LNER train from King's Cross to EDB

On the way up most people would say the right hand side.

You'll find trains with just two or three stops that take about 4h30m or just under. They go directly to Edinburgh without changes.

Generally an Advance ticket bought at the first opportunity tends to be the cheapest option - it means you must travel on that particular train, but that's why it's cheaper. The more flexible a ticket, the more it costs.

Depending on prices and your other train plans, then a rail card might be worth it - e.g. two together, costs £30 and gives you a third off.

And you can buy your tickets from any train operator or from the accredited Trainline.

Up to you if you want a two seater or a table with four seats. I prefer the former, my other half the latter. So we normally do the latter.

I also prefer to be mid carriage as people will sometimes stand at the part between carriages.

There are no non stop trains, every train has several stops. There is generally only a few minutes difference between journey times there aren't really slow and fast trains for the full journey.
In fact the very fastest trains, as they have fewest stops, are on LUMO trains, but the difference is not huge.

These are the seating plans for the LNER train sets- https://www.lner.co.uk/globalassets/_page-structure/azuma-content/Azuma-seat-maps- . As first class should always be at the back of the train that means that on these plans the bottom of each page is the right hand side of the car, and the top of the page is the left hand side of the car, when heading north.

For me personally you want to on the right hand side of the train- for the views of Durham Cathedral, crossing the River Tyne on the final approach to Newcastle, and the coastal scenery of north Northumberland and East Lothian in Scotland (north of Berwick), and the crossing of The Royal Border Bridge immediately south of Berwick station.
But for the majority of the journey I don't think, personally, that it really matters which side you are on.

Others may have differing views on that.

You 'should' always have a 9 car train to Edinburgh. but just sometimes there may be a change of allocated train and you end up on a 10 car (2 x 5) train. Also it sometimes happens (not that often, but it can) that the train is running "in reverse formation"- when first class is at the front. When that happens your right hand seats suddenly become left hand seats and vice versa.
If that happens it's just tough.
When that happens it also means that backwards facing seats become forward facing seats and vice versa.
You are guaranteed A seat, but not guaranteed any other type of preference.

The seats to avoid are those coloured orange- restricted view.

The best leg room seats are the Priority seats- but they are meant to be priority for the less able.

From an occasional train traveler, I’ll add that I prefer the First Class tickets because they have single seats down one side of the car. I don’t like to sit with others 😬 - just like my own space, post-pandemic. The First Class cars also have fewer people in them. I buy as far out as I can when the 1st class tickets aren’t horribly expensive. If it were last minute I’d go cheaper, lol.

Download the LNER app so your tickets are easy to find. I also take a screenshot and add it to a folder in my notes section on my phone so it’s accessible if I don’t have service. Will you have a data plan for your phone?

Get to Kings Cross a little early. If you are Harry Potter fans you can see Platform 9 3/4. I just look at it from the side. I don’t pay for a picture there. This spring they had lifesized cardboard cutouts of King Charles and Queen Camilla so I did do a free selfie there, lol. I usually get picnic food to go - there are a number of food outlets and a M&S grocery store (I think) for prepared sandwiches.

See this You Tube video of the trip:>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugpHj_e6ARo

York is an interesting place to have a stop over en-route (Lumo trains don’t stop at York). https://www.visityork.org

I travel between these two cities 2-3 times a year. The last time about three weeks ago.

Your choice will be trains from LNER and Lumo. I always travel with LNER, in first class so, like Pam, I can get a single seat on my own. I buy my tickets on the LNER app for convenience and to be able to choose my seat. (I also take a screenshot of my ticket in case of data problems when the conductor comes around.)

I usually buy Advance tickets to save money but then the ticket is only good on that specific train. An all day ticket, more expensive, is good on any train that day between those two cities.

As stated earlier, there are no non-stop trains but when you look at the schedule you will see the total time and number of stops.

I also use the app because of possible refunds. The rules are simple: if your train is 30 to 60 minutes late, you get a 50% refund. If it is over an hour late. You get a full refund. When you buy your tickets in the app or online, you are entitled to a one-click refund. That means you'll get an email with a link for the refund. You click on a link and your refund will automatically be processed. My train three weeks ago was 40 minutes late so I got half my fare refunded.

My train was also packed. Every seat was taken.

Best view, I guess, would be on the right side going north but the only real scenery is in N. England and S. Scotland.