Public Transportation from London to Canterbury

This is a standard commuter route. Slow trains from London Victoria and more expensive High Speed trains from St Pancras. Your choice should be based on which station is nearer, as well as time and cost.
The trains are just too frequent (and too large) to need reserved seats. You may have to stand in the rush hour, at least for the first few stops until some people get off. 10:00 leaving London is outside the rush hour and should be no problem.

Do not get the coach unless you are extremely price conscious, slower and a lot less comfortable.

I'd think 10A on a Thursday would not be a risky time to find seats. I'd suspect that would be more of a problem during commute times, particularly London back home to Canterbury in the afternoons.

I've taken the train that leaves from Victoria Station and took about 1.5 hours. The cars are commuter style cars meaning not much in the way of luggage racks - we wound up sliding cases under the seats, then wound up with 3 of us having plenty of seats so having 2 tables. The car was more full (Sunday AM) for the first stop or so, then thinned out. It was not so full that everyone couldn't sit and still have empty seats.

The train did divide along the way so you have to make sure you are on the right part of the train. This was clearly posted on the sign boards outside the train and numerous announcements were made.

I would probably take the National Express Coach if I did this again, mostly because the hotel where I stay in London is very close to the coach station and the driver puts your luggage under the bus for you so no hassle. **cross-posting with Chris and agree with his assessment but I'd still take the coach based on my London hotel. Where are you staying in London?

The coach station was slightly more central to the High Street hotel where I was staying than either Train station. We came in to the East station and had no difficulty walking to the hotel on the High Street but I had plotted and "walked" the route on Googlemaps including a short way on the wall!

I really enjoyed Canterbury!

so to get you the best answer for you - where will you be staying?

I see that you will have a variety of ages along so you will know that a group only moves as fast as its slowest member and will have taken account of that.

The other thing is that my experience (as an oldie) is that both oldies and kiddoes will often find having a toilet facility on the journey will be convenient. Both the slow train from Victoria and other stations and the high speed Javelin from St Pancras have several toilets on board. The ones on the high speed Javelins are more computerised and modern, all are functional. If there is one locked out of use there will be another. The large universal toilets will have baby changing facilities if any of the kiddoes are that small.

The coach will either have none, or one very small and not particularly pleasant one.

The Javelins are single class - no first.

On the coach the party will be expected to remain in their seats. On the trains everybody is to move around as needed or preferred, and depending on where and on which train you may have a table that 4 can sit around.

You say that you want to be on the train before 10, which some have take as 10 or later. If you are a lot before 10 you may run into rush hour. How much "before" did you have in mind?

So in addition to knowing where your hotel will be, it would be very helpful to know the day of the week, and what time if the year. After working on British trains for many years I know that day of the week and time of day in addition to direction of travel make a word of difference.

Thank you for the quick responses! We are staying on the Southbank, right near the London Eye. So, either station (Victoria or St. Pancras) we will need to take a tube in order to get to the train. We are actually hoping to leave London around 9:00 in the morning (and arrive in Canterbury between 10-11). Then returning home in the evening, we would probably be taking the train back to London from Canterbury around 6:00 in the evening (or a bit later).

I have traveled from both St Pancras and London Victoria to Canterbury West and East Stations.

If you travel from St Pancras to Canterbury West, you will be able to get the high speed train and make a direct journey in 56 minutes. On this route you will find that the Anytime Day Single fare is £39.90, and the off peek fare is £38.80. However, if you put off your travel time until after 10am (10:09, 10:12, 11:12 12:12, 13:12, 14:12 etc), you can get the Advanced fare for a direct train to CBW for £13.60. you can get a return to St Pancras for £12.50.

From London Victoria you can get a direct train to Canterbury East Advanced fare for £11:30 and a return for £10.10. On this route you'll be looking at a 1h 39m to 2h 2m travel time each way.

As the boarding and starting point was St Pancras, I never had an issue finding any seating whatsoever.

The fast route departs from St Pancras.

There are three slow train options, departing from either Victoria, Cannon Street or Charing Cross. The Cannon Street train also stops at London Bridge. The Charing Cross train stops at Waterloo East and London Bridge.

If you are staying on the South Bank, Waterloo East or London Bridge will be the most convenient.

The Charing Cross line is my commute route. Trains will be busy heading into London, but quiet heading towards Canterbury and getting a seat will not be a problem. You will not have to stand.

Although the line from St Pancras is faster, by the time you have travelled to St Pancras from the South Bank, the total travel time will be similar. The faster train is more expensive.

Forget the bus as it is prone to traffic delays.

As VAP mentioned above, I too have bought inexpensive return tickets between St Pancras & Canterbury West on the fast train (under 1 hour) at the prices he/she quoted. Loved those trains for the speed and comfort!

I would go to Canterbury East Station, after arriving exit the station, cross the street walk up Canterbury E Station Bridge, that will take you to the Roman Wall, turn right and walk on the wall until you reach the city center it’s just a few minutes walk.