Hi there. We are a family of 5 New Zealanders traveling by train from London to Edinburgh in August. I can't book these yet as I believe it can only be booked 3 months out. Any advice re any special deals, websites, the best train, best seats to get, would be greatly appreciated. Many thanks. Marie & family
Posted by
Napa, CA
3580 posts
The trains don't run through London. Each train station has trains to specific areas. I believe London to Edinburgh trains leave from Kings Cross Station. I recommend you get ahold of the Rick Steves book on Great Britain for answers to these two questions. You'll find lots of useful background info, then you can come back to ask specific questions.
Posted by
Charlotte, NC, USA
3428 posts
Are you going to be doing much train travel? Sometimes it is better to get BritRail passes. Though some recommend reservations even with these, we have never made them and had no problems. Of course we were not traveling peak times and we did induldge in first class passes. You will love both London and Edinburgh- but it is a long trip- about 5 hours. You might consider splitting it up and stopping in York for at least 1 night. And the previous post is correct- the train for York and Edinburgh leaves from London Kings Cross station. Let the children (and the young at heart!) see the Harry Potter 9 3/4 platform. Feel free to private message me if you want more info. My husband and I (and our children sometimes) have traveled to the UK more than 40 times.
Posted by
Old Bridge, New Jersey, USA
37 posts
We had the same issue for our London/Carlisle train--we had to wait. But you can go on qjump and trainlink, two UK sites that let you book all the train companies.
Posted by
Minneapolis, MN, USA
8700 posts
The standard 2nd class fare for London King's Cross-Edinburgh Waverley day trains can be as much as £135. Booked in advance at www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com, discount fares can be as low as £12.00. The discount fares are posted around 80 days in advance. If you book farther in advance than that, you'll pay the same as you would for a last-minute ticket.
If you book far enough in advance, you can get a bargain berth as low as £19.00 on the ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper from London Euston to Edinburgh Waverley.
Posted by
Long Beach, CA.
51 posts
lol insurance, if possible?
We booked our first class seats from London King's Cross to Edinburgh which only cost about $80 USD (because we booked it in advance)... we had an unfortunate, unbelievable, 9 hour delay from San Francisco to London Heathrow, lost our first class seats and had to pay $150 for standard class.
It was miserable and expensive :)
Of course we were traveling to Scotland the day we flew in (we allowed ourselves 5 hours from airport to train station), which is taking a big risk.
Lesson learned.
Posted by
Bromley, Kent,, UK
1829 posts
A useful site about train travel in the UK (and elsewhere)