Southern runs direct trains from Gatwick Airport to Hastings, and for most people arriving off a flight that is the easiest answer. The journey takes about 1h 33m, 1h 31m at best, with 14 stops on the way, and on the weekday timetable we checked trains left roughly hourly from 06:22 until 23:21, mostly at 26 minutes past the hour. On a typical run the 06:22 reaches Hastings at about 07:55, and the 23:21 at about 00:54. It is a through Southern train from London Victoria, so you board it at Gatwick and stay on until Hastings.
Between the direct trains, the planner listed departures from Gatwick Airport with a change at Hampden Park, leaving around half an hour after each direct one: 07:58, 08:57, 09:56 and so on, hourly until 21:56. They took about 1h 27m in total, a few minutes faster than the direct train. If you reach the Gatwick platforms just after the 26-minutes-past train has gone, the Hampden Park change is the quicker way to Hastings, rather than waiting the best part of an hour on the platform.
The direct train is still the simpler choice with heavy bags, since it means no change at all between Gatwick and Hastings, and the time difference between the two is only about six minutes.
The planner also offered routes via Brighton, at about 2h 05m, via Brighton and Eastbourne at about 2h 09m, and via London Bridge at about 2h 13m. Every one of them takes longer than the direct Southern train to Hastings, so there is little reason to use them.
From Hastings station, Wellington Place is a nine-minute walk of about 680 metres, the last stretch of a trip of about an hour and three quarters from Gatwick.
Journey times and changes below come from the rail and bus timetables for Tuesday 1 December 2026. Weekend and holiday timetables differ, so check the day you travel.
From Gatwick Airport on the weekday we checked: about hourly between 06:22 and 23:21.
By road it is about 66 miles from Gatwick Airport to Hastings, mostly via the A21 — roughly 1h 30m with clear roads. Car parks in Hastings are listed on the Getting Here page.