London to Manchester
 

Help please.

What is the quickest easiest way to get from London Victoria Coach station to Manchester?

The only routes I have found are on National Rail and quite confusing.

Anyone have any other options?

Thank you

We took Virgin Trains there a couple of years ago to watch a football match. Left early in the morning and came back the same day.

What options are you looking for? You could rent a car (hoo boy), or take a bus (long trip) or take the tube across town to Euston and take a direct train.

What exactly is "quite confusing" about Euston to Manchester Piccadilly direct trains that take just more than 2 hours?

Thank you both. Sorry I wasn't finding any routes that direct many had numerous changes. I will check again thank you.

Awesome....worked out. Thank you all

Yes pretty straightforward as BigRuss says - and go to www.nationalrail.co.uk to see train schedules and various fares - you do not want to buy a walk-up ticket that could cost tons of more money. Book your own ticket on that site - note the various restrictions on refunds, changes, etc.

www.seat61.com has many tips on booking your own discounted rail tickets.

Though there probably are direct buses from Victoria Coach Station like Russ says they take a longer bus trip (but perhaps not factoring in time it takes to get over to Euston Station) and buses are always dirt-cheap - I'd check buses out with overall time and price vs tube and train.

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx If traveling on several buses there is a cheap bus pass I believe.

The key is to get the right London start-point. Putting Victoria just confuses matters because it will then incorporate tube and/or buses which makes the route look complicated.

A tip for all visitors - if you're catching the train from London to elsewhere, it will start from a specific station in London depending on the region of the country. It's not a question of finding the nearest station to you. I suggest using www.nationalrail.co.uk and use London (All) as your start point.

In the OP's case, this will give you the direct train to Manchester from London Euston. There shouldn't be any changes and it should take about two hours. Look for tickets labelled "Advance" for the cheapest prices although these have to be used on the specific train.

You then get yourself to Euston - in this case, a straight shot on the tube from Victoria on the Victoria line (takes about 10, 15 minutes) to Euston underground. I'm assuming that since you're already in London you'll have an Oyster card or travelcard that you use for the Victoria to Euston journey.

If you don't have a travelcard for London at all - say you're arriving at Victoria from somewhere else - you can then use Victoria as your start point on National Rail and buy a ticket that will cover your tube travel, but it will show a change to reflect the tube journey across London.

Kim: FYI - I got my answer because I ran the exact search on the national rail website that Gyhtson is talking about: London (all stations) to Manchester (all stations).