London to Canterbury – No Advance Tickets until after 10 am?

on southeastern's atrociously designed website you're not doing anything wrong - the cheap tickets aren't available at busy commuter times

Advance tickets are available at weekends before 10:00

Thanks ramblin' on. I must not have chosen a weekend. I didn't expect not having a London to Canterbury Advance on a weekday morning, the opposite (Canterbury - London) perhaps because of commuters but not going out of London.

I try to avoid weekend train travel as it might be more crowded than a weekday. Guess I have to weigh price to potential crowds.

Many people on the Southeastern line commute from say Tonbridge or Paddock Wood to Canterbury but I doubt that few travel all the way from London.

Many school children use this service before 9am.

I live in Kent. Southeastern doesn't offer me any discount any day of the week for advance ticket sales, just the regular off peak fare.

On some short journeys, no cheap advance specific train tickets are ever available. London (St.Pancras) to Canterbury is probably considered a short journey. Higher fares will probably apply during commuting times on weekdays.

Trains are generally most crowded at commuting times on weekdays - and therefore most expensive. Friday is the busiest day of the week. Sunday can be prone to engineering work. Saturday is generally OK unless a sporting event is attracting fans.

If you plan on going to Canterbury Cathedral it would be easy to go Canterbury East, it’s a 10 minute walk from there. Exit the station cross over the road, walk up the path between the two college buildings, you will get to the Roman Wall turn right and walk on the wall until you get to the city center.

I traveled from London St Pancras to Canterbury West on the fast train (under 1 hour) this past October. I bought the tickets maybe a week or so in advance and they were CHEAP -- £26 ROUNDTRIP. The walk to the cathedral was maybe 10 minutes and it was a pretty walk.

I just plugged in May 3 and found roundtrip pricing for £26.10 leaving STP at 10:08am arriving an hour later. Select a fast train back to STP later that day or evening (they leave essentially hourly) when you buy online and you'll enjoy that fare.