Harwich England

You can go to London's Liverpool station and train the train to Harwich, it's an 1hr 22min trip, changing train in Manningtree.

Thanks Robin
Would I have to have an advanced ticket to Harwich or could I pick it up the day of travel?

Again thanks Kevin
We were in London last October for 5 days so got used to the underground, the Oyster card(a god send)and St. Pancras Station. Loved it and believe it or not only 1/2 days of rain in October.

You will save quite a bit if you buy an 'Advance' ticket. These are available in limited numbers up to 12 weeks from the date of travel and are valid only on the specific train they are booked for, but to give you an example, if I booked today to travel in the middle of August I could get an Advance fare of £8. The 'Anytime' tariff for purchasing on the day of travel is £30.60. Even buying an Advance ticket to travel tomorrow would be a significant saving - that would be £13. If you purchase on the train company website www.greateranglia.co.uk, you can print your own ticket at home. Note that you need to specify Harwich International as your destination, not Harwich Town.

Thanks Kevin this a great help. We are coming from Paris on the Eurostar so I will have to make sure of my timing when booking. Have lots of time to sort this out. I presume that the trains and schedule you are speaking about leave the Liverpool Street station?

Yes, that's right. You need the Kings Cross Underground station, which can be accessed via an entrance inside St. Pancras International - follow the signs or ask a member of staff. The Metropolitan, Circle or Hammersmith & City lines will all take you to Liverpool Street in about 10 minutes. Just make sure you get an eastbound train, not westbound (the platforms are clearly labelled for east or westbound, so you can't go wrong really). A single Underground ticket will cost you an eye-watering £4.50 if you pay cash, so if you will be in London before your Paris trip or after your cruise then you should look into Oyster cards - that will reduce a single fare to £2.10. If this would be your only trip on the Underground and there are two or more of you travelling then I'd consider getting a taxi to Liverpool Street - 15 minutes outside peak hours, fare around £10 to £15.

They also put on special "cruise" trains from Liverpool St. Station to the port when there's a ship departure. These trains are more expensive, but you don't have to change trains in Manningtree. Changing trains involves going down and up a flight of stairs. The choice depends mainly on how fit you are and how much luggage you have. I don't know about the train to Harwich, but returning from the port to London, if you have a group of 4 traveling together, you get a considerable discount. You can buy the tickets from the conductor when you board the train.

Allow plenty of time to get to your train station in London, or plan to take the next-to-last train which gets you to Harwich in time. I learned this the hard way when a problem on the Underground meant getting to Liverpool took thirty minutes longer than planned. Luckily I wasn't attempting to catch a cruise ship. For complete peace of mind spend the night before in Harwich.

Just a heads up. We do not truncate place names over here, would lead to lots of confusion and misdirected travellers! Use "Liverpool Street" not "Liverpool" a city in the North West of England about 211 miles from London.

You have 2 time critical journeys on this route - the train to Harwich and the Eurostar. What departure time from Paris did you have in mind? We recently saw a story on here where a couple missed their Eurostar in Paris because they did not take account of the long queues to check in which caused them to miss the mandatory 30 minute cutoff. If timetables are similar 12 months from now what I would do is plan leaving plenty of time in case of any problems or train cancellations or late running. I think the 1300 departure from London Liverpool Street would be the latest I would want, arrives Harwich International at 1417 with only a 5 minute connection at Manningtree. Be advised that in the UK connecting trains almost never wait for a late train. To be at Liverpool Street before 1300 - have to find the ticket and the platform of course, I'd want to arrive at St Pancras not much after noon. The 10:13 from Paris arrives 11:39. The 11:13 gets in at 12:30. That would be too tight for me - I wouldn't want to miss my ship. I'd go for the 10:13. Is that about what you had thought?

Thanks Nigel- have seen your informative answers a lot on this sight over the years. Yes taking into consideration a snag from Paris or a missed train to Harwich we have decided to stay the day before the cruise in Harwich. It does take some research on train connections and I am still working on them.
I do have another question - as it stands now our returning flight to Canada after the cruise is out of Gatwick. What, if any tips do you have on getting there from Harwich.

Chani, Marty and Linda thank you as well for your insight on my question.

hi, going to the airport. I would check out the express coaches that go to the various airports. I now at least one departs from within 100m of Liverpool station. going to harwich.
allow more time on a sunday As when we were traveling a fortnight a go, there is sunday track maintenance going on. So a coach ride is included and you should expect delays.