Manchester or London best airport for train connections?
 

I am traveling to Edinburgh in June. I am planning to take a direct flight from Chicago to Manchester and then a train to Edinburgh. But someone recently mentioned that flying into and out of London might be the best way to go as train service is better in London than in Manchester. Any thoughts from other seasoned travelers on this suggestion??

Getting to Kings Cross station from Heathrow takes forever but if you can land at Gatwick you have frequent direct trains to Kings X from where many trains - more than hourly - go direct to Edinburgh.

but simply go to www.nationalrail.co.uk and put in Manchester Airport and Edinburgh Waverly (main station there) and do the same for Gatwick Airport and see which is quicker. Manchester is obviously closer to Edinburgh by a lot but the train links may not be as fast though I can't see really why not.

I'd fly into Gatwick or Manchester whichever is cheaper - Heathrow is a pain to get to a train to Edinburgh - check into flying I guess from any airport if it is cheap enough.

Also the train will cost you a fortune unless you pre-book - perhaps weeks in advance into some probably non-changeable non-refundable ticket - full fare is sky high and when landing by plane you do not really know when you will be able to get to King's Cross station so you either built in a lot of fudge factor time and perhaps end up twiddling your thumbs at Kings Cross or take a chance and if you miss the discounted ticket you'd have to buy another one at full fare! And a BritRail Pass could almost be as cheap for a 3-day pass as that single ticket at full fare.

I'd check into flying from London to Edinburgh vs the time and cost of the train.

Now if you want to put your bags in a station locker at London Euston station and spend the day in London then you can take the Caledonian Sleeper train to Edinburgh - save on the cost of a hotel and also score some deep discounted tickets at . For lots of great info on British trains, if taking others especially check out: www.seat61.com - the Bible of British train travel; http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/; http://www.budgeteuropetravel.com/id11; and www.rickstves.com. If traveling on several other trains look at the BritRail Pass which lets you hop on any train any time - just show up at Kings Cross and hop the next train (night trains though should be booked ahead at the Caledonian Rail Web site.

There are no trains from Heathrow to anywhere except Paddington, a central London station requiring a tricky to get to tube connection for Kings Cross, whence Eboro trains depart.

Gatwick, Manchester and Birmingham airports have railway stations with much better connections - though none terribly fast or anything like as easy abs getting a plane from Heathrow. See www. nationalrail.co.uk for railway connections.

But: why? Even if trains are a novelty, it's a pretty uninspiring train journey however you do it

If you are at LHR - I'd just fly up to EDI. Saves all the hassle of getting into and across all of central London. You could be landing at EDI about the same time your train pulls out of kings cross.

If you must take the train, then I'd fly into MAN.

Manchester has direct trains taking about 3.5 hours after you make your way to the train station, etc. I agree with janisj - flying should be quicker - why are not you flying directly into Edinburgh and just transiting London or Man City - have you priced thru flights to Edinburgh?

It's easy enough to fly Chicago to Edinburgh direct (but not non-stop). Is there some reason you don't want to do that? It might make a difference to what people suggest if you have some actual reason for considering taking a train.

I had not considered flying an additional leg to Edinburgh because I thought the train ride would be more interesting with the views out the window. And I must admit I really don't like flying - perfer to travel on the ground when I can - so wasn't looking to make an additional flight in country if I could avoid it. However, everyone made many good points above so I am going to take a step back and do some more checking into flights and train fares/times. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to respond.

You won't be missing much - the train mostly goes through less than stellar countryside. If you want a Great train ride - wait til you are in Scotland. Lots of scenic routes up there.

When comparing - especially for the London connection, be sure to factor in the (real) hassle of getting from LHR to Kings Cross.

You could use www.transportdirect.info for a pretty exhaustive list of the options and all the additional aspects of getting from an airport to a station. There could be debate about the merits of the scenery you see on the east coast line from Kings Cross as opposed to the west coast line from Manchester, which I don't intend to get into....!

<You won't be missing much - the train mostly goes through less than stellar countryside.
The Transpennine Express from Manchester Aiport to Edinburgh runs through part of the Lake District and the Southern Uplands. personally I prefer that to the much vaunted (on this forum at least) East Coast line.

I have been checking into continuing on to Edinburgh via plane and the airfare is about $75 higher with the connection. And I found that there were flights originating from Heathrow and at the same terminal as incoming Chicago flights. So good news there and I'm strongly considering that. I also checked into The Transpennine Express and it runs through the Lake District and that seems interesting too, although the price is about @$100. So pluses and minuses both ways. Great info - THANKS!

<i>it runs through the Lake District</i>

No it doesn't. It takes much the same route as the M6 and skirts the edge of the Lakes

You can BTW fly to Edinburgh via Manchester

I am missing something here?

United fly ORD to EDI.

In fact I probably wouldn't leave Scotland but for United's service from Scotland/Manchester.

Cheapest flights between North UK/ NE USA is frequently Aer Lingus via Dublin.