Victoria is two railway stations that grew together, 19 platforms and two concourses, and the busiest thing about it is the pavement outside. It is the London terminal for Gatwick Airport, Brighton and the Kent coast, the Underground's Victoria, District and Circle lines run beneath it, and the coach station for the whole country is 300 metres away down Buckingham Palace Road, not inside the building. The ticket office is open 24 hours a day, which no other London terminal manages.
The layout is the problem. Two concourses at right angles to each other, seven ways out, a shopping centre built into one side and a theatre on the other, and signs that assume you know whether you want the Central or the Eastern concourse. Sorting that out before you arrive is most of the battle. Which station serves which part of Britain is in our guide to London's main railway terminals.
Victoria in the concourse
- Platforms
- 1 to 19, level with the main entrance
- Main destinations
- Gatwick Airport, Brighton and the Sussex coast, parts of Kent, south London
- Concourses
- Central (platforms 1 to 8) and Eastern (platforms 9 to 19)
- Underground
- Victoria, District and Circle lines
- Ticket office
- Open 24 hours
- Step-free rating
- Category A, with a step-free route to the Victoria line through the Cardinal Place entrance
- Victoria Coach Station
- 164 Buckingham Palace Road, about 300 metres, 20 gates
- Left luggage (rail station)
- Daily 07:00-23:00; £10.00 up to 6 hours, £25.00 up to 48 hours
- Toilets
- Behind the ticket barriers, so you need a valid ticket
- Staff on duty
- 24 hours
Which entrance you want, and what each puts you next to
The station map numbers seven ways out. In practice there are four that matter.
- Terminus Place and the Eastern Archway (exits 3, 4 and 5). The front of the station, facing Victoria Street. Buses, the taxi rank and the main Underground entrance are all here, and so is the pedestrian crush. Out of here and straight ahead is Victoria Street towards Westminster Abbey, about twelve minutes on foot.
- Buckingham Palace Road (exit 7). The western side. This is the exit for the coach station, for the walk to Buckingham Palace, and for the Victoria Place shopping centre above the platforms.
- Wilton Road (exit 2). The eastern side, out past the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Quieter, and the sensible way out if you are staying in the streets towards Pimlico.
- Hudson's Place (exit 1). The northern side, a small exit on to a side street with a taxi drop-off. Almost nobody uses it, which is precisely why it is worth knowing about at 18:00.
The neighbourhood on all sides is covered in our guide to Pimlico and Victoria, and the food, which is a real problem here, in where to eat near Victoria station.
The toilets at Victoria are inside the ticket barriers. TfL's station data records the rail station toilets and those in the Underground north ticket hall as being on the paid side of the gateline, which is unusual: at King's Cross, Paddington, Waterloo, Euston, Liverpool Street and London Bridge they are outside it. If you have just arrived and are about to leave the station, use them before you touch out.
Where the coaches really are
Victoria Coach Station is a separate building at 164 Buckingham Palace Road, about 300 metres from the rail station, run by Transport for London rather than by a coach company. It has 20 gates and its own ticket office, open daily 07:00 to 21:00 and taking pounds sterling only.
The walk is straightforward but it is not signposted as clearly as it should be: leave the rail station by the Buckingham Palace Road exit, turn left, and keep going with the shopping centre on your left. Five minutes with wheeled bags, longer with a group. Arrive at least 30 minutes before a UK departure and an hour before a continental one; the detail is in our guide to Victoria Coach Station and coach travel.
The cheapest left luggage in Victoria is at the coach station, not the rail station. TfL's own store opposite the coach station ticket office charges £2.00 for up to an hour, £5.00 for one to three hours and £10.00 for six to 24 hours per item. The rail station's office starts at £10.00. The walk is five minutes and the saving on two bags for an afternoon is real.
Gatwick: three trains, three prices
Victoria is the London end of the Gatwick Express, which runs non-stop to the airport in 30 minutes, twice an hour. Pay as you go with a contactless card or Oyster on the Gatwick Express costs £24.00 at any time and does not count towards the daily cap, which is the detail that catches people who assume every London train does.
Southern trains from the same station reach Gatwick in 30 to 45 minutes and cost £19.20 at peak times and £10.70 off peak on pay as you go, inside the cap. Thameslink does the same job from London Bridge and St Pancras. If you are not in a hurry, the off-peak Southern fare is less than half the Gatwick Express one for a journey that is perhaps ten minutes longer. Our comparison is in Gatwick Express, Thameslink or Southern? and the airport end is covered in Gatwick to central London.
