London to / from Southampton By Train
Fastest Transport Between Southampton And London Including Heathrow & Gatwick Airports
 |
Key Points Of Traveling By Train
The fastest way to travel between Southampton and London is by train. Rail is often faster than hiring a private car too into or out of Central London. Train services are faster and more frequent than the alternative bus public transport between Central London and Southampton, but normally much more expensive.
There are no direct trains between Southampton and Heathrow, where the National Express buses have a monopoly and on the Southampton - Gatwick route there are no direct trains on Sundays.
Key points about using trains between London and Southampton are:
-
Although there is a choice of different routes operated by different train companies ticketing is totally integrated. Having different train companies has no impact at all on any rail journey, even if you have to use different companies to complete your journey on a single ticket. There are no special ticket kiosks for each train company.
-
Your ticket just gives you the right to travel between the two points on your ticket. There are no reserved seats and unless there are specific restrictions on your ticket you can ride any train on the route stated on your ticket.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Southampton Station Ticket Collection Machine |
-
Luggage is only limited by the amount that you can personally carry onto the train. Assume you will not get any assistance at all with your luggage.
-
There are no true etickets at the moment where the ticket is emailed to you on purchasing. However, you can order tickets on-line and collect your tickets in London or Southampton from machines at the railway stations. There are such machines at Southampton, London Waterloo, London Victoria, London Paddington and Gatwick airport, but not Heathrow airport.
-
Unlike the National Express buses there are no specific senior's fares.
-
At Southampton the train station is not next to any cruise terminal. There are 4 cruise terminals at Southampton requiring a short taxi ride. 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.
-
There are few advance purchase promotional fares on these routes, with the notable exception of Megatrain. There can be a big difference in the price of tickets on the same route depending on the day and time of travel.
Off Peak & Anytime Train Tickets
| Off Peak | Buy any time, travel off-peak. these tickets may require you to travel at specific times of day, days of the week or on a specific route. Where there is more than one Off-Peak fare for a journey, the cheaper fare with more restrictions will be called Super Off-Peak. |
| Anytime | Buy any time, travel any time. Anytime fares are fully flexible tickets, with no time restrictions on when you can travel. With an Anytimeticket you can also break your journey at stations along the route of travel. |
Southampton To/From London Waterloo - The Fastest & Most Frequent Route
The vast majority of people traveling to and from Southampton from Central London will use the route between Southampton and London Waterloo. There are always several trains each hour running between very early morning and very late evening.
Journey times are between 80 and 100 minutes depending on how many stations the train stops at along the way.
The franchise for the route between Waterloo and Southampton is currently run by South West Trains.
Megatrain & Megabus Deep Discounted Rail Tickets Waterloo - Southampton
The owners of South West Trains also run Megatrain / Megabus offering deep discounted tickets on the London Waterloo - Southampton route.
Seats are made available on the South West trains that they know are going to run half empty. Availability is particularly good for people going in the Southampton direction for an early afternoon check-in on a cruise.
Its an internet only, advance purchase operation. Some overseas customers have had problems with their credit cards being accepted, but most seem to have no problems at all
Negatrain / Megabus Availability & Ticketing
Southampton To/From London Paddington - Convenient For Some
People on cruises tend to be a bit heavy on luggage.
Its no fun dragging more than one case per person around London's Underground system to transfer to or from your London hotel.
If your hotel is in the Bayswater, Paddington, Oxford Street area of London going to London's Paddington station instead of Waterloo maybe more attractive as its is much closer to your accommodation.
The downside is that there is no direct train service between Paddington and Southampton so you have to change trains at Reading.
Southampton - London Paddington Timetables & Ticketing
Southampton To/From Heathrow Airport - Using A RailAir Connector Bus
The only direct public transport between Heathrow and Southampton are the National Express buses.
It is possible to travel by train if you really want by using a special RailAir bus between Heathrow and Woking which runs about every 30 minutes. All the trains between Southampton and London Waterloo stop at Woking.
You can purchase a combined ticket that bundles both train and RailAir bus. At Heathrow these can be purchased at the Central Bus Station from the National Express ticket office.
Southampton - Heathrow via Woking Timetables & Ticketing
Southampton To/From Gatwick Airport - Direct Trains Hourly Most Days
There is a convenient train service between Southampton and Gatwick Airport run by Southern trains.
There are no direct trains on a Sunday however. On Sundays by train you have to go another route, changing trains at Clapham Junction in London.
Southampton - Gatwick Timetables & Ticketing
Transfers Between Southampton Cruise Terminals & Bus/Train Stations
 |
| Southampton Station Taxi Rank |
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
 |
 |