What company to use to purchase train tickets from Waterloo station to Southampton

[Eno]

Staying within walking distance of Waterloo Station so decided to take the train to Southampton Central.

Not traveling until a Sunday in April and the discount tickets have not opened up yet but wanted to be ready to purchase.

National Railway directs me to South Western Rail to purchase tickets but need to create an account.  Their site won't let me create an account

unless I have a UK address (I live in Canada).  Searched this forum and found others that couldn't create an account so suggested buying the

tickets at the station but then they would be full fair tickets.  Have found other ticket companies - Avanti West Coast, GWR (Great Western Railway), London NorthWest Railway and LNER (London North Eastern Railway).  Looks like can purchase and pick up the tickets at the station.

Any experience using any of these?

[Dianne Walsh]

I wonder if you could create an account using the address of your hotel in London?  I’m hoping to do that for our trip from London to Southhampton in early June.  

[Globaliser]

4 hours ago, Eno said:

Searched this forum and found others that couldn't create an account so suggested buying the

tickets at the station but then they would be full fair tickets.  Have found other ticket companies - Avanti West Coast, GWR (Great Western Railway), London NorthWest Railway and LNER (London North Eastern Railway).  Looks like can purchase and pick up the tickets at the station.

Any experience using any of these?

 

All of the companies that you name are actually other National Rail train operating companies. Almost every fare on every National Rail service will be sold by any of these TOCs, and they don't charge booking fees. In addition, many/most of them will deliver the tickets to you as a PDF via email, so you don't even need to pick up physical tickets at the station. I personally buy more tickets via LNER than via any other TOC, but I do have accounts with Avanti and GWR too.

 

FWIW, your spelling of "Southampton" is correct. This can help with searching.

[Eno]

Thanks. Great information and good to know that others have used these without issue. South Western had the option to use their app for the tickets or pick up at station but couldn’t get past the account creation. But I have read that if you find away around the account creation you can’t use the app. Will look into LNER GWP and Avanti. 

[MeHeartCruising]

@Eno In 2022, I purchased my London Waterloo to Southampton Central train ticket using trainline.com.  I believe I purchased it on the web, but they also have a phone app where I was able to see and use my ticket (barcode).  They may charge a little more (I'm not sure), but for a £9.20 ticket it was minimal.  I created an account on trainline.

[Globaliser]

6 hours ago, MeHeartCruising said:

They may charge a little more (I'm not sure) ...

 

I believe that trainline.com does usually charge a booking fee. For most purchasers, this means paying extra money in return for getting nothing extra over what one of the TOCs will give you.

[fruitmachine]

On 1/14/2024 at 9:51 PM, Globaliser said:

 

I believe that trainline.com does usually charge a booking fee. For most purchasers, this means paying extra money in return for getting nothing extra over what one of the TOCs will give you.

And watch out for their automatic selection of "split ticket" or some other similar wording.  Due to the peculiarities of UK train pricing, the same route can be cheaper with two 'half' tickets rather than one for the full route.  If the price difference is small, avoid it, as it can give you all sorts of grief if there are any issues with the journey.

[mnpurple]

I am figuring out booking our train as well on the same route. We will have purchased Eurail passes as we will have more time in Europe after our trip, but don't see that I can use those for this portion (no option on the pass list). Does anyone know if it is possible to use our Eurail pass?  I'm also wondering if it is better or doesn't make a difference to purchase round trip tickets to/from Waterloo to Southampton?  For the price shown below, I think this is fine and less expensive than I would have thought.

 

One other question. We will be using Eurostar to go from London to Lille, France.  When we return to Waterloo station (with luggage) is it easiest to catch a taxi to the St. Pancras station for that portion?

 

I appreciate the wisdom of those on the board!  

Edited January 20 by mnpurple

[Cotswold Eagle]

41 minutes ago, mnpurple said:

Does anyone know if it is possible to use our Eurail pass? 

I don't know very much about Eurail, but London-Southampton does come up on the Eurail journey planner, so I would think you could use them, but it may not represent good value for two of your travel days, depending on the pass you have bought?

 

41 minutes ago, mnpurple said:

I'm also wondering if it is better or doesn't make a difference to purchase round trip tickets to/from Waterloo to Southampton?  For the price shown below, I think this is fine and less expensive than I would have thought.

That's currently the cheapest option for those journey times. They are 'Advance' tickets, which means they are only valid for the service (train times) shown, but for two people return that's a very good price.

 

40 minutes ago, mnpurple said:

When we return to Waterloo station (with luggage) is it easiest to catch a taxi to the St. Pancras station for that portion?

Yes 😀

 

 

[mnpurple]

@Cotswold Eagle Thank you! We purchased a global pass for 10-days to use anytime in 2 months. I think I'll pay for these and keep that day for some other time.

 

I have researched a ton, but there are so many moving pieces with this, I keep second-guessing the train portion!  There is an excellent web site for using trains, but nothing on this specifically, it's called The Main in seat 61 if anyone else is searching for using trains - all over the world!

[Globaliser]

28 minutes ago, mnpurple said:

There is an excellent web site for using trains, but nothing on this specifically, it's called The Main in seat 61 if anyone else is searching for using trains - all over the world!

