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Train travel from London to Canterbury?


Jan McNulty

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I'm looking for some advice please.  I am going to Canterbury for the weekend next month and have been looking at train options.

 

It does not matter if I arrive at Canterbury East or West (assuming taxis are available from both stations).

 

I will be arriving into Euston.  Which is the best onward service to go for please?  I can, of course, walk to St Pancras (which also seems to be the fastest route)  but both Victoria and Charing Cross are only a short hop away.

 

Thanks in advance.

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Depends on how rich you're feeling :)  If you go via St. Pancras it'll be via HS1 and you'll pay a premium for the privilege.  OTOH, it'll be a darned sight faster, as they've added an extra 1/4 hour to the Victoria-Canterbury trains since the 1990s.  The HS1 Javelins are rather better fitted out than the Southeastern trains, so if things like onboard power sockets are a consideration that'd be another reason to go for them.  Canterbury West is a rather more leisurely route, I think - I haven't used it that often.

 

I can't remember whether both stations have taxis (both are outside the city walls, BTW) - I'd have thought so, but if there aren't any at West I imagine there must be a rank somewhere in the region of Westgate.  My socialising in Canterbury is several decades in the past, so I may be out of date, of course.

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I think that there are taxi ranks at both stations in Canterbury.

 

I don't know what days you intend to travel on or the time you propose arriving at Euston on your outward journey or the time you need to begin your return journey  so it is a bit difficult to give you any but the most general advice. I don't know where you are staying in Canterbury so I can't tell you which station would be more convenient for you so I shall simply point out that Canterbury East is slightly closer to the Cathedral than Canterbury West is. 

 

Remember that Canterbury lies in Kent's commuter belt which means that soon after three o' clock on a  weekday afternoon people will begin travelling back home after a long day's work in London and fares are adjusted accordingly. Once the evening rush hour exodus has begun the higher fares seem to remain in force until the end of the day. On a week day morning the commuters are doing their journey in reverse and fares for train services which will get people into town in time for work will be higher than those for non peak hours.

 

If I were you I would look at the National Rail Enquiries website  making my enquiry against "London All Stations"  and "Canterbury All Stations" to see if I could book cheap advance seats for my journeys. Fares for services out of St Pancras are always higher than those for trains which leave from Victoria and Charing Cross but off peak the difference in price is much less marked than during peak hours.As far as your choice of stations to travel from is concerned, assuming that you arrive in London during rush hour only you will know whether  you are prepared to pay a higher fare to travel from St. Pancras  thus avoiding travelling on the tube during rush hour. You can buy advance tickets for  trains running out of Charing Cross and Victoria but you can't reserve seats on them so catching trains from those two stations can be a bit of a scramble. You might want to find out whether you can reserve seats on the HST.

 

I hope you find this information helpful and that you have a great time in Canterbury.

 

Edited by FLOSS
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1 hour ago, FLOSS said:

Remember that Canterbury lies in Kent's commuter belt which means that soon after three o' clock on a  weekday afternoon people will begin travelling back home after a long day's work in London and fares are adjusted accordingly. Once the evening rush hour exodus has begun the higher fares seem to remain in force until the end of the day. On a week day morning the commuters are doing their journey in reverse and fares for train services which will get people into town in time for work will be higher than those for non peak hours.

 

Really?  Is that HS1 only?  The off-peak rate on Southeastern doesn't vary, as far as I know (off-peak return over a few days looks like a real bargain!).  Actually, what happens if you try booking a through ticket Liverpool-Canterbury?  It's worth trying sometimes.

 

Quote

As far as your choice of stations to travel from is concerned, assuming that you arrive in London during rush hour only you will know whether  you are prepared to pay a higher fare to travel from St. Pancras  thus avoiding travelling on the tube during rush hour.

 

If that's your main concern, you could always catch the Thameslink down from St. Pancras to Bromley South and change onto a train for Canterbury there.  It wouldn't be the quickest option, though, because I think the trip to BMS (calling all stations) takes 30 minutes or so.

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Definitely avoid the rush hour it will be awful if going from Victoria.

 

As it happens I should  have been going to Canterbury next week for College reunion  ( we go to different places every year now once we realised that none of us recognised Reading any more anyway!!) and staying in that Travelodge! 

It was interesting from Brighton .....I could go up to London Victoria and catch the Canterbury train from there ....costing with rail card mid thirties in price but marginally quicker. Or Take three trains to get there via Eastbourne-Ashford-Canterbury for HALF the price!! A bit more fiddly to link up and a bit longer ...half an hour max in it....so a no brainer for me....though of course can't go now anyway.

 

If it was me Jan I'd do the Victoria route if you can avoid arriving in rush hour .....easy tube Euston - Victoria ...and the Kings Cross one if you have to arrive in London after 3.30 pm etc.

 

The travelodge in Canterbury wouldn't refund money in my case .....well it was a saver booking.....but allowed us finally to book a date next Spring in lieu of September date.....though had to do this via customer services ...which was time consuming and annoying as they DO NOT have a PHONE number and NO EXTERNAL email address!! 

A lot of cursing went on but happy result in the end as it is discretionary on saver bookings.

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