Getting to the city

Southampton's excellent south coast location means that travel links by road, rail, sea and air are unmatched in the region. Links to all the websites can be found at the bottom of this page

By car

Southampton is just 75 miles from London and 21 miles from the Channel ports. From the North, London and the Home Counties, the M3, M27 and A34 provide fast, direct road links into the heart of the city, whilst the A36 is the major route from the West Country, Bristol and Wales. From the East follow the A27/M27 and leave at Junction 8. The Southampton Romanse web site gives details of traffic movements in and around the city.

By rail

Southampton has good access by train from London's Waterloo station with a journey time of around 75 minutes. Trains run hourly from Reading, Oxford, Birmingham, Salisbury, Bath, Bristol, Cardiff, Chichester, Hove (for Brighton), Gatwick Airport and Weymouth with more frequent services from Bournemouth, Winchester, Fareham and Portsmouth.

The Megatrain offers low cost services to London and Birmingham. Eurostar services from Paris, Lille and Brussels also arrive and depart from St Pancras International, a short underground hop to Waterloo, making travelling between Southampton and the near continent easy and convenient.

By coach

National Express operates an extensive coach service. There are regular services from central London, Heathrow, Birmingham, Bournemouth and the North. Megabus provides low cost travel to central London.

By air

Southampton International Airport is situated on the outskirts of the city and is convenient for the M27 and M3. The airport has its own railway station Southampton Parkway which is on the main London line and 5 trains an hour leave for Southampton central station in the peak part of the day with a journey time of as little as 7 minutes. The airport services UK and major European destinations.

By sea

Cross channel ferry services by Brittany Ferries and LD Lines operate out of the nearby port of Portsmouth (21 miles) offering fast and regular crossings to the near continent. P and O Ferries run from Portsmouth to Bilbao and on summer Sundays Condor Ferries run a fast service from Portsmouth to Cherbourg.

Red Funnel Ferries provide a regular fast and efficient service from Town Quay to Cowes on the Isle of Wight.

The Hythe - Southampton Ferry operates a half hourly ferry service between Town Quay, Southampton and Hythe Pier, passing by Ocean Terminal and linking with comprehensive bus services on both sides of Southampton Water.

By bus

Regular interurban services link to Southampton operated by First Solent, Blue Star, Wilts and Dorset and Unilink. More information can be found on our public transport pages or by contacting Traveline on 0871 200 22 33.

Cruise liners

In addition to its excellent local and national transport links, Southampton is famous as a cruise port.

P&O Cruises operate out of the Ocean Cruice Terminal, Mayflower Terminal and Terminal Solent in Southampton with cruise liners Adonia, Arcadia, Aurora, Azura, Oceana, Oriana and Ventura, with over 120 cruise sailings a year.

Southampton based Princess Cruises include Golden Princess, Grand Princess and Sea Princess in their cruise fleet.

Cunard has dominated the transatlantic run for over 150 years. The company moved to Southampton in 1919 and over the years its fleet has included QE2 and QM2. The current Cunard ships are the Queen Victoria, Queen Mary 2 and Queen Elizabeth.