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Home » What are London Terminals? Travelling across London

What are London Terminals? Travelling across London

If you’re travelling to London, then your ticket might not have a specific station written on it. Instead, it might say ‘London Terminals‘. But, what does this mean, and where can you go with one of these tickets? Here’s our guide to London Terminals and where you can use them.

What are the London Terminals?

Essentially, the London Terminals are a group of stations in London that you can use your ticket to. Your ticket isn’t valid for all of them, it’s just valid for the ones that you can reasonably reach from your origin station without needing to cross London. Here’s a list of all of them:

  • London Blackfriars
  • London Cannon Street
  • London Charing Cross
  • City Thameslink
  • London Euston
  • London Fenchurch Street
  • London Kings Cross
  • London Liverpool Street
  • London Bridge
  • London Marylebone
  • Moorgate
  • Old Street (only for trips starting north of London and via King’s Cross St Pancras)
  • London Paddington
  • St Pancras International
  • Vauxhall
  • London Victoria
  • London Waterloo
  • London Waterloo East.

Which London Terminals can I use?

The general rule is that you need to use a ‘permitted’ route and that you can’t use any other mode of transport. Let’s take a look at a couple of examples of journeys where you might get a ‘London Terminals’ ticket.

If you’re going from Peterborough to London Terminals, then you can use the following stations:

  • London Kings Cross
  • Moorgate
  • Old Street
  • St Pancras International.

This is because you can reach these stations directly without the need to cross the centre of London or use the London Underground. You can’t use London Paddington, for example, as you’d have to either take the London Underground or the bus.

If you’re travelling from Portsmouth to London, then there is a different list of stations that you can use, depending on your ticket:

  • London Waterloo
  • London Waterloo East
  • London Victoria
  • London Bridge
  • London Charing Cross
  • London Cannon Street
  • London Blackfriars
  • City Thameslink
  • Vauxhall.

You can’t go to London Euston though, as there’s no way to reach it without using a bus or the Underground.

Can I use the London Underground?

You can’t use the London Underground on a ticket for London Terminals. These tickets are only valid to London stations that you can reach without the need to take the Underground, bus or any other ‘convoluted’ route.

If your ticket is for a journey that involves crossing London, or to a specific set of London Zones, such as ‘London Zones 1-6’, then it’s valid on the London Underground if it has the ‘Maltese Cross‘ symbol. The symbol will be next to the part of the ticket which says which route(s) you can take:

train ticket for travel across london to gatwick airport

If it doesn’t have this symbol, you’ll need to use Oyster or Contactless to travel across London, which is the best option for a one-way journey. You can find more information about that on the TfL Website.

Be careful! eTickets are not valid on the London Underground. You will need a paper ticket if you want to travel across London on the Underground, as their ticket gates do not accept eTickets.

Additionally, there are some ‘shared’ sections of route where rail tickets can be used on the London Underground: 

  • Stratford – London Liverpool Street
  • Amersham – London Marylebone/Baker Street 
  • Finsbury Park – London King’s Cross
  • Moorgate – London King’s Cross.

What are the London Terminals on Thameslink?

As Thameslink is a ‘through’ route with no real ‘terminal’, so to speak, it can be difficult to know where you can use a London Terminals ticket.

It’s pretty simple though, and it depends on whether you’re travelling from the north or from the south. If you’re travelling from the north, then these stations count as London Terminals on direct Thameslink trains:

  • London Kings Cross
  • St Pancras International.

If you’re coming from the south, such as from Gatwick Airport, then you can travel to these stations instead:

  • London Bridge
  • London Blackfriars
  • City Thameslink.

You might see that Farringdon isn’t included. This is because it is not a London Terminal. Don’t worry though, many tickets on this route are issued to London Thameslink instead. Let’s explore this a little more.

What does London Thameslink mean?

London Thameslink is a slightly more generous version of ‘London Terminals’. If a ticket is issued to London Thameslink, then you can use any of the stations between St Pancras International and Elephant & Castle or London Bridge, no matter which direction you’re coming from.

Most of the tickets with this destination are from other stations on the Thameslink route, such as Bedford and Brighton.

Is there anything else I should know?

Looking for more information about London? Take a look at our page about travelling around London. You’ll find everything you need to know, including how to navigate the Elizabeth Line, and your best options for reaching London airports, including Heathrow. Don’t forget to take a look at our quick guide to crossing London, either.

The final thing we’d recommend is using the Railsmartr website to book your next trip. We’re completely independent, so we’re happy to ‘tell you like it is’ when it comes to rail fares. Not only that, but we’ll show you the slower, but cheaper options that some websites won’t.

Don’t forget that we don’t charge any fees, either. That includes if you change your mind and want to travel on a different day. If your ticket is refundable, we’ll refund it fee-free, too!

All information stated was correct 08/08/23. They’re subject to change at any time and Railsmartr are not responsible for any loss or disappointment incurred as a result of the information provided.