around £80–105 one-way for May. Tenerife in May is 24–26°C and significantly cheaper than in July or August. Teide, the Masca gorge, Loro Parque if you have children. The south of the island has good beaches and a developed resort infrastructure. A week in May costs roughly 30% less than the same trip in August.

London Luton to Tirana, Albania (TIA) — Wizz Air: Around £40–65 one-way for May. Albania is this year's genuinely underrated destination — Adriatic coast beaches, remarkably good food, and almost no tourist infrastructure pricing yet. A coastal week in May at Ksamil or Himarë costs roughly what the same trip would have cost in Montenegro five years ago.

This matters more than most people realise. The cheapest flight to Faro might be from Stansted, but if you live in West London, the Stansted Express and a Tube journey adds 90 minutes and £25 each way to your trip. The right airport depends on where you're starting from.

If you're in Central or East London: Stansted for Ryanair routes (Krakow, Porto, Seville, Warsaw, Faro, Naples, Eindhoven). Gatwick for easyJet European routes (Tenerife, Malaga, Lanzarote, Alicante, Barcelona, Nice). Both have direct fast trains — Stansted Express 47 minutes, Gatwick Express 30 minutes from Victoria.

If you're in North or West London: Luton for Wizz Air and Ryanair (Budapest, Bucharest, Warsaw, Tirana). Heathrow for BA and long-haul. The Luton routes are consistently the cheapest but the airport is the worst of the five — budget extra time.

If you're in South London: Gatwick is your airport. It's 30 minutes from Victoria. Don't pay for a Stansted Express journey from South London when easyJet from Gatwick is often within £10–15 of the same Ryanair fare from Stansted.

The rule: don't choose the airport with the cheapest headline fare without adding the journey cost. A £35 Ryanair fare from Stansted that costs £30 in trains from your home is a £65 fare. A £50 easyJet fare from Gatwick that's 30 minutes away is a better deal.

The May bank holidays affect prices significantly. May Day (Monday May 4) means the weekend of May 2–5 carries a premium. The Spring Bank Holiday (Monday May 25) means May 23–26 is peak-priced. The genuinely cheap weeks to fly from London in May are May 6–22 — the stretch between the two bank holidays when demand is lower and families aren't travelling.

A Tuesday May 12 departure returning Sunday May 17 to Faro, Krakow, Tenerife, or any other destination in that window will be 20–30% cheaper than flying on the bank holiday weekends. If you have any flexibility at work, that's the window to use.

For those tied to the bank holiday weekends: the destinations that stay most reasonably priced are the ones with less mainstream demand. Tirana, Varna (Bulgaria), Skopje, Catania (Sicily), and Naples all hold prices better through UK bank holidays than Malaga, Ibiza, or Mallorca.

Search from your nearest London airport now — the prices shown are real, they're live, and they'll be higher in three weeks.