Trains from London to Haywards Heath

[Toomanycuppas]

I'm planning a trip to Brighton area in July. I'll be travelling by train from Darlington to Kings Cross but then I need to get to Haywards Heath and just wonder if anybody could advise the best way/which station I need to go to. It looks like I have to get from Kings Cross to Victoria in order to get on the Haywards Heath line - is that correct?

Sorry for cluelessness, am country bumpkin from oop North, living in Oz for many years now and have no idea about travelling within UK.

Also, any recommendations on which rail site to book in advance would be appreciated. I've seen some scary posts on MN saying even if you book a seat, other people feel like they can sit in it.

It's not as complex as it sounds! The tube (Victoria Line) goes straight from Kings Cross to Victoria in less than 10 minutes and you can get your Hayward's Heath train from there.

I usually use the trainline to get discount tickets. It may make sense to try doing it as two separate journeys and pay cash for the inbetween tube ride.

Thank you marriednotdead. The site I tried at first showed an hour journey from Kings Cross to Victoria. I knew there'd be a better option.

No distance at all - takes 20 minutes at most in rush hour.

I did practically this journey yesterday! Arrived at Kings Cross at 13.50 and train from Victoria at 14.36. Underground was fine and we even had time to go to Starbucks and Krispy Kreme at Victoria . I booked with East Coast and we used our train tickets in the underground ticket gates. It might be worth buying a family railcard of travelling with DCs.

the southern railway website usually has no booking fee.
Try and get a fast train from Victoria otherwise it will feel like you are stopping non stop. Most will stop at Clapham, East Croydon, Gatwick, Three Bridges then Haywards Heath & Brighton.
Don't make the mistake of getting the Gatwick Express as it costs more and normally only stops at Gatwick & Brighton.
You can also use First Capital Connect trains from St Pancras (which is next to Kings Cross and means you don't have to brave the tube)

St Pancras to Haywards Heath

The Train Line ALWAYS shows an hour between mainline London stations. It showed 60 mins from Kings X to Euston the other week. It's a 10 min walk at worst! They just allow an hour in case of delays etc.

Thanks for all the tips.

I won't be travelling with anyone but myself IndigoApple and I can't tell you how happy that makes me. No DH, and my girls are grown up enough to leave now, youngest is 18.

I'm being made redundant from my job and taking two months out of life in the real world to have a trip back to England to take my mum to see her family, what's left of them!

Toomany travelling alone sounds great! Hope your trip goes well.

knitting Interesting! DH said he was sure the last time he was at St Pancras he saw trains to Brighton and I told him he was wrong, oops! Our tickets did specifically say 'via Victoria' though so many be we wouldn't've been allowed on.