Gatwick North Terminal parking: every car park

North has six ways to leave a car, more than the South Terminal, and they sort by how far you are willing to be from the doors. Short stay means car parks 5 and 6, a covered four-minute walk from check-in, with premium short stay inside car park 5 cutting that to about two minutes on the terminal entrance level. Mid stay sits a six-minute covered walk out, with its own premium tier two minutes from the terminal, and exists only on this side of the airport. Long stay is the holiday compound by the perimeter, connected by a free bus. Valet completes the set: hand the keys over two minutes from check-in and the airport parks it for you, covered in full in the valet parking guide.

The same ladder exists at South minus mid stay, and the two sides charge identical drive-up rates, so the real choice is usually product, not terminal; Gatwick parking compared sets the whole market side by side. What decides the terminal is your airline. easyJet flies everything from North, as do Emirates, Qatar Airways and most of the long-haul leisure carriers, and the terminal named on your booking is the one your car park should serve.

Drive-up rates are the published tariff below; identical figures apply at South. Mid stay and valet sell pre-book only, at dynamic prices that sit between the short and long stay poles.

Drive-up tariff. Pre-booking cuts up to 60% against these rates.

The buying rules are the same as everywhere at Gatwick: book when the flights are booked, amend free online up to 24 hours before arrival if plans move, and check current parking promo codes before paying, because a working code stacks on top of the pre-book saving.

Mid stay is the product South does not have, and it exists for one trade: keeping the price nearer long stay while replacing the bus with a six-minute covered walk. That makes it the natural pick for anyone twitchy about transfer timing, an early bank-holiday departure, a tight return connection, or simply a dislike of waiting for buses with luggage.

Its rules are stricter than its siblings. Mid stay is pre-book only, and Gatwick's own page warns against arriving without a booking, because drive-up traffic is not admitted. The height limit is 2.4m, more generous than the short stays, and bays measure 2.5m by 5m, a little larger than elsewhere on the airport. There are no EV charging points, so electric cars should arrive with the return leg's range already banked. The premium mid stay tier moves the same deal to within two minutes of the terminal.

The North long stay is the cheap seat: free for the first two hours, £38 to 24 hours and £32 a day after at the gate, and routinely less than half the drive-up total when booked weeks out. The free bus runs every 10 to 12 minutes around the clock and takes 10 to 12 minutes, so budget up to half an hour from bay to check-in at busy times. At the terminal it picks up from bus stop 1 on the lower forecourt, at the northern end nearest the international arrivals exit, and drops off at bus stop 8 on Furlong Way. The compound is Park Mark accredited, fenced, lit and patrolled, and you keep your keys; the long stay guide covers the product in full.

One quirk is worth knowing before you set out: the North long stay has no accurate postcode, by the airport's own admission. Aim the sat nav at the terminal or M23 Junction 9 and follow the North Terminal long stay road signs rather than the map pin, especially at night when the perimeter roads all look alike.

Every North car park is reached from M23 Junction 9, where the airport spur signs the two terminals separately; the terminal sat nav postcode is RH6 0PJ, and the individual car parks are signed from the first roundabout. Kerbside, the forecourt drop-off zone charges £10 for up to 10 minutes, camera enforced with no barriers, payable online or by phone by midnight the following day; blue badge holders are exempt, and the drop-off charge explained covers the payment routes and penalties. For a longer goodbye or an arrivals pick-up, use the long stay's free two hours instead of circling the roads.

Arriving by rail instead? The station is at the South Terminal, and the North Terminal guide explains the two-minute shuttle link, which also rescues anyone who parks on the wrong side of the airport: cross over free rather than re-parking.

The numbers that turn vehicles away at the barrier: Car Park 5 takes nothing over 1.8m, Car Park 6 allows 2.1m, mid stay 2.4m, and long stay has no height barrier at all, though trailers are banned everywhere and standard bays run 2.4m by 4.8m. A roof box counts towards the height, which is the usual way holiday cars get caught. If the vehicle will not fit, book mid stay for anything up to 2.4m or long stay beyond that; short stay parking lists the limits at both terminals.

Electric cars get four 22kW charging points in the North short stay, first come, first served, and nothing in mid or long stay, so treat on-airport charging as a top-up rather than a plan; the valet product sells a charging add-on if a full battery matters. Motorbikes park free in the yellow-hatched bays along the short stay levels, no booking possible, with removal the penalty for parking outside them. Blue badge bays exist in every North car park at normal rates.