Guide to London Stansted Airport (STN / EGSS)

There's a field at the end of a small country lane named Green Street, (use the map to view directions to get there). This spot is at the north east end of the runway, therefore aircraft arriving on runway 22 or departing from runway 04 will pass over the field. This location is only good to view arrivals to runway 22, as departures from runway 04 are much higher up by the time the pass over the field. Thankfully runway 22 is used much more often (about 75% of the time).

You can get some excellent shots of aircraft arriving on runway 22 and some reasonable ones of runway 04 departures. Unfortunately barely any ground shots can be had from here as the runway is fairly set back with a very slight hill and the perimetre fence in the way. Despite this, aircraft can still be seen on the some taxiways, on the runway, touching down and taking off. This location is quite far from any major road so you can get some excellent video footage which is not ruined by road/motoway noise.

There is plenty of space to park your car at the end of the road and there are no car parking charges or restrictions. You can stay here as long as you like as the airport staff don't have any problems with you being there, so you're extremly unlikely to be told to move away.

There is a spot on a short section of Belmer Road, just behind the row of trees (use the map to view directions to get there). This area is to the north west of the airport where aircraft will arrive, depart and taxi infront of you. The benefit of this spot is that it's very good for both runway directions, however runway 22 is slightly better.

You can get some good ground shots aswell as some excellent arrival and departure shots. This area is also slightly elevated so you can see over the perimetre fence which makes this spot significantly better, especially for photography. This location is also not too close to any major road meaning you can get some fantastic video footage which is not ruined by road/motorway noise. There are unfortunately the odd humps and bumps obscuring the view very slightly in some areas, but it's not a big problem at all.

This spot has plenty of car parking, at the side of Belmer Road, and there are no car parking charges or restrictions. The airport staff have no issues with you being there, so you can stay as long as you like with no problems.

This is probably the best spot that Stansted has to offer and it's likely you'll be very satisfied here. Many people take fold up deck chairs and blankets to sit on and flasks of hot drinks to this area as you can get an excellent day out here.

There is an area opposite the Hilton hotel on Long Border Road (use the map to view directions to get there). This spot is at the south west end of the runway, therefore aircraft arriving on runway 04 or departing from runway 22 will pass over this area. This location is much better to view arrivals to runway 04, which is not used very often (about 25% of the time).

You can get some excellent shots of aircraft arriving on runway 04 and some fairly good ones of runway 22 departures. Unfortunately barely any ground shots can be had from here as the perimetre fence is in the way and aircraft do not often taxi beyond taxiway K. Despite this, aircraft can still be seen on some of the taxiways, on the runway, touching down and taking off. This location is close to a major road and junction 8 of the M11 motorway meaning video footage is often disturbed by road/motorway noise.

This area is very restricted to where you can park your car, the best two options are to park at the Hilton hotel or long stay car park. You can stay here as long as you like as airport staff don't have any problems with you being there, so you're extremely unlikely to be told to move away.