charlfodor872

Does anyone have any suggestions on travelling from Heathrow to Ramsgate, Kent.
I will be travelling with a 6month baby.
Taxi would obv be better but a lot more expensive, but would there be a "relatively" hassle-free train option, with a short taxi ride to Ramsgate (from a station closer by).
South African needs help - any ideas welcome.

PatrickLondon

A taxi off the rank would be hideously expensive, off the scale.

You'd need to get a quote from a car service, but still expensive.

By train, you would have to get the tube, changing at Hammersmith (a few steps across the platform) for an eastbound District Line to Victoria, and then go upstairs (and there would be stairs at Victoria) for a train to Ramsgate (total journey time about 3+ hours).

You can take a National Express coach, changing at Victoria Coach Station in London, taking about four and a half hours in all to get to Ramsgate. You could take about 40 minutes off that by taking the train from Victoria rail station to Ramsgate, but it's about ten minutes walk between the coach station and the railway station at Victoria, which you may not want to do with a baby and luggage.

If you can get a flight into Gatwick, you can shorten the journey time and inconvenience of transfers: train to London Bridge and then a train from there to Ramsgate (total journey time about two and a half to three hours).

www.nationalexpress.com
www.nationalrail.co.uk

flanneruk

The fastest option (faster actually than a car if the connections work out) is the tube direct to Kings Cross, then follow the signs for St Pancras, then the signs for Southeast Trains. There's a supersonic train (about 30-45 mins faster than the train from Victoria) to Ramsgate roughly hourly.

About 5 mins from the KX tube platform to the Southeast platform at St P.

PatrickLondon

>>About 5 mins from the KX tube platform to the Southeast platform at St P.<<

Bit more with a baby and luggage. But yes, I had forgotten about the new high-speed line.

tipsygus

Just to give you an idea of the cost of a car service, my local taxi company charge me £120 each way from Broadstairs, (the next town to Ramsgate, and closer to London) to Heathrow. I recommend the high speed train. Ramsgate station is about a mile from the town centre but there are local taxis available from outside the station.