School of Chemistry
Travel
Getting to Leicester and to the rest of the UK is made easy by the city’s excellent rail and road connections. Leicester is centrally located within the UK, only 65 minutes from London, and easily accessible from all major international airports.
Air
Our nearest airport is East Midlands Airport (approximately 20 miles from campus). We can also be reached easily from Birmingham Âé¶¹APP Airport, Stansted Airport, Luton Airport, London Gatwick and Heathrow. Brief instructions for onward travel to Leicester from each airport can be found below.
(EMA):
- Several buses run between East Midlands Airport and Leicester city centre. The bus journey takes around 37 minutes, and services run daily.
- Regular trains run hourly between Long Eaton train station and Leicester, with the journey taking 20 minutes. Long Eaton train station can be reached using the Skylink transfer bus from East Midlands Airport.
(BHX):
- The easiest way to travel between Birmingham Âé¶¹APP Airport and Leicester is by train. The journey takes approximately one and a half hours, from Birmingham Âé¶¹APP Rail Station and connecting via Birmingham New Street Station. See the National Rail website for more details: .
- Limited bus services (approximately once every 4 hours) run between Birmingham Âé¶¹APP Airport and Leicester. See the National Express website for more details (180 coach and 777 coach): .
(STN):
- Direct coaches run between Stansted and Leicester (9.00am to 9.00pm). The journey takes approximately two and a half hours: .
- Direct trains run between Stansted and Leicester. The journey takes approximately two and a half hours: .
(LTN):
- Direct coaches run roughly once per hour between Luton Airport and Leicester. The journey takes approximately two hours: .
- Please note that the IATA airport code (LTN) and the UK National Rail station code (LUA) for Luton Airport are different. Regular direct trains run between Luton Airport Parkway (rail station code LTN) and Leicester. Luton Airport Parkway can be accessed via the Luton DART service from the airport, and the DART ticket is included if train tickets are booked with 'Luton Airport' (rail station code LUA) as the origin station. The journey takes approximately one hour and forty five minutes: .
(LGW):
- Although direct coaches run between Gatwick Airport and Leicester, this is not a recommended route as the journey takes more than four and a half hours.
- Regular trains run between Gatwick and London St Pancras Âé¶¹APP. Direct trains to Leicester from London St Pancras Âé¶¹APP run throughout the day. The overall journey from Gatwick to Leicester takes approximately two hours: .
(LHR):
- Direct coaches run between the airport (London Heathrow Airport Terminals 2 and 3) and Leicester. The journey takes approximately three hours: .
- Regular trains and Underground services run between Heathrow Airport and London. The easiest route (avoiding the Underground) is to take the Elizabeth Line train from Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3 to Farringdon, then a train to London St Pancras Âé¶¹APP from Farringdon. Direct trains to Leicester from London St Pancras Âé¶¹APP run throughout the day. The journey takes approximately two and a half hours: . An alternative route is to take the Piccadilly Underground line from Heathrow Terminals 2 and 3 directly to London St Pancras Âé¶¹APP.
Train
Leicester Train Station is 15 minutes’ walk from campus. There are direct train services from London Stansted and London Luton airports. From Birmingham Âé¶¹APP Airport you can travel by train to Leicester, but you will need to change trains at Birmingham New Street station. Information about train times can be found on the website or on .
There are also direct trains from London St Pancras, meaning that you can travel from Brussels or Paris on the with just one change of train.
Once you have arrived at the train station in Leicester, it is a short taxi ride (<£10) or bus journey to the main campus. Consult Leicester and in Leicester.
Coach

For most airports, Leicester can be accessed by a National Express coach which can be booked directly through .
If you are travelling to Leicester by bus or coach, you will arrive at St Margaret’s Bus Station in the city centre. St Margaret’s Bus Station is centrally located with coach services from most major English cities including Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham, Manchester and London Victoria. For Buses in Leicester consult and in Leicester.