UK Spring 2025 - Trips from London

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are many options traveling out of London, be it day trips or up to Scotland. We did 2 day trips out of London:

• Cambridge - Great Northern Rail from King's Cross to Cambridge under 50 mins for express - remember to include Plus bus when you purchase your train tickets as you can hope on/off any buses in Cambridge except for those Tour buses. You need to redeem your physical tickets from King's Cross 
  
  
• WB Harry Potter Studio - West Midlands Railway from London Euston to Watford Junction around 15-20 mins. Your WB ticket includes a bus from Watford Junction station to the Studio!

 

And some below which we hopefully will get to in future:

• Dover
• Cornwall
• Oxford - Great Western Rail from Paddington to Oxford under 1 hour

 

There are 2 routes going to Scotland, via East coast or West coast, both serviced by different train operators. Both roughly takes 4 hours and 40 mins depending on whether you are heading for Glasgow or Edinburgh:

• West coast to Glasgow - Avanti West Coast - departs/arrives at London Euston
• East coast to Edinbrugh - LNER - departs/arrives King's Cross

There are Pros and cons for company. We think that the LNER trains are newer and cleaner with better air-conditioning. Avanti West offers Standard premium with quieter and slightly more spacious cabins. If you are going to Lake District, Avanti West is the only option. A detailed write up on Lake District is covered in another post

Luggage space is ample on both trains, we have quite large luggage measuring W55 x H81 x D35 cm. No issues on either services, tip is to try and get onboard early.

 

Some restaurants in London we think are worth going:

* Carlotta (Italian) - Truffle pasta and Tiramisu

* Sushisamba (Japanese fusion) - Lamb chop, Samba CG, El Topo, Tiger Maki

* The Ivy (British) - lobster linguine, chicken milanese

* Dimsum Duck (Cantonese) - roast duck

* Dishoom (Indian) 

* Victoria house Coffee (Brunch)