London to Glasgow

The train from London Euston with Avanti West Coast takes 4 hours 30 minutes, and runs every hour from 5.30am to 7.30pm (Monday to Saturday). It runs city centre to city centre.

Booked about a month in advance, on specific trains, you should normally get it for about £35 per person. No luggage fees. You can move around and has far better seats (even in standard class) than on any airline.

Flying will take 1 hour to whichever airport, 2 hours check in, 1 hour flight, half an hour into the city- so the same length of journey, and the train is cheaper.

Either when booking or on the train you can choose to upgrade to standard premium for an extra £35 per person- a first class seat but without the free food and drink of 1st class. But all trains have a catering car with a good choice of hot and cold food and hot and cold drinks and alcohol to buy. It varies a bit but there is often a trolley and an order by QR code for delivery at seat service.

Pros of taking the train:
- Cheaper
- More comfortable
- Might be a bit faster
- No security checks
- Better for the environment
- You arrive in and depart from central locations.

Pros of flying:
- Might be a tad faster if the trains are rerouted for maintenance (or other) reasons.

I would add that you get a chance to see some countryside on the train which you won't flying.

Stuart - there is always a buffet car on the train but I haven't seen a trolley on an Avanti train for a long time, probably before the pandemic. And the at seat service hasn't been advertised for at least a year.

Just a heads up for ice-loving Americans travelling on an Avanti West Coast service - they have none!

I wanted some ice for my Coke I bought at the on-train shop when I went up to Scotland last month. I was told that "they might have some in the kitchen", by which I assume they meant in the first class carriage. I didn't want to trek to the other end of the train on the off chance, so I went back to my seat to nurse my not-quite-cold-enough Coke.

Thank you all for your input. We are looking at the train as our transportation now.

Hi there! Just letting you know that Avanti West Coast is not necessarily your only train option for London -> Glasgow, as LNER also runs trains London to Edinburgh, where it's possible to then change to a train to Glasgow. I've been on the train from London to Glasgow and vice versa more times than I can count and these days I would always take the LNER on the East Coast Main Line rather than Avanti on the West Coast Main Line (reasons being punctuality, reliability, quality of trains, and the fact that the views from the ECML are actually really quite nice while the views from the WCML are... hardly anything to write home about).

Taking the East Coast route would require changing and taking a train from Edinburgh to Glasgow, but this is generally very simple and easy.

Note that London has many train stations and while the Avanti West Coast trains depart from Euston, the LNER East Coast trains depart from King's Cross.

Note also that Glasgow has two main train stations, Glasgow Central (where Avanti trains would terminate) and Glasgow Queen Street (where many, but not all, of the trains from Edinburgh terminate).

Anyway, happy travels! I hope you have a lovely trip whichever train option you choose. :)

It seems there's one direct train a day from Kings Cross to Glasgow on the east coast, at 15:30. Takes nearly six hours. Probably about the same if you change in Edinburgh for Glasgow.

I'm not convinced that there's any reason to go up to Glasgow that way, sorry :) The Avanti West Coast service works pretty well, apart from the lack of ice for your drink that I already mentioned. As another aside, it did annoy me how late they boarded the train at Euston the last couple of times. No ticket inspection at the gate and a mad dash for everyone to get on the train at once.

.... and the single through LNER train ends in December. As far as has been announced the single Cross Country service to Glasgow up the east coast (from either Plymouth or Penzance) will still run to Glasgow Central.

Nor do I know why anyone would take another 90 minutes and typically spend twice as much to go up the East Coast.

Quality is in the eye of the individual but to my mind the seats on Avanti are streets ahead of those on the LNER trains. Anyone can cherry pick statistics but both East and West coasts have their good and bad days.

while the views from the WCML are... hardly anything to write home about

Well, what can you say to that, except look out the window anywhere north of Preston. To me anywhere south of Thirsk (except locally at York and Doncaster) on the East Coast is hardly exciting, seen from the train but each to their own.

I like the views from the west coast mainline. Coming up through The Potteries, you see the canals and farmland; up through The Lakes and then over Beattock is lovely, even if the weather is bad. It's many years since I came up the east coast so I don't remember the highlights there.