One thing due to change: in June 2026 the Department for Transport said the incoming public operator would double Gatwick Express departures from Victoria from two an hour to four, from December 2026. Until that happens, two an hour is what runs.
Where the platform appears
Victoria is better than Euston and worse than Waterloo. Every platform is level with the concourse and the two concourses each have their own board, so once you know which half of the station you are in the walk is short. Platforms 1 to 8 are on the Central concourse on the western, Buckingham Palace Road side; platforms 9 to 19 are on the Eastern concourse, towards Wilton Road.
The complication is that the two concourses are connected by a passage behind the platform ends, and crossing from one to the other at a busy moment takes four or five minutes. If your train is not on the board in front of you, you are in the wrong half. There are gatelines at every group of platforms and an excess fares office by platforms 5 and 6 if you have travelled beyond your ticket.
Gatwick Express passengers should note that its platforms are at the eastern side, and that the walk from the Underground to them is one of the longer indoor walks at any London terminal with a suitcase.
The Underground, and the entrance that makes it step-free
Three Underground lines run under Victoria: the Victoria line, and the District and Circle lines sharing a pair of platforms. The main Underground entrance is on Terminus Place at the front of the station, and there is a north ticket hall as well.
For step-free travel the route matters. Network Rail's own guidance is specific: there is step-free access from the rail station to the Victoria line, and it is reached via the Cardinal Place entrance to the Underground, on the north side towards Victoria Street. That is not the entrance most people walk into. TfL's station data confirms that the Victoria line platforms here are step-free and have a designated level-access boarding point, and so are the District and Circle platforms.
The Victoria line from here is eight minutes to King's Cross St Pancras and ten to Oxford Circus; the District and Circle run east to Westminster, Embankment and the City. Note that a westbound District train from Victoria may be signed for any of four different destinations.
Left luggage, waiting and forty minutes to spare
The rail station's left luggage office is run by the Excess Baggage Company, open daily 07:00 to 23:00. Victoria's prices differ from the other London terminals: £10.00 for up to six hours per item rather than three, then £25.00 for up to 48 hours and £35.00 for up to 72. The coach station's cheaper alternative is above, and the app-based options are compared in left luggage at London's stations.
For waiting, the honest answer is that there is nowhere good inside. The concourses are busy and short of seats, and the shopping centre above the platforms is a shopping centre. Forty minutes is better spent outside: Buckingham Palace is a ten-minute walk up Buckingham Palace Road, and St James's Park and Green Park are just beyond it. In the other direction, Westminster Cathedral, the striped brick campanile you can see from the forecourt, is five minutes along Victoria Street.
Staff are on duty 24 hours, there are passenger assistance meeting points by platform 7 and off platform 1, and information points opposite platforms 4 and 5 and platforms 13 and 14. Assistance can be requested on the day; the operator recommends arriving 20 minutes before departure so that arrangements can be confirmed at the other end, and the general rules are in step-free and accessible transport in London.
Frequently asked questions
Where is Victoria Coach Station?
At 164 Buckingham Palace Road, about 300 metres from the rail station and run by Transport for London. Leave the rail station by the Buckingham Palace Road exit and turn left. Allow five minutes with bags, arrive 30 minutes before a UK departure and an hour before a continental one.
Is Victoria station step-free?
Yes, Category A on the main line, with every platform level with the concourse. On the Underground the Victoria, District and Circle platforms are all step-free, but the step-free route to the Victoria line runs through the Cardinal Place entrance rather than the main Terminus Place one.
Does the Gatwick Express count towards the daily cap?
No. Pay as you go on the Gatwick Express costs £24.00 from Victoria at any time and is excluded from daily and weekly caps and from Travelcards. Southern trains from the same station are £19.20 peak and £10.70 off peak and are inside the cap, for a journey only slightly longer.
Are there toilets at Victoria station?
Yes, and they are free, but they are inside the ticket barriers both in the rail station and in the Underground north ticket hall. That is the opposite of the arrangement at most London terminals, so use them before you touch out rather than after.
Which platforms does the Gatwick Express use at Victoria?
The eastern side of the station, off the Eastern concourse. Trains are non-stop and take 30 minutes, currently twice an hour, with the Department for Transport having said in June 2026 that this would rise to four an hour from December 2026. Allow time for the indoor walk from the Underground, which is long.
Sources
- Network Rail - London Victoria station information, step-free access and assistance points (checked September 2026)
- National Rail - London Victoria station facilities (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Victoria Coach Station facilities and left luggage prices (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Tube and rail fares, including services outside the cap (checked September 2026)
- Transport for London - Stations, toilets, lifts and step-free data (checked September 2026)