 

seat61.com does have some pages on Eurail, if that's what you mean. You could try starting here: https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

[mnpurple]

@Globaliser Thank you.  Yes, I've seen that page. It was more specifically not finding routes to Southampton from London. I have booked my tickets now. When I booked, there is a drop down for passes and no option for Eurail, so I'll save that for another day.

 

On the actual Eurail page with maps and routes it doesn't show a line to Southampton, only Portsmouth.

[Globaliser]

34 minutes ago, mnpurple said:

On the actual Eurail page with maps and routes it doesn't show a line to Southampton, only Portsmouth.

 

Southampton does appear on the downloadable Eurail map: https://www.eurail.com/content/dam/pdfs/Eurail_Maps_2024.pdf

[Cotswold Eagle]

2 hours ago, mnpurple said:

When I booked, there is a drop down for passes and no option for Eurail,

I’m still not clear what you mean by this.  What site did you book your tickets on? I wonder if you mean the ‘Railcards’ drop down, which is standard on most U.K. train booking sites - you wouldn’t expect to find Eurail there, it’s something else entirely (railcards in this sense are cards that give discounts of various types).
To book a Eurail journey you would not go through this process - it’s done on their own app or by filling in the details on a paper Eurail pass. 

Edited January 20 by Cotswold Eagle

[Cotswold Eagle]

2 hours ago, mnpurple said:

On the actual Eurail page with maps and routes it doesn't show a line to Southampton, only Portsmouth.

As I said in an earlier post, it’s in the Eurail journey planner…..the map can’t possibly show every station in Europe 😀

 

 

[Eno]

Just booked my cheap tickets for Sunday April 7 for my April 8 cruise. Purchased on LNER site. Registered and super easy have my tickets emailed as pdfs. Think it was 9.30 per person. 

 

 

[ColoradoMom!!]

3 hours ago, Eno said:

Just booked my cheap tickets for Sunday April 7 for my April 8 cruise. Purchased on LNER site. Registered and super easy have my tickets emailed as pdfs. Think it was 9.30 per person. 

Thanks for this info. We are planning the same thing for August.  I have never been to London, so all this is new to me.  If you remember by chance, after your cruise, to post here your experience for someone like me, I would really appreciate it.  I specifically booked hotel within walking distance of the station.I'm just worried about navigating the Waterloo station itself, and catching transportation to the port in Southampton. Thanks!

[mnpurple]

@Cotswold Eagle Sorry, I see where I was "slow" to grasp what you said.  I did find it on the Eurail site, but it directs me to another site for the reservation. No matter, I already went ahead earlier, but I will learn and we have nearly six weeks to use 10 days of the pass.

[Eno]

I will post how things went, I have received so much help on this site I will be glad to help others.  My first time for London also.  Staying 3 nights in London, taking the train from Waterloo station, spending one night in South Hampton and then boarding the Sky Princess. Best to wait for the cheap tickets to be available, was 41.00 and yesterday the cheap tickets were posted for my April 7th trip.  I did sign up to be notified, but did check daily.  I love planning for a trip almost as much as taking one.  My current obsession is planning my days in London.  Will be purchasing a London Pass to cram as much as I can in to the time I have. 

[Globaliser]

9 hours ago, Eno said:

Will be purchasing a London Pass to cram as much as I can in to the time I have.

 

Although this recent post referred specifically to using a HOHO bus, the same applies to using a London Pass to "see" as many places as possible. In short, you won't; you'll actually just fail to see more places.

 

[Eno]

Agreed, a lot of research is required if planning a London Pass.  They make it look great but impossible to save as much as they say within the timeframe.  For transportation the HOHO Bus and the Ubber Boats are not the way to get around.  Walking or the tube is required.  Figured out my "must dos" and will save money with what I have planned.  Especially since I can buy the Go City pass here in Canada at Costco saving even more.  

[Cotswold Eagle]

21 hours ago, mnpurple said:

we have nearly six weeks to use 10 days of the pass.

Wow, what an adventure you'll have! Definitely no value in using up days on the short and cheap journey to/from Southampton, then 😀

[dickinson]

We are staying at Park Plaza County Hall.  How long is the train to Southampton Central?  Once in Southampton how far is the station to West Quay shopping center?  Our hotel, Premier Inn is nearby.

 

Thanks.

Edited January 27 by dickinson

[PurpleTraveller]

6 hours ago, dickinson said:

We are staying at Park Plaza County Hall.  How long is the train to Southampton Central?  Once in Southampton how far is the station to West Quay shopping center?  Our hotel, Premier Inn is nearby.

 

Thanks.

 

It takes about 10 to 15 minutes to walk from the coach station to the Premier Inn if you can handle your luggage. Otherwise you can get a taxi which would take about five minutes.

 

[PurpleTraveller]

7 hours ago, dickinson said:

We are staying at Park Plaza County Hall.  How long is the train to Southampton Central?  Once in Southampton how far is the station to West Quay shopping center?  Our hotel, Premier Inn is nearby.

 

Thanks.

 

I just realised that I wrote coach station in my previous answer. It is a 10 to 15 minute walk or a 5 minute taxi ride from the Southampton train station to the Premier Inn West Quay.

 

Edited January 28 by PurpleTraveller