london to Southampton

[robertlew]

My wife will be flying into London from New York City, not sure which airport yet. Can someone give me the easiest way to get to Southampton port from either Gatwick or Heathrow? I do not want to burden her with to many buses and trains. Any transport that goes directly there from the airports? Thanks in advance.

[jeanlyon]

Hi there - try here http://www.londontoolkit.com/travel/gatwick_southernengland_transfer.htm

[Globaliser]

Can someone give me the easiest way to get to Southampton port from either Gatwick or Heathrow? I do not want to burden her with to many buses and trains. Any transport that goes directly there from the airports?

If you go to the British Isles forum, you'll find many threads about this. In short:-

 

Heathrow to Southampton: Take the National Express coach directly from Heathrow to Southampton bus station, then a short taxi trip to the dock. Times and fares information here: http://www.nationalexpress.com

 

Gatwick to Southampton: Take the train direct from Gatwick to Southampton Central railway station, then a short taxi trip to the dock. Times and fares information here: http://ojp2.nationalrail.co.uk/en/pj/jp

[feebee_71]

Coach from Heathrow to Southampton Bus Station will take about 2 hours but beware, there is a luggage restriction with National Express of 2 cases per passenger weighing no more than 20kg per piece. This is actually quite generous when you think of the luggage restrictions for flights. Standard tickets will cost about £18-£21 per person with a standard or economy return.

 

Teain from Heathrow to Southampton will take about 1 3/4 - 2 1/4 hours and will involve at least one change of train. It will cost you about £43.10 per person.

 

Train from Gatwick to Southampton will also take about 2 hours but be careful when planning your journey, some times of day you can manage to do the journey direct with no changes but at other times you may have up to 2 changes to manage. If you have changes you can request mobility assistance (even if not mobility compromised) and they will have someone available to assist you with your luggage. Standard return fares will be about £27 per person depending on the time of day you travel on both legs of your journey and any special offers available.

 

There is no coach from Gatwick to Southampton option available.

 

Of course the prices and journey times will vary depending on the day and time you travel but these examples were calculated based on journeys made on March 5th and returning on March 19th (just some random dates to get prices)

 

I have done lots of journeys using the train and the coach around the UK abd would say that generally the train is a better option than the coach - you are more likely to have more space on the train than on the coach, the train will not get caught up in traffic and any delays that it might cause. However there might be engineering work on the train (especially at the weekends) which might mean your journey is diverted or even transferred to a bus/coach for some or all of the journey.

 

I hope this info helps but if you want any more specific info you can contact me and I will see what I can find out for you. My email is fiona_rolls@hotmail.co.uk

 

feebee_71:)

[Globaliser]

Teain from Heathrow to Southampton will take about 1 3/4 - 2 1/4 hours and will involve at least one change of train. It will cost you about £43.10 per person.

I think that the advertised journeys with a single change actually involve taking the Railair bus from Heathrow to either Reading or Woking to connect with the train there. I don't think it's possible to do Heathrow to Southampton entirely by rail with fewer than two changes.

Train from Gatwick to Southampton will also take about 2 hours but be careful when planning your journey, some times of day you can manage to do the journey direct with no changes but at other times you may have up to 2 changes to manage.

During the day, it shouldn't be a problem: there is a direct train once an hour.

[feebee_71]

I think that the advertised journeys with a single change actually involve taking the Railair bus from Heathrow to either Reading or Woking to connect with the train there. I don't think it's possible to do Heathrow to Southampton entirely by rail with fewer than two changes.During the day, it shouldn't be a problem: there is a direct train once an hour.

 

Hi Globaliser,

 

Thanks for correcting me on that one about the journey from Heathrow to Southampton, I hadn't picked up that it was a Railair bis for the first leg of the journey.

 

For the one for the journey from Gatwick my concern was that if the OP wasn't careful they might choose a journey that includes unnecessary changes. Again thanks for supplimenting the information I had posted. I am lucky, from where I live I do the journey by train involving one change at Woking and a taxi at either end.

 

Feebee_71:)