Coach Travel from London to Edinburgh

Travelling by National Express to Edinburgh

Updated July 2010

National Express is the UK's largest coach network with extensive coverage in England. The best value trip with National Express coaches is the London - Edinburgh journey which is very popular with tourists on a budget.

London - Edinburgh Coach Tickets
Find cheap coach tickets to and from Scotland:
National Express coach and Megabus coach

There are up to 5 coaches a day from Edinburgh St Andrews bus station to London Victoria coach station and up to 8 buses a day from London to Edinburgh. Out of these, 4 are direct bus journeys each way with no in-between stops and 2 of them are overnight services (each way). The direct overnight bus takes approx 8 hours and 40 minutes to cover the distance between London and Edinburgh while daytime coaches take 40 minutes to an extra hour to cover the same distance.

Edinburgh - London bus service times

Daytime coaches

• There are two daytime buses from Edinburgh to London (bus services NX591) which depart St Andrews bus station at 7.30am and 09.45am and arrive at Victoria coach station at approx 4.50pm and 7.50pm respectively.
• There are two daytime buses from London to Edinburgh (bus services NX591) which depart Victoria coach station at 9.30am and 12.00pm and arrive at St Andrews bus station at approx 7.15pm and 9.00pm respectively.

Book London - Edinburgh coach tickets

Overnight coaches

• The overnight buses from Edinburgh to London (bus services NX591 and NX596) both leave St Andrews bus station at 10.00pm and arrive at Victoria coach station just before 7.00am.
• The overnight buses from London to Edinburgh (bus services NX591 and NX596) both leave Victoria coach station at 11.00pm and arrive at St Andrews bus station just before 8.00am.

The other non-direct London to Edinburgh buses to St Andrews bus station or Victoria coach station include long waiting times at Heahtrow Airport, Manchester or Birmingham which can range between 20 minutes up to 4 hours. Given the choice, always go for the direct coach services.

London - Edinburgh Bus tickets and fares

The London - Edinburgh route is a National Express funfare route with prices for one-way journeys starting at £12-£15. These cheap bus tickets (non-refundable) are available only online when you book in advance. Buy London - Edinburgh funfare bus tickets online. Funfare prices are only available on direct bus journeys, all the more reason to avoid the coaches which change in Manchester or Birmingham.

Standard bus tickets for return coach journeys range from £36.50 for Economy Apex Return to £50.60 for a Standard Return ticket.

The cheapest National Express tickets for the London coach are:

• Economy Apex Return - Travel in either direction is on any day except Fridays. Ticket price: £36.50
• Standard Advance Return - Travel in either direction is on Fridays. Ticket price: £40.

Either ticket must be purchased 7 days in advance and offer very little flexibility -- no refunds or open dated returns are allowed.

Save up to 70% on good Edinburgh Hotels near St. Andrews Bus Station

National Express coaches - Web links

Tickets, timetables and journey planner
Use the form to get timetables and tickets for coach trips London to Edinburgh or Edinburgh to London. Alternatively, you can buy your ticket from St. Andrews bus station or Victoria coach station. Remember that the cheapest Edinburgh - London bus tickets (funfare) are available ONLY online.

Contact details for National Express

Website: National Express
Phone: +44 8705 808 080

Other London - Edinburgh coach services

Megabus offer cheap coach travel between various UK destinations. The London - Edinburgh service departs Victoria Coach station in London and arrives at St. Andrews bus station in Edinburgh. It follows a similar timetable with the National Express coaches. Megabus operate both overnight and day services. The journey time with Megabus is the same as with National Express (9 hours on average) but the fares are higher than the funfares available with National Express.

Megabus - Web links

Website: Megabus
Phone: +44 01738 639095

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Origin of 'Edinburgh'

Tourists have problems with the name of Edinburgh. There are hundreds of ways people write it and the most common writings include 'edinburg', 'edinborough', 'edimburgh', 'edinbourgh', 'ediburgh', 'edinbugh', 'edinboro', 'edingburgh', 'edinbrugh', 'edimburg', 'edinburugh', 'edingurgh', 'edinbrough', etc.

According to the Scottish Place Names dictionary, the name Edinburgh means 'Fort of the Rock Face'. The 'edin' part comes from Scottish Gaelic and means 'rock face', while 'burgh' comes from Old English meaning stronghold.

Some more obscure (and quite funny) ways of writing Edinburgh include: edinburough, edingburg, edinbourg, edinburh, edinurgh, edenburg, edinbough, edinbourough, edinbrgh, edingborough, edenburgh, edinberg, edinborgh, edinborugh, edinburge, edinburhg, edingbourgh, etc.

Edinburgh is spelt Edimburgo in Spanish and Italian and Édimbourg in French.

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