Heathrow to York Train

Nope, no trains to York - or anywhere other than an expensive tourist train to Paddington.

What you have found is the most efficient.

Underground to Kings Cross and the LNER train from there.

Problem though - what will you do with those advance purchase tickets if your plane is late or you are delayed at Heathrow.

How much time are you budgeting between your nominal arrival time and your hoped train to York?

Thanks for the response. You are correct that advance tickets may be a problem if the flight is late, and I perhaps should rethink that. I actually had not looked at specific train times yet from Kings Cross, though I had read somewhere else on the forum to leave a minimum of four hours from arrival time to a departure from Kings Cross. I can leave plenty of time, but I would appreciate any advice on simplifying the process.

Arriving on an intercontinental flight and leaving by a train that is booked in advance will never be an easy option.
Trains from Heathrow only go into London. The Piccadilly line takes 1 hour to King's Cross. Plus ½-1½ hours for de-planing, immigration and the rest, plus risk plane could be late (1 hour is not unusual).

My advice would be don't do that! Alternatives are:
1) Find a hotel near King's Cross, plenty of good cheap ones, have ½ day in London and take an early train the next day to York on a cheap advance purchase ticket.
2) Fly into Manchester. Manchester airport does have a station with trains all over northern England, including York. And, tickets for that line allow you to take a later train if you are delayed at no extra cost.

... and Manchester itself is worth a good look-around. Lots of history in the industrial revolution, with a massive museum on the subject. Good food, especially South Asian. And two of the top "soccer" teams in the world who are eager to show off their stadiums (with tours that end in the gift shop of course.)

I think you're pretty safe buying those advance tickets for a mid-to-late afternoon train from Kings Cross. It's about a two hour trip up to York.

If you don't want to take any chances, and don't have a schedule to meet, then spending the night makes sense. I've stayed within easy walking distance of the station. (You'll be jet lagged after arrival, too.)

I appreciate all of your suggestions. Unfortunately, we are locked in to both Heathrow airport and traveling to York on the same day if at all possible. It seems to me that my options at this point are either to take my chances buying advance tickets for afternoon travel from Kings Cross to York, or to wait to buy off peak tickets and (2) Two Together Rail Cards (we have 4 adults) when we arrive at Kings Cross from Heathrow. At this point those tickets appear to be running around £149 per ticket. It seems high to me, although I have no real frame of reference. I welcome your thoughts and suggestions. Just in case this has any bearing, we will spend a couple of days in York, then take a train to Canterbury and spend the remainder of our time (about 2 weeks) in the south of England. I welcome your thoughts and suggestions.

Listen to Nigel. He knows of what he speaks having worked with train companies for years.

It will be up to you to safely buffer your arrival at LHR, process time through ( in January arrived at 12:20pm from LAX and it took over an hour and a half to deplane and go thru immigration), then travel to Kings Cross and then take a train to York. Simply saying give yourself plenty of leeway to stave off jet lag and negotiate transport.

We did this a few years ago. We bought advance tickets for a train that left six hours after the time our plane planned to land. Since the plane was on time, we checked our bags at a baggage facility around the corner from Kings Cross, then walked to the nearby British Library and had an acceptable lunch at Saint Pancras Station right across from Kings Cross. Only problem was trying to stay awake on the train to York.

Thank you to all of you! This is my first question for the forum, and you have been very helpful- I have some confidence now in working this out. It is unlikely to be my last question, so I appreciate your patience:-)

Leave at least 4 hours between your arrival at Heathrow and the train from Kings Cross. If you want to commit to a particular train Advance tickets start from less than £20 per person. A walk-up fare - a Super Off Peak Single would cost from £56.30 each.

I don’t know where you're seeing £149 but if that’s the price from Heathrow to York don’t do that. Just take the Underground to Kings Cross and book from there.

https://www.lner.co.uk/

A Super Off Peak Return (valid on any off-peak train, walk-up fare, valid to break journey once on outward journey, valid for the return within 30 days, valid to break journey in a direct journey on the return more than once) will get you from Kings Cross to York and return, get a separate ticket for the St Pancras International (across the street from Kings Cross) to Canterbury) for £113.50 per person before the 1/3 off for having Two Together Railcards (which would reduce it to £74.91 pp).

If you go that route you can hop the first train which leaves after you arrive at Kings Cross by Underground, and come back on most trains which may suit you at the time.

More expensive than Advance tickets but way way easier after a transatlantic flight.

The off-peak hours the ticket is valid from Kings Cross are after 9:06 am (shouldn't be any problem, you would be very unlikely to get to Kings Cross before that) and before 3 pm (15:00), and you should certainly be able to make that, and then if you are really delayed they are valid again after 7 pm (19:00) (only 6:15pm - 18:15, on Fridays). Returning from York, valid on trains arriving at Kings Cross after 11:17 am, so a nice breakfast in the morning before catching the train from York.

Just a thought - it might relieve stress...

By the way - all the fine print for that fare is at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/9D

Nigel- that is probably the best solution of all for us. I have been trying to find the compromise between decent fares and flexibility and you have clarified this for me. I am familiar with the trains in Germany and thought I would find this similar, but have quickly realized that there is a new learning curve. You have indeed relieved some stress on this point, and moved me a bit further down the learning curve, so I will be taking your advice. Thanks to all!

Please ask more questions - I want you to get it right first time.

Listen to Nigel - he knows trains

The main journey to nail is Kings Cross London to York

Work backwards and allow time for “ anything “

Waiting at Kings Cross London for your train will be “ relaxing “

Nigel,

I am on the LNER site and have found the Super Off-Peak Tuckets for my route. When purchasing, it appears to be reserving specific seats for me on the 9:06am train. I understand that the ticket is flexible for use on various departure times, but want to be sure I am not committing myself somehow to a specific train. It’s the reserved seating that is confusing me, as they can’t know on which train to save our seats. Can you tell me please what I am missing here?

When purchasing, it appears to be reserving specific seats for me on
the 9:06am train.

What this means is that you will have a reserved seat on the 9.06 train should you choose to take that train. If you choose to take another train, the tickets will be valid but you’ll have to find an unreserved seat. There will almost certainly be seats available (there’s usually at least one carriage with unreserved seats).

The only tickets that demand you travel on a specific train are those called Advance, with a capital A.

I had hoped that was the case- thank you for clarifying this for me.