Which London airport is cheapest to fly into from Riga?
From Riga you can land at Stansted, Gatwick or Heathrow, on three different airlines with three different prices. We price each route separately, month by month, so here is what the choice of airport is actually worth, and what the transfer into town does to it.
One city on the booking site, three routes with three prices from Riga.
A search for "Riga to London" mixes several airports into one results page, and from Riga the mix is unusually wide: the three airports we measure are served by three different kinds of airline. Ryanair flies to Stansted, airBaltic flies direct to Gatwick, and the Heathrow fares we measure belong to network carriers such as Finnair, SAS and LOT, reaching London through their home hubs. Those are three different products at three different prices, and the gap between the cheapest and the most expensive airport is bigger than any month-to-month swing on a single route.
The charts below show the lowest fare we measured on each route in each month, with the date we saw every figure. Luton also serves London, but we do not hold enough fresh measurements on it from Riga to publish a fair comparison, so it is left out rather than guessed at.
Stansted, the cheapest measured month after month
Ryanair's route holds the lowest floor in every month we can compare.
Stansted is the price answer from Riga. In every month where we can compare it with the other two airports, its measured floor is the lowest on the page, with the very cheapest fares in late autumn and early winter, a modest step up through spring, and another step for the summer holidays. If the question is simply "what is the cheapest way to be in London", this chart is the answer, and being flexible on the month moves the number further.
Each figure shows the date we measured it.
The catch is on the ground. Stansted is the furthest of the three from central London, about sixty-five kilometres northeast: the express train reaches Liverpool Street in about 50 minutes and costs real money, and the coaches take longer for less. Count that cost and time in both directions before you compare the fare with Gatwick's, and if you land late in the evening, check which trains and coaches actually run at your arrival hour before you book.
Gatwick, the direct route with the flat floor
airBaltic's route is the unusual one: the same measured floor holds from autumn to early summer.
Gatwick from Riga behaves differently from most routes we measure. Its floor barely moves: the same lowest fare repeats from early autumn through to early summer, and only the near-term weeks and midsummer sit above it. On most routes the month you fly is the biggest lever you control; on this one it buys you almost nothing, and what matters instead is booking ahead of the expensive near-term window. That flatness makes it the easiest route on this page to plan around, because a good fare is a good fare in ten different months.
The same months, measured on the direct airBaltic route.
The transfer is also better than Stansted's: trains run from the terminal to Victoria and London Bridge in about half an hour, with the Thameslink services usually cheaper than the branded express. Gatwick costs more in the air in every month we measure, so it is not the cheap answer, but it is the reasonable middle: a direct flight, a shorter train, and a south-side landing that suits anyone staying south of the river.
Heathrow, priced honestly
The network-carrier option, through a hub, at the highest measured floor.
The Heathrow fares we measure from Riga are not one route but a family of connections: Finnair through Helsinki, SAS through its Scandinavian hubs, LOT through Warsaw. That means longer journeys than the direct routes as well as higher fares, and fewer measured months, because the cheap seats on these itineraries come and go. The chart shows what we have actually seen, so the gap to the other two airports is visible rather than asserted.
Fewer measured months than the direct routes; the fares are connecting itineraries on network carriers. Each figure shows the date we saw it.
Heathrow's one genuine advantage is the same from Riga as from anywhere: the transfer. The Elizabeth line reaches central London in about 35 minutes, and the Piccadilly line does it for an ordinary Tube fare in about 50, which beats the dedicated trains from both other airports on price. It is still not enough to close the gap in the air. Choose Heathrow when you are connecting onward, or when a bag-included network fare with a sane arrival time is worth the difference to you, not to save money.
The verdict
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01Stansted first if price decidesIt holds the lowest measured floor in every month we can compare, and its cheap months are late autumn and early winter. Budget the 50-minute train or the coach into town before you call the saving final.
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02Gatwick if you want the direct flight and a shorter trainThe floor is flat across ten measured months, so stop hunting for the magic month on this route and book ahead of the near-term window instead. The half-hour train into town closes part of Stansted's fare advantage door to door.
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03Nothing forces a round trip through one airportRyanair and airBaltic both sell one-way fares, so you can land at Stansted and fly home from Gatwick whenever the cheaper departure day sits on the other route. Two transfers to plan, nothing extra to pay for the privilege.
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04Treat Heathrow as a different productIts fares are connecting itineraries on network carriers, so compare the whole journey time and what the ticket includes, not just the number. On price alone it loses in every month we can compare.
For the same comparison from Lithuania, where the airports and the answer both differ, see which London airport is cheapest from Vilnius. For what to do once you land, the London guide covers the free-first way to spend a weekend there, and the cheapest flights from Riga put London next to everything else we price from the same airport.
