kathcoll

I'm planning to take the train from Victoria to Hampton Court during my visit in May. I've seen a website for buying tickets online 4.90GBP for cheapest return tickets. Is there any advantage to purchasing them in advance or are they as cheap and convenient to buy them in London?

bettyk

You will need to take the Tube from Victoria Station to Waterloo Station, then you will catch the train to Hampton Court. There is no advantage to buying your tickets early unless you want to avoid the lines at the station. For the cheapest return tickets you need to leave prior to 9, I believe. We chose to leave a little later and paid around 7 GBP for our tickets at Waterloo Station.

Lori

You need to take the train from Waterloo Station,not Victoria. No need to buy in advance, just walk up to the counter and buy when going (you can also buy a combined train/palace ticket and save about a pound). Trains run about every 30 min. so it is no big deal. It's a 5 min. walk from Hampton Court train station to the palace itself.

kathcoll

is it quicker to take the Waterloo train? (tube victoria to Waterloo then direct to Hampton court?)<BR>I thought the most direct route was Victoria to clapham Junction connecting to Hampton court?<BR>kathy

ron

You are correct, Kath -- connecting via Clapham Junction would be more convenient. And if you plan on doing any other travel in London on that day, you would be better off buying a 6 zone travelcard rather than a cheap day return ticket.

Travelnick

You may consider alternative - go to Richmond from Waterloo or via Clapham Junction. Take a boat trip return or single. Can get a local bus from outside Richmond station direct to Hampton Court so no need to repeat boat journey. Fast train from CJ to Richmond is about 12 mins.

GeoffHamer

There is no advantage to buying tickets in advance. From Victoria, take any main line train to Clapham Junction then change there for Hampton Count, or take the District Line to Wimbledon then change there for Hampton Court, or take the District Line to Richmond then an R68 bus. There are probably lots of other routes as well. Hampton Court is in zone 6, so it's easiest to buy a travelcard for zones 1-6 and that allows you to go or come back by any route.

kaudrey

kath,<BR><BR>Don't buy in advance.<BR><BR>We did it from Waterloo 2 weeks ago and just bought train (not tube) tickets at Waterloo Station. Note too that with a zone one travelcard, they only charged us 3.70GPB (I think) instead of the usual cheap day return of 4.90GBP. We only discovered that by accident because one of us had pulled out our card for some reason, and the ticket person saw it and told us we didn't need to pay 4.90 with that card. <BR><BR>The other option sounds fine too, though. Either way - Hampton Court was fabulous! We spent almost 5 hours there!

kathcoll

My trip is in 2 weeks and I'm finalizing plans (I'm a planning nut!)
Geoff mentioned the tube and bus route from Victoria to Hampton Court...I'll have a 6 zone pass with me so this would be the cheapest option! Is there a great advantage time-wise to going by train? We will be going there on a friday morning...it will be rush hour but I'm assuming rush hour going from Victoria to Hampton Court might not be as crowded as coming in to the city. Any comments on travel from Victoria to Hampton Court via tube and bus rather than train - leaving at around 8:30-9:00am ??

ron

Take the train. Your 6 zone pass is good on it and it will be faster and more comfortable.

GeoffHamer

The train is by far the easiest way to get to Hampton Court. Trains are normally every half hour, so you may have to wait at Clapham Junction, but that's no problem as there are lots of kiosks selling coffee, etc. The alternatives using tubes and/or buses will all take longer, but any route will be quiet in the morning as the crowds will be heading in towards the centre of London.