Getting from London to Cornwall by Train is Easy:
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Travelling by train from London to Cornwall or Cornwall to London is easy. First Great Western Railway covers the West Country and their main London centre is Paddington Station.
On a recent trip to Devon and Cornwall, we travelled from Plymouth to Torquay, Torquay to St. Ives and then St Ives to London on First Great Western rail and found the services quite efficient.
If you’re thinking of travelling by train from London to Cornwall or vice versa, here are some tips for planning your train travel.
- Cheap train fares to Cornwall – There is quite a difference in ticket prices so it is advisable to plan and book your rail tickets in advance to get the cheaper off-peak fare.
- Booking your train tickets – Tickets can be booked on-line anywhere in the world and you can nominate which rail station you would like to pick up your tickets from. As we were going to be in London and were doing a number of train journeys on First Great Western, we decided to go to Paddington Station, just in case there was any complication with getting the tickets. It turned out to be a wise move because the ticket machines were giving passengers grief – the machines didn’t like the credit card we purchased the tickets with and we had to seek assistance from one of Great Western personnel.
- Fare Restrictions – Read the fare conditions carefully before you book. On some of the cheaper fares you are restricted to certain services only and you cannot change your time or date of travel. The ticket conductors come around frequently to check for fares and if you’re not on the right service, they can charge you for a whole new ticket at the full fare, i.e. they won’t just charge you the difference in fares. They are quite rigorous in checking for fares so it’s important to stick by the rules.
- Lifts at railway stations – The train journey from London to St. Ives, Cornwall, and vice versa takes about 5-1/2 hours and there are two changes at Plymouth and St. Erth. There is a lift at Plymouth station which is helpful if you have to change platforms and have heavy cases. At St. Erth there is no lift – on the forward journey from St Erth to St Ives we had to haul our cases across the overhead bridge to get to the platform for St. Ives. The station master was quite helpful, but there’s only so much he could do as there were a few people needing help.
- Selecting your seat preferences – The journeys on the train were comfortable. When making your booking online, you can select seat preferences on the longer sectors. If you need to do work or dislike noisy environments, remember to select ‘Quiet’ under Coach Type. Your selection is not guaranteed by where possible they will be met. I made the mistake of not checking our tickets when we got them and we travelled from St Ives to London in a carriage full of youngsters with noisy music. There was a party of 200 students travelling from Bodmin-Moor to London and the young girls chatted, giggled and played music the whole journey.
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From LondonHR,would like to go to Cornwall,for a day….but,don’t know where or anything about the area. We will go to Dover from there …any help in getting to these places,by train…would be great.
Hi Sally,
It would not be worth your while to travel from LHR to Cornwall just for a day as the trip itself would take up most of your time and it would be costly. To get to St. Ives in Cornwall you’ll need to catch the train from LHR to London Paddington. From London Paddington, the First Great Western train takes you to St Erth where you’ll need to change train to get to St Ives. In total, The total trip takes about 6 hours if you know you way around the stations and get the right connections.
We wouldn’t recommend you doing the trip if you only have a day to spare as Cornwall is a destination that really deserves a relaxing visit.
Kind regards,
Helen Page
Hi. I’m thinking of visiting the UK next summer and was wondering how handicap-friendly the trains and hotels are. Want to make sure their are lifts (elevators we call them) in the train stations and hotels. Do you know of any travel books for the handicapped. I can walk very short distances with a cane, but usually need my walker, or if sightseeing, I rent an electric motor cart.
Thanks
Hi Mary,
The Visit Britain and Disabled Travel Advice links below have plenty of information about getting around Britain with disability needs.
http://www.visitbritain.com/en/Transport/Getting-around-Britain/Getting-around-Britain-with-access-or-disabled-needs.html
http://www.disabledtraveladvice.co.uk/
In the Disabled Travel Advice site, you can “ask the experts” about any particular need you have.
Hope you find all the information you need from these links.
Kind regards,
Helen
How easy is it for a handicapped person to get around in England, Ireland and Scotland?
My husband and I would love to go to Devon and Cornwall etc at the end of June for a few days. Can you suggest the best way of doing it. Would prefer by train. Are there any bus trips from London to go down there also.
Hi Paula,
You certainly can get from London to Devon and Cornwall by train. The above post is about travelling by train from London to St. Ives. Check out the First Great Western Railway website for other destinations. The train journey takes about 6 hrs.
https://www.gwr.com/
You can also catch the National Express bus service to Devon and Cornwall. The coach service takes over 9 hours.
http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx
Kind regards,
Helen