I've received some fantastic advice about transportation from Heathrow Airport to Oxford. Now, how best to get from Oxford to Cambridge? It appears that if we take a train, we have to go to London and then on to Cambridge. Is there a better mode of transportation? A bus? A different rail system?
Thanks.
No, there is not a better mode. The direct Oxford Cambridge rail line was closed in the 1960's.
You need to go via London, AND take the tube betwen Paddington and King's Cross stations in London.
There is a coach service, expect that to take longer. Google "coach Oxford Cambridge" and you get some hits.
X5 coach runs twice an hour, at the top and the bottom.
The official webpage for the X5 is at https://www.stagecoachbus.com/promos-and-offers/east/stagecoach-x5 The coaches are fairly nice but going the whole varsity line by coach just glued to one seat can be a bit boring: an hour to Buckingham, then another hour to Milton Keynes, then another hour to St Neots, and yet a further hour to Cambridge. Most trips take about 3:50.
A train connection from Oxford to Cambridge will take between 2:30 and 2:50 including the connection across London. About an hour to London Paddington, about 20 minutes on the Circle Line in London and about 50 minutes from Kings Cross or St Pancras (trains from both, time of day will dictate which to take). More or less during the day depending on train schedules. Or you may catch a train on Chiltern Railways from Oxford into London Marylebone, again depending on the time.
So the train is faster, gives you a bit of London, avoids traffic, is a bit more complex, and to my mind is more fun and more scenic.
The coach - although with all the stops it makes and after 4 hours on it, it will seem more and more like a bus, even if you do get wifi and a plug point - is likely cheaper, slower, and provides views both of market towns and highway.
Where will you be in Oxford, and where do you need to get to in Cambridge?
You pays your money and takes your choice...
If you wait a lifetime or two there will be a resurrection of through trains on the former Varsity Line, mentioned in the first answer.
The line is nearly complete between Oxford and Bletchley (south of Milton Keynes), is in between Bletchley and Bedford. The bit between Bedford and Cambridge has been mostly built upon so a new route is needed and there is currently a lot of consultation about that, and how to build it. Apparently government is smiling on the plan, but that could change in a flash.
We are expecting completion of the line and trains running in 10 to 15 years. Maybe.
Thanks to everyone. Based upon your information, I believe that we're going to spend two nights in Oxford, go to London for a few nights and take a day trip by train from there to Cambridge.
If you have any suggestions about lodging in Oxford, I would greatly appreciate it. It appears that pickings are slim. We plan to be there August 26-28.
Monday 26 August is a Bank Holiday plus school holidays, which will explain why there is little accommodation available - many will have booked months ago. This may also impact on rail journeys, as there maybe engineering works on the line.
