Booking Train Tickets to Scotland
Train Tickets to Scotland
You can book railway tickets in Scotland using our online train ticket reservation service. All Scottish rail services are bookable except for Caledonian Sleepers which are the overnight services from London to Scotland. You also book services between London and Scotland as well as Virgin Rail services.
Simply add the leaving stations and return route (if you are planning to return), the dates of travel and the preferred times of travel and away you go.
As usual, early birds catch the worm as far as cheap train tickets to Scotland goes. The service provides a timetable of possible trains as well as ticket tariff which allows you to choose tickets before purchase.
Edinburgh's main ticket station is Waverley Station (or Edinburgh Waverley) and the London departure station is London Kings Cross.
Glasgow's main station is called Glasgow Central and there are train services running from London's King's Cross using the West Coast Line.
Here is a video of me showing you how to make the bookings easily as the system requires a certain inner knowledge.
Click here to check Train Times & Book Your Tickets
Sleeper Services:
Sleeper services are operated by the Caledonian Sleeper company and operate out of London Euston Station. The best way to book tickets is via their own website: www.sleeper.scot.
The trains follow a number of routes and you travel to Edinburgh and Glasgow as well as further North. There is a train that runs up to Fort William following the west coast. Another service runs to Inverness through the Eastern Highlands and there is a third train that runs up to Aberdeen and Dundee.
On the service you have two options: Berth or Sleeper Seat. The berths are two person cabins in 2nd Class and single cabin berths in 1st class. If you are a couple, you share a cabin. If you are a single male or female, you will share with a member of the same gender. There is a fee for the berths.
You can book a "sleeper seat" which a comfortable reclining seat in a standard coach. This is the cheapest way to travel and is pretty comfortable but not as comfortable as the sleeping berths obviously!
Here's some advice:
DO book your tickets before travel if you are planning long distance travel (ie London to Scotland) as many trains get fully booked and standing for five hours is no fun unless you are a guardsman or have piles. Booking a ticket also gets you a seat reservation for the journey. Many of the services require prebooking
If you are travelling from London to Edinburgh, you have to travel Virgin via London's King Cross station using the East coast line with a journey time of approximately 4.5 hours. Otherwise most other services are run by Virign Rail. I pretty much cannot commend either to you as both suffer endless delays.
Within Scotland all rail services are run by a local operator who promises real improvements to services. Suffice to say the best thing about trains is the view. The worst quality is that they can bedirty, uncomfortable and far too infrequent.
Foreign Traveller Advice: If you are booking your tickets from abroad, you will NOT get them posted to your home address. However all the main stations have special machines to pick them up from. Simply print out your email and keep that as a reference as well as bringing the same credit card used.
About Railway staff: Rail staff tend to be very helpful and knowledgeable with an uncanny knowledge of esoteric timetables. We recommend being polite, using "please" and you will get all the help you need. Please note that the many delays are not usually their fault.