We need to prepurchase tickets from Dover to London and then days later we need tickets from London to Gatwick.
We want to be able to do many 2 for 1 places and I was told since we are 3 people traveling not together there is a discount to be had.
What website is the best or official site to buy these now for our train trips in November.?
I google train ticket England and several sites came up and I don't want to pick the wrong one.
I appreciate any help you can give me.
Nationalrail.co.uk
You don't buy tickets at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ but it will direct you one of the train operating companies (TOC) and it's on one of TOC sites where you actually buy tickets.
A list of train operating companies: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tocs_maps/tocs/TrainOperators.aspx
It doesn't really matter which TOC you buy from as they sell each other's tickets. So just stick with one for ease of use. A popular one is https://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/
A third party site such as the trainline charges an unnecessary booking fee.
The train company from Dover is South Eastern. They have 2 routes - one is the high speed line (140mph) that takes around 1 hour to get you into London St.Pancras. The other takes around 2 hours and gets you into London Cannon Street. Play around with www.nationalrail.co.uk to see what the fares are for your date and compare with now.https://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/advance
Paying on the day for London Victoria to Gatwick costs around £15 to £19 - depending on train. Pre-booking ahead - you will be able to do it for £12.
There is sometimes an advantage in being able to book special fares offered via the actual train operator rather than the regular fares, so it is worth a quick look to see if there is any deal on.
Thank you so much for explaining this. I will look into all of this. Thank you so much.
Why are you getting one-way tickets from Dover to London?
I hope it's not because you are planning to take the ferry from France. The ferries are now really set up for people with vehicles, and it can be very inconvenient getting to and from the dock at each end if you are on foot, with very little public transport. I've also seen people complaining about difficulty boarding the ferry as well.
Personally if you're travelling from Northern France I'd get the Eurostar from Lille.
No we are not taking a ferry from France.
We land at Gatwick from Canada and renting a car and touring around. Our last stop before London is Dover so we are dropping off our car there and taking the train into London.
All research about railroads in Europe should start here: www.seat61.com
