The way from London to Scarborough is LNER or Grand Central from London King’s Cross to York, then TransPennine Express on to Scarborough. The King’s Cross leg takes two hours, the TransPennine train from York another 49 minutes, and with the change the trip comes to just under three hours.
On the weekday timetable we checked, connecting trains left King’s Cross about hourly between 05:48 and 20:33, most of them at three minutes past the hour. A few broke the pattern, at 05:48, 11:47, 13:00, 16:00, 18:00 and 19:00, and the 20:33 was the latest found.
The connection at York is short, typically around nine minutes. That works well when the King’s Cross train is on time, and it keeps the whole journey under three hours, but a delay of more than a few minutes on that leg means the next Scarborough train from York, which on that weekday ran about an hour later.
If St Pancras suits you better, there is a second route: Thameslink to Stevenage, 27 minutes, then an LNER train from Stevenage to York, and the same final leg to Scarborough. It ran at 16 minutes past most hours from 07:16 to 19:16, but with two changes and close to an hour of waiting in total, it took about 3h 45m. Only use it if getting to King’s Cross is genuinely harder.
Other routings appeared via Leeds, Doncaster, Brough or Selby, taking up to about 4h 30m. The early ones via Leeds or Doncaster, from 05:40, take close to four hours, so the 05:48 via York is the better early start. A 20:09 changing at Doncaster and York took a little over three hours, not far off the main route’s time.
Driving is 238 miles by the M1 and takes nearly five hours, so the train is close to two hours quicker.
At the far end, the walk from Scarborough station to Newborough is about 820 metres and takes some eleven minutes.
Journey times and changes below come from the rail and bus timetables for Tuesday 1 December 2026. Weekend and holiday timetables differ, so check the day you travel.
From London King's Cross on the weekday we checked: about hourly between 05:48 and 20:33.
From London St Pancras on the weekday we checked: about hourly between 07:16 and 19:16.
By road it is about 238 miles from London to Scarborough, mostly via the M1 — roughly 4h 52m with clear roads. Car parks in Scarborough are listed on the Getting Here page.