Driving from London to Durham?

If the answer is getting in a car straight off the plane, then the answer is take the train, no matter how much it costs.

I think that you will find the total car rental bill will be much higher for 6 days. I have paid that for a single day's hire.

Driving to Durham could take a full day. If you buy your rail ticket in advance, it won't cost anything like £130.

straight off a plane at Heathrow, jump into a tiny Fiat, and up the M1 /A1(M) for about 5hrs to Durham is madness

When are you going to Durham? I'm sure there will be tickets available for cheaper than that.

I second what others are saying - don't do it. On top of distance and jetlag, Durham has a lot of narrow, windy, busy streets, and also a Congestion Charge area that can be strayed into if you're not careful. Don't do it.

Thanks for the advice... I guess driving is a terrible idea.

I am heading to Durham on Saturday, October 28. I suppose I'm just late in booking train tickets? I didn't think they would be so pricey. I've scoured the internet and cannot find anything for less than £130.

Advance tickets from £20 https://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/

do note that there seems to be work on the east coast mainline that day so part of your journey will be by bus

thanks @ramblinon ... although I'm having a difficult time purchasing any tickets. I can't find out information on the construction but I'm having no success buying any ticket from an website. It appears that things are running smoothly every day but the one day I need to travel :(

If you are used to Freeway driving and not afraid of roundabouts maybe drive. You would get on the beltway that goes around London and then take a choice of about 3 ways north depending on what you want to visit. With a car you could do a couple of stops on the way. However, be sure to check which ways have construction going on right now...which could cause delays. Maybe the train isn't so bad after all.

Had a look and while there's disruption trains from London to Newcastle seem plentiful. Could OP not buy a ticket to Newcastle and then a separate one from Newcastle to Durham? NCL to DHM is dirt cheap even buying on the day, plus there'll be additional train options with TransPennine and CrossCountry.

An alternative is the Railair bus to Reading from where there is a train once an hour direct to Durham. It is normally slower this way, but maybe not if there is disruption the other way.

Hi all, I want to thank everyone for their input and advice. I am especially grateful for the suggestion to buy a ticket to Newcastle. That was a great and creative idea. Really saved me a big headache! I found a direct fare for £65 from London > Newcastle, which is about half the price of the inflated prices to Durham on that particular day. Thankfully the trip from Durham to London will be more straightforward.

Congratulations, you seem to have found a fault in the ticketing system!

The direct off-peak single fare from London to Durham should be £66.35 - but the system is only showing this if you make an enquiry for a round trip!!! Possibly because they have made that only available for online booking and screwed something else up in the process.

But since you are making a round trip that's what you should have asked for, and that is correctly displayed at £132.70, any off-peak train (which includes all on Saturday), no need to book in advance.

Is it conceivable that your train from London to Newcastle will stop off at Durham on the way through saving you going all the way up to Newcastle and catching the local train back?

Glad you got it sorted out, and hope you have a great trip.

Ian

What always surprises me about driving in the UK is the time involved. Google Maps/MapQuest may say it takes and hour, but traffic and roads often means it takes 1 1/2 to 2 hours in reality. Usually the train is much faster, less stress and definitely worth the cost. Even M roads can be slow. Example: train from Glasgow to Edinburgh is about an hour; Google maps says it is an hour by M8. On a recent trip it took me well over an hour to do the drive to the Edinburgh ring road (not downtown). I went earlier in the trip by train with no fuss or stress by taking the train. It is usually the way to go.

ianandjulie - I've looked on VTEC's website and for whatever reason there seems to be no direct trains from King's Cross to Durham the day of OP's travel. I'm not entirely sure why, but that's the state of things, which is why I suggested the via Newcastle route. Via York and Via Darlington could be options too given they're also major ECML stations.

October 28th, there seems to be something happening between Peterborough and Doncaster, only a limited number of trains are running between Kings Cross and Doncaster (and beyond) and they are diverted via Lincoln. With fewer seats available there won't be many at Advance prices, and they will take much longer than usual. If you found a cheap fare to Newcastle make sure it comes with a schedule from Kings Cross and not Euston.

The £66.35 ticket wasn't a fault in the system, it was a really odd rule. It's a one way fare that can only be bought with another one to make a return (round trip) journey! So to see it you have to select the option to ask for a Return journey. Which would be the logical thing to do if making such a journey.

As for Google Maps and driving times, the main reason for discrepancies was discussed a few weeks ago . If you are in the USA during the evening and ask for a route without a time parameter it will default to "Now" - but that will be the early hours of the morning in UK when the roads are quiet. You need to set the departure or arrival time, at which point it will use historical traffic data to give a better estimate. https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/transportation/journey-planning-in-a-different-time-zone