What is the best train station from London to rest of England?

Question

I would like to utilize London as my travel hub for traveling to the rest of England (and Cardiff and Edinburgh).

I see that the train system is quite complicated. What would you Londoners recommend as the best train station to try and get a hotel around? (for the purpose of training everywhere)

Answer 1

The List above is very comprehensive

Also of interest to tourists might be Marylebone for Leamington Spa and Stratford Upon Avon.

Answer 2

From the soudsn of it you want to go to the north so there are two options which are close to each other. One is Euston which is what I use to go back to Northampton to meet family or there is Kings Cross St Pancreas.

I know that Euston goes to liverpool but have never paid any other attetion to other places

Hope this helps

Sam (A Londoner)

Answer 3

I think you'll have gathered by now that there isn't a single station which would be good for travel to all destinations ... this is historically because when railways were first invented the authorities wouldn't allow them to build stations in the centre of London so they all had to build their stations around what was at the time the ring road around central London

there are tube stations next to all the big rail stations, so all that matters really is that your accommodation is accessible to a tube station

Answer 4

My goodness, you have got some very confusing replies which are all partly right. London is a massive place and there are 10 major stations which all serve different areas, although some of them do overlap. Briefly, they are:

Charing Cross, which serves Kent and southeast London.

Euston: West Midlands, the North-West of England and Scotland.

King's Cross: the North and North-East of England, and Scotland.

Liverpool Street: Essex and the East of England (directly north and north-east of London - cities such as Norwich, my hometown)

Paddington: The South-West of England and South Wales.

St Pancras: now the home of the Eurostar terminus serving Paris. Also the East Midlands and Yorkshire.

Victoria: Kent, Surrey and Sussex (directly south and south-east of London)

Waterloo: the South and South-West of England (eg Hampshire).

London Bridge: South and south-east London and some of Sussex and Kent.

Fenchurch St: East London, Essex and some of the east coast.

Hope that hasn't confused you even more!

Edit: Marc, you're absolutely right and I apologise for forgetting Marylebone, it's because it's so small and perfectly formed ;) I actually used to get the Chiltern Line train from there up to Oxfordshire years ago.

We could also totally confuse the poor questioner by dragging Clapham Junction, Europe's busiest train station, into the equation but we won't :D

Answer 5

It depends which direction you want to go in.  Victoria station has trains that go south, Kings Cross goes north, etc.

Answer 6

To be honest, it doesn't really matter if you are intending to go N, S, E and W. Paddington is good for Cardiff, but its the underground that matters.

Kings Cross is good because you can go North, also South by changing for Victoria, Charing Cross and Waterloo.