Arriving in London by rail
Major train stations in London
London is one of the great cities for trains, with 18 major train stations and rail terminals—and dozens of smaller ones—serving the U.K.'s overlapping spaghetti plate of regional rail lines.
(If you count them all up, there are actually 366 passenger rail stations in Greater London.)
No worries. No matter at which rail station you arrive you will find an associated Tube (Underground/subway) station, nearby bus stops, and other transport options.
Arriving from the airport
The Heathrow Express airport train arrives to and departs from Paddington Station in the northwest part of London. » more
The Gatwick Express connects Gatwick Airport's South Terminal with London's Victoria Station. » more
The Stansted Express travels between the airport terminal and London's Liverpool Station. » more
Trains to and from Luton leave London from the St. Pancras or Blackfriars stations. » more
Arriving on the Eurostar
The travel time between London and Paris (Paris station: Gare du Nord) is actually about 2.5 hours (it varies from 2:16 to 2:37)—though remember that the U.K. is one hour behind central Europe, so once you factor in the time change the trip to London will take about an hour and a half (at least according to the clocks), a trip from London to the Continent will arrive 3.5 hours later on the clock.
London to Brussels-Midi/Zuid is about 2 hours; London to Amsterdam takes about 4.5 hours.
You are required to check in at least 30 minutes before departure (10 min. if you overpaid for Business Class), and they airport-style secutiry lines, so plan on getting to the station well ahead of time—I'd say at least one hour ahead of your scheduled departure, just to be safe.
What if I took the ferry?
Trains coming from Dover (where ferries from the Continent land) arrive at either Victoria Station or Charing Cross Station, both in the center of town (10.5 hours total travel time from Paris via the ferry route).
Arriving from Edinburgh
If you're coming from Edinburgh (or Hogwarts), you arrive at King's Cross Station in the northern part of London.
- Nationalrail.co.uk - Covers all of the lines once operated by the (since-privitized) old British Rail, as well as info on all British rail stations, including maps and services. This includes most major British railways, but notably does not cover many urban area light rail systems (such as London, Glasgow, Manchester, Blackpool, Sheffield, and Midland Metro), nor does it cover the Eurostar, Heathrow Express, nor a handful of heritage or privately owned railways. Still, it's the closest thing to one-stop shopping for finding train connections across the mainland U.K. (though not Northern Ireland).
- BritRail passes - Book railpasses good for travel all over Great Britain—or just in parts of all of England or Scotland.Partner
- Eurostar.com - The super-fast train through the Channel Tunnel connecting London with Paris (2.5 hrs.), Brussels (2 hrs.) and—though those hubs—the rest of Europe. » more
- Europetrainsguide.com - General train info from a private site devoted to European rail travel.
- Seat61.com - General train info from a private site devoted to rail travel, including detailed, step-by-step instructions on how to get from London to just about any other country in Europe via rail.
- Traintaxi.co.uk - Search stations to find out whether they have taxi ranks/stands, and the phone numbers for pre-booking a cab. (Not being updated after April 2016, but still handy.)
- Sleeper.scot - overnight train
- Heritagerailways.com - An association of historic, heritage, and narrow guage railways—many operating steam trains on historic scenic routes. The site is pretty bare-bones, but if you click on a railway and then look for the link in the box below the map (not teh name on the map itself), you can get to the website for that heritage rail line, train museum, or tourist train
- Train map - A rail network map courtesy of Nationalrail.co.uk.
General tips of similar interest
Is the Britrail pass—good for unlimited travel on the national rail network—worth it in the U.K.?
Sleeping on an overnight train is a relatively safe endeavor, but take a few sensible precautions to avoid pickpockets and thieves and sleep more soundly
Like the trains themselves, European train stations tend to be clean and user-friendly—with tourist info, hotel booking service, left luggage lockers or offices, and decent snack bars (in case you forget to pick up train picnic supplies in town)
