Shop, eat & relax at Stansted airport

The shops are mostly airside, led by World Duty Free, the first and biggest store after security, with fragrance, cosmetics, alcohol and tobacco at duty-free prices on every departure since Brexit. Whether it is cheaper depends on what you buy: fragrance and cosmetics are the genuine wins, tobacco often is not. Reserving online knocks an extra 10% off, and a free service holds your shopping for the return so you do not carry it on holiday.

Beyond duty free, the airside shops run to Marks and Spencer, WHSmith, the fashion and gift names, and Boots, the pharmacy-led shop for travel-size toiletries, medication and a meal deal. Boots also runs a Click & Collect that lets you order full-size liquids and pick them up after security, the legitimate way past the 100ml rule. Landside, before security, the retail is thin: a WHSmith and coffee, little else.

There are more than 20 places to eat and drink, most of them airside. The cheapest sit-down is the Wetherspoons, The Windmill, open from 03:00 for the early departures, with the usual menu and breakfast until 11am at the lowest prices in the terminal. The wider line-up, from Pret A Manger and itsu to a prosecco bar and an Italian kitchen, is on the restaurants and bars page.

The honest note on all of it: airport food runs above high-street prices, so the value moves are the Wetherspoons, the Boots meal deal, or eating before you go through security. A handful of outlets and the landside WHSmith let you grab something before the search, but the choice is far wider once you are airside.

Stansted has one pay-in lounge, Essence by Escape, airside at gates 1 to 19. The important catch for a budget airport: Ryanair and easyJet passengers cannot use it, and those two carriers run most of the flights here, so a large share of travellers are not eligible whatever they are willing to pay. If you fly Jet2, TUI, Emirates or one of the other eligible airlines, it is a calmer place to wait, with food, drinks and Wi-Fi, from £25.99 a head when booked ahead.

If the lounge is out, the quieter spots are the ends of the departure lounge away from the main thoroughfare, and a window seat near your gate. The terminal runs cold at night and seats get scarce from around 04:00 as the early wave arrives, which the sleeping at the airport page covers if you are facing an overnight.

There is no public viewing gallery or terrace inside the terminal, so plane spotting at Stansted happens from spots around the airfield instead, on public land near the single runway. The best-known is off Belmer Road to the north-west, with the runway in front of you. The viewing area page has the locations, the parking caveats and the runway layout.

The short version: almost everything here is airside, past the security search, on the departures concourse and out towards the satellites. Landside you have a WHSmith, some coffee and the check-in zones, and that is about it. Once you are through security you cannot return landside, so buy and eat on the side you are on.

Most shops and food outlets run the flying day, roughly 04:00 to 22:00, with World Duty Free and the Wetherspoons open earliest for the dawn departures and a couple of outlets going later. The exact line-up shifts as the terminal is redeveloped, so treat opening hours as the current shape and check on the day. For the practical side of the terminal, security, Wi-Fi, money and the rest, see the at the airport hub.