My wife and I will be going to London next week. We'll be taking a side trip to Canterbury and Dover on the National Rail Service. Should I buy tickets ahead of time on http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ ? We know the days we'll be in Canterbury, but not exactly what time of day. Do the trains typically fill up fast?
John
Unfortunately the British rail system is one of the more expensive and buying as early as possible does give some opportunity for discounts. You may be too late for many discounts but you should try if you know you exact travel times. Trains rarely fill up.
If you are doing Canterbury & Dover on the 1 day, you will need to buy 3 tickets. Probably London (St.Pancras) > Canterbury. Canterbury > Dover and then Dover > London. You will find a choice of London stations to use but it is only the St.Pancras one that uses the 140mph trains - which tend to be dearer.
Go to Dover first, then stop off on your way back to London at Canterbury. You can do this on a off-peak return London-Dover costing £22.65. You can't do this in reverse, ie stopping off on the way to Dover as you can only break your journey on the return leg.
You don't say where you are staying in London; you can get to Dover from Victoria, Waterloo East / London Bridge on the above fare. High speed from St Pancreas would be £26.40.
If you want to do Dover as a day trip from a base in Canterbury, buy an off peak return London to Canterbury (£19.20 - non high speed, £22.95 with HS) and then a off peak return from Canterbury East to Dover for £8.10.
Avoid buying single tickets in general as returns are usually priced at a little more - day returns often are only 5p or 10p more.
If you were trying to pack this all into one day, a off peak day return London to Dover is £25.55 including HS.
There are no advance tickets on these routes.
When making your connections into and out of Canterbury be careful which station you are routed to. Canterbury has two stations, Canterbury East and Canterbury West.
They are not far apart but you will need the right one. There are not trains - as far as I know - between them.
