Need to buy train tickets in advance for day trips from London ?

It is rare unless it is a special weekend for train tickets to sell out. Too many trains on frequent schedules that can be twice, three times an hour. I don't buy those types of tickets till just before. What if it is bad day and raining hard? Sometimes advance sale, discount tickets are available but generally come with restrictions as no change, no refund. I prefer to maintain some flexibility. buy them when you need them.

No rail day trip you can do from London can sell out. These are mass transit trains. Some routes will have cheap advance fares, In theory they can sell out, but almost never do. But higher walk up fares also exist. Also for medium range journeys on South Western Trains there are very good value walk up 'Evening Day Out' Tickets- for travel after 12 noon.
Hint- Cambridge is far cheaper on Greater Anglia advance fares from Liverpool Street than on Great Northern or Thameslink from Kings Cross or St Pancras.
On Southern Railway there is a Day Rover Ticket- buy on line 2 days ahead of travel- fantastic value.

For Canterbury certainly buy advance fares a few days ahead (weeks ahead is simply overkill) on HS1 from St Pancras. Or National Express buses are a great alternative to Canterbury. Nat Ex will also get you to Cambridge. Services to both are quite frequent.

Book both rail trips direct with the train companies- there is zero need to pay commission to The Trainline. Buy tickets 2 weeks ahead when you know no strikes are happening on your dates- the advance fares will be the same as they were weeks earlier.

Thank you Isn31c and Frank. Good to know we won’t get shut out by waiting. We’ll wait till a few days before our trip to get the tickets. I like the flexibility and being able to keep an eye on the weather before we commit. Thanks again.

Max, how many are there in your “we?” The two of us bought a “Two Together” Railcard online for our upcoming trip. The card cost just £30, but will get us 1/3 off on trains, outside of rush hour times. Are you possibly flying British Airways from DIA to Heathrow? The Two Together savings on just the Heathrow Express into downtown London from the airport (buy tickets online, well ahead of time for best price) are practically paying for the purchase price of the railcard, before we’ve even taken any day trips.

Cyn-We’re actually flying United from DIA to Amsterdam, then train to Bayeux, Normandy, then Eurostar to London . Home from there out of Heathrow. But I’ll look into Two Together. Thanks.

Thanks for this thread, Max, as I had this same question---also for the 2nd/3rd weeks of May. We plan to go to Canterbury.

Stuart, What is HS1?

Unfortunately, we probably will want to leave London early in the morning for day trips, so I guess the Two Together card will not be helpful.

HS1 is technically the High Speed Eurostar line to Paris etc. But the phrase is more often used for the High Speed domestic services which run from St Pancras to many places in Kent. Officially they are called South Eastern High Speed or even the Javelin services, for the type of train used.
Off Peak advance fares on HS1 are usually cheaper than on the ordinary trains on the older lines to the same towns.
The domestic high speed line from London to the North of England (or Birmingham, anyway) now under construction is HS2.
I hope this thread is not now taken over by uncalled for and irrelevant discussion on the merits (or otherwise) of HS2.

Thanks for the explanatioin on the HS.

It's good to know that there will be many options closer to the time. I know I'll have more questions regarding tickets as we get closer.

"We’ll wait till a few days before our trip to get the tickets. I like the flexibility and being able to keep an eye on the weather before we commit."

I'll just add that I would check ahead of time which train companies you'd be using and then download the apps for those companies. It's so easy to buy thru the app ALTHOUGH I don't know how that works with the Two Together card. If you are going with a straight purchase, just do it on your phone, then the ticket is also right there in the app. Last spring on my day trip to Bletchley Park I actually waited until I got to the station as I'm never very secure about how long it will take to get somewhere on the Tube. I'd researched which departure time I wanted to get one that was direct and fewest stops and it was easy to buy sitting in the station.

I've now got a folder on my iPhone for the various Train companies,lol!!

Pam-We don't usually use apps in Europe because we don't have data, only WiFi while in the hotel, cafe, etc. Plus I tend to be old school and print everything out ahead of time (which would mean buying the train tickets ahead of time). But we just switched from Verizon to TMobile which gives us data and texting internationally. So on this trip I think we'll try the relevant train apps and give it a shot. What could go wrong ? :) Thanks.

Max, it may work better than you think it will! I'm glad you'll have data. I only just included data plans (Verizon) since Covid and now can't live without the apps, lol!!

Plus I tend to be old school and print everything out ahead of time (which would mean buying the train tickets ahead of time).

It doesn't mean anything of the sort. You can buy actual physical rail tickets from either clerks or machines at any station on the day of travel. Or ahead of time for any journey at any staffed rail station.

This is why all ticket offices were to be closed (and thousands of jobs lost), because so many people believe that tickets have to be bought electronically and displayed electronically.

De-staffing stations would have led to the closure of waiting rooms and restrooms as well.

Also, if you insist on buying your tickets on apps and websites, even when sat at a staffed station, then usually they can be downloaded as PDF files, so data isn't needed to display them.

data isn't needed to display a ticket. Buy yes, show, no.

Insisting is a bit strong isn't it?

The plan to shut all the booking offices fell flat on its face and is not happening so no need to put fear into the travelling public.

The plan to close offices may have been formally abandoned but in parts of the country is happening by default.
At my own local station three of the four staff left during the consultation period, two left the industry, the other has retrained to be a guard/conductor. And a similar situation exists at the only staffed station on the line.
They are not being replaced.
Even Carlisle is now short staffed, as staff have left there and are not being replaced by Avanti.

So for large parts of the day the facilities have now gone at both my local stations. There is now no choice other than to buy on line, or by machine.
You can't buy on board the train with cash, if the machines are broken so you are unable to obtain a permit to travel.

It is not scaremongering, closure by stealth is fact, and use of ticket offices IS being discouraged.

I will admit to being part of the problem last week when I purchased South West Trains on the day tickets in Cumbria, as I left that morning. Purchased at the machine due to no staff available at my home station. I was worried about a connection in London in case Avanti ran late.
In the event I had masses of time in hand and could have bought at Waterloo.
And in the event I ran late due to SWT removing trains from the timetable, not cancelling, just removing, to avoid paying delay repay compensation.