National & International Coach Services To London
National Express , Megabus , Eurolines Long Distance Coach Services
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| National Express Coach |
There is a very good network of national coach services to London in comfortable coaches that are worth anyone's consideration. The network hub in London is Victoria Coach Station, where all the main coach operators start their London services.
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| Local Buses |
| London Underground |
| Rail Services |
| River Services |
| Coach Services |
| Public Transport Maps |
| Transport Passes |
| Oyster |
| Travelcard |
| Oyster or Travelcard ? |
| Trips Outside London Rail Passes Only Available To Visitors |
| BritRail London Plus Pass |
| BritRail England & GB Rail Pass |
The big attraction of coach travel is the low price compared with the main rail alternative. Prices can be astounding, its often cheaper to take a coach to the other end of England than just getting to one of London's airports. Downside is that trains are invariably faster.
The two dominant companies are National Express and Megabus. National Express are the largest operator with a network reaching just about every town and city in England of any consequence.
Megabus are the young upstart that burst onto the scene offering dramatically low fares and competing directly with National Express on all the major routes out of London. On these routes fares are incredibly low.
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| London Tour Options |
| Original London Tour Bus |
| Big Bus Hop On Bus |
| Open Top Red Bus Tour |
| Amphibious Duck Tour |
| Black Taxi Tour |
| Rock Tour |
| Airport Transfers |
| Heathrow |
| Gatwick |
| Stansted |
| Luton |
| Cruise Port Transfers |
| Southampton |
| Dover |
| Harwich |
| Day Trips From London |
| Coach Tours |
| Private Tours |
| Stonehenge |
| Bath |
| Windsor |
| Oxford |
| Stratford Upon Avon |
| Cotswolds |
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Both National Express use comfortable, quite new coaches with air conditioning and washrooms onboard. They both stick to the motorway network wherever possible.
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| Victoria Coach Station |
Victoria Coach Station
Victoria Coach Station is just a like a busy regional airport. Coaches leave every couple of minutes, there are airport style departure screens and departure gates where you board the coach.
There is a full list of facilities including a useful left luggage office.
The dominant national opeartors at Victoria are National Express and Megabus. The European scheduled bus operator Eurolines also has its terminus at Loondon Victoria.
There are also direct airport buses from Victoria to all of London's four major airports and some smaller operators with services to places like Windsor and Oxford.
Victoria Coach Station is about 600 yards from the rail and underground stations at Victoria .There is a lot of budget accommodation in the immediate area around the coach station.
National Express
National Express are the benchmark national carrier offering services to nearly all towns and cities in England and Wales and to the main cities in Scotland.
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| National Express Tickets & Timetables |
Cheapest promotional fares are available online in advance. Normally a return fare is much, much cheaper than two single fares.
Unlike the railways tickets bought online are true etickets, visitors from overseas can pay by credit card and have their tickets delivered by email in a couple of minutes.
Formally the baggage allowance that goes into the hold is 2 cases, neither of which should be heavier than 20kg. Drivers load the bags and they are not weighed, most drivers are very flexible as long as you are not taking obvious advantage.
Things like bikes and other outsize luggage are carried subject to the discretion of the driver and them being properly packed so they do not damage other peoples luggage. (Check the National Express web site for a full list of banned items).
National Express Tickets & Timetables
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| Megabus Tickets & Timetables |
Megabus
Megabus are part of the Stagecoach group, a very large international bus and rail operator. Megabus operate similar vehicles to National Express but operate only to the major cities in direct competition with National Express.
Frequencies tend to be less than National Express but Megabus tend to take the lead on pricing. Megabus leave from and arrive in London at Victoria Coach Station, the same as National Express.
Major difference with National Express is that Megabus are much stricter than National Express with regards luggage, limiting carriage to one 20 kg maximum case and a small piece of hand luggage. Megabus also charge a small booking fee.
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| Eurolines Tickets & Timetables |
Eurolines
If you want to go further afield to Europe, Eurolines are a one stop solution that covers most of the key cities in Europe from London.
Most popular routes are probably the relatively short trips to Paris or Dublin, normally the cheapest way of making this journey. Because of the need to take a ferry even these trips will take up most of the day or night.
Eurolines is an umbrella brand for a network of bus companies across Europe that work together to offer an integrated system. They are associated with National Express in the UK and as a result you can get combined ticketing coupling Eurolines European journeys with National Express services through out England and Wales.
Eurolines Tickets & Timetables
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