Stansted Mid Stay car park: prices, the free shuttle, and free drop-off

Pre-booked rates at the Stansted Mid Stay car park start from around £69.99 for 8 days. The figure moves: Stansted prices its car parks dynamically, so the rate climbs as your travel date approaches and as the car park fills. The gate price for arriving without a booking is far higher, roughly £360 for the same 8-day stay, which is why pre-booking is the single biggest saving you can make.

The minimum stay is 3 days (subject to availability), so for a shorter visit Short Stay is the better fit. Larger and overheight vehicles are accommodated, unlike the height-limited Meet & Greet. Once your dates are fixed, book; waiting rarely lowers the price, and a standard booking cancels free up to 72 hours before arrival. The car park is Park Mark accredited, with number-plate recognition at the barriers rather than tickets. Prices are lowest booked ahead, so check the live quote for your dates on the official Mid Stay page. To weigh Mid Stay against the cheaper Long Stay and the independent operators, the cheap Stansted parking page does the comparison.

Mid Stay is a short ride from the terminal rather than a walk. A free shuttle bus runs 24 hours a day, with a transfer of about 7 minutes. You park, catch the shuttle to the terminal, and take it back when you return. There is no charge for the shuttle and no need to book it.

Allow a few minutes for the shuttle at each end of the trip when planning your check-in time. The 24-hour service means an early or late flight is covered, which is not the case at every off-airport car park.

Mid Stay's second job is the one most drivers miss: it is the airport's free drop-off area. The first 60 minutes are free for dropping off or picking up, which is the way to avoid the £10 Express Set Down charge at the terminal kerb. Drive in, the passenger takes the free shuttle to the terminal, and you leave within the hour for nothing.

Stay beyond the free hour and the tariff starts: the second hour is £5, and beyond two hours a day rate applies. One trap to know about: re-entering within an hour of first going in adds a £48 charge, so go in once and leave rather than circling. For a pick-up, where an arriving passenger's timing is hard to predict, the free hour is usually more than enough and avoids the kerbside clock. The full drop-off and pick-up picture is on the drop-off charges and picking someone up pages.

Mid Stay sits in the middle of the airport's three main car parks, so the choice depends on your trip.

• Versus Short Stay: Short Stay is closer, a 1 to 12 minute walk with no shuttle, and runs on an hourly tariff that suits short visits and pick-ups. Mid Stay is better value for a stay of a few days, where the shuttle is a fair trade for the lower rate.
• Versus Long Stay: Long Stay is the cheapest on-airport car park, from around £64.99 for 8 days, but it is further out with a shuttle every 15 minutes. Mid Stay costs a little more for a shorter, more frequent shuttle. For a long holiday where price leads, Long Stay; for a shorter trip or the free drop-off, Mid Stay.

The parking hub compares all of them side by side, including Meet & Greet and the off-airport JetParks.

The Mid Stay car park postcode for sat-nav is CM24 1PZ. Use that, not the terminal postcode (CM24 1RW), or you will be directed to the wrong place. Stansted is off the M11: use junction 8a from the London direction or junction 8 from the Cambridge side, then follow the signs for Mid Stay parking.

The full set of car-park postcodes and the road approach are on the postcode and directions page, and the M11 route is covered on the driving to Stansted page.

Blue Badge bays are provided in Mid Stay Zone Q. A Blue Badge does not make the parking free at Stansted: the normal car-park charge applies, so book in advance as any driver would. For accessible parking across all the car parks and the routes from each, see the Blue Badge parking page.