London to / from Southampton By Bus
National Express Bus Services Between Southampton & London Including Heathrow Airport
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| Southampton National Express Coach Station |
National Express Coaches
National Express are the largest scheduled long distance bus operator in Europe and operate the only truly national network in England carrying over 18 million people a year.
They are a large public limited transport company with operations globally.
Key points about using National Express buses between London and Southampton are:
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Coaches are full size and all have toilet and washroom facilities
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Your ticket guarantees you a seat, but does not reserve any particular place, so you can sit on any vacant seat when you board the coach.
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Tickets are for a specific journey, miss the departure and you lose the ticket. The notable exception is for departures at airports including Heathrow. Here can you use your ticket on later schedules if your flight is late and you miss the bus as a result. This is subject to seat availability on the following bus.
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Once an individual schedule is sold out, no relief buses are put on to provide extra capacity.
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| Typical National Express Coach |
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Advance purchase promotional fares are often available on the Southampton - London run where trains provide competition, seldom on the Heathrow - Southampton route where National Express have a monopoly of the route.
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Unlike the trains, full etickets are available on-line and delivered instantly by email.
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Unless you get a good promotional fare, return fares are much cheaper than two single fares each way. You cannot buy a return fare using Heathrow as a London terminus on one leg and London Victoria on the other, both legs must be between the same points.
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At Southampton there are often 3, even 4 cruise ships simultaneously disembarking around 8 a.m. National Express do not put on extra schedules to coincide with such events. As a result early morning schedules from Southampton can be sold out well in advance.
Luggage
Luggage allowance is often a lot less than flight baggage allowances if you are traveling to/from North America. Luggage entitlement is limited to two cases per person in the hold, neither of which should weigh more than 20kg (44lbs). In the cabin you can take a small item of luggage like a handbag or laptop.
Drivers do not weigh the luggage and typically are quite flexible, but don't count on it and don't abuse the allowance.
National Express have introduced an excess luggage policy with charges and if you have outsize items or unusual items you really need to check out the detail of the luggage policy.
If you are concerned about the security of your luggage in the hold it is rather good. The blog video right depicts the controlled manner in which luggage is loaded and unloaded.
Three Routes - Southampton to/from London Victoria, Heathrow & Gatwick Airports
There are three National Express coach services connecting Southampton with London and its airports.
Summary key points about each terminus
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At Heathrow National Express coaches do not go to Terminals 1 and 3, but leave from the main bus station between these two terminals. Its a luggage trolley friendly 10 minute walk using moving walkways and lifts and is undercover. Most but not all coaches to and from Southampton call at Terminals 4 and 5.
All coaches start/finish at the Central Bus Station. The London Underground station at Heathrow is directly below the Central Bus Station.
The Heathrow Express train is free between Terminals 4 and 5 and Heathrow Central where the Central Bus Station is.
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At Gatwick Airport, National Express coaches pick up and drop down directly from in front of both passenger terminals, North and South.
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London Victoria terminus is at Victoria Coach Station. This is about 800 yards from the Underground and Rail stations at Victoria. Victoria is very central and is a major hotel district.
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National Express have their own exclusive small bus station at Southampton, close to Southampton rail station.
The position of the bus station relative to each of the 4 cruise terminals at Southampton and the main hotels are marked on the Southampton map at the foot of the page.
You will need a short taxi ride with luggage from the taxi rank at the bus station to your cruise terminal. There are no public buses that serve the cruise terminals.
A few of Southamptons most popular hotels are within easy walking distance of the bus station, agin look at the map at the bottom of the page.
National Express Bus Timetables, Fares & Ticketing
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Transfers Between Southampton Cruise Terminals & Bus/Train Stations
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| Typical Southampton Taxi |
No shuttle buses are provided between the cruise and bus/train stations. Although the National Express web site has 'Southampton Cruise Terminal' as a destination in their travel planner, no National Express buses go to any cruise terminal at Southampton. They all only go to the bus station.
You therefore need to get a taxi between the cruise terminals. The fare should be between £6 and £9.
The taxi pictured right is a typical Southampton taxi (they are white). If there are 3 or 4 of you with 2 cases each plus hand luggage you may need more than one taxi.
In the morning if there are 3 or 4 cruise ships unloading simultaneously (quite common) there may be queues for the taxi's. The taxi ranks are very well marshaled though.
A few hardy soles walk between the bus station and the City Cruise Terminal, with luggage this will take about 15 minutes. Its too far with luggage to walk to other cruise terminals from the bus station.
The position of Southampton bus station relative to each cruise terminal and the main hotels are marked on the Southampton map at the foot of the page.
Southampton To/From London Via Stonehenge (or Windsor, Salisbury, Bath ...)
The world famous Stonehenge is just a short detour when traveling between London & Southampton.
With one hour visiting Stonehenge (the most time, most people need) the entire journey will take around 4 hours. This is a very convenient, efficient and affordable way of viewing Stonehenge without having to take a day out of your vacation on a dedicated tour from London.
There are a lot of alternatives we can offer to places like Windsor, Bath and Salisbury where our drivers will also provide guiding. We now have years of experience offering customised tour transfers from just a couple to very large groups.
Southampton Cruise Tour Transfers - More Details
Southampton Hotel & Cruise Terminal Map
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