Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

colcheslad

Hello all!
I would be extremely grateful if anybody could help me out of a pickle. I have tickets for the Creamfields festival near Liverpool which starts pm Sat 26th Aug and finished am Sun 27 Aug. Could anybody recommend the best way to get there, a return journey via train or coach from Ipswich to Liverpool? I would ideally want to arrive in Liverpool no later that 16:00 returning the next day at around 9:00am. The cheapest coach I could find (Megabus doesnt arrive until 21:00 so no good) is £94 rtn on National Express, and a whopping £110 each (2 of us going) on National Rail. If anybody could help me drive these costs down I really would be eternally in your debt!
Any help appreciated
Thanks
Chris

martinbuckley

colcheslad wrote:

Hello all!
I would be extremely grateful if anybody could help me out of a pickle. I have tickets for the Creamfields festival near Liverpool which starts pm Sat 26th Aug and finished am Sun 27 Aug. Could anybody recommend the best way to get there, a return journey via train or coach from Ipswich to Liverpool? I would ideally want to arrive in Liverpool no later that 16:00 returning the next day at around 9:00am. The cheapest coach I could find (Megabus doesnt arrive until 21:00 so no good) is £94 rtn on National Express, and a whopping £110 each (2 of us going) on National Rail. If anybody could help me drive these costs down I really would be eternally in your debt!
Any help appreciated
Thanks
Chris

TBH Chris, travelling over a Bank Holiday Weekend on the train will cost you an arm & a leg. I've looked on Virgin and Central Trains and there's nothing. You'll probably be better off driving up - even at £1 a litre it wont cost you £200 for a return trip!

Failing that, try driving some of the way and then catch the train, as sometimes shorter journeys are cheaper.

HTH

starlite_2

I think your main problem will be the route will involve traveling from ipswich to london, then london to liverpool and you can rarely get the discounted fares on such routes..
however if you book seperate journeys..
e.g I have just found ipswich - london for £9 return..then london liverpool £21.50 return on https://www.trainline.com
or maybe travel to say, a midlands city via train and nother up to liverpool, but again booked as seperate journeys you may find a better deal.

colcheslad

Thanks very much for all of your opinions, they have helped immensely. Driving isn't an option as its an all night event and I doubt I will be in either the right legal or physical condition to consider driving! However, the £30 rtn train fare seems like an idea, will have to check it out.
Thanks again for all your time
Chris

BARGAINADDICT_4

just would like to say thanks to the people who suggested breaking up journey and checking prices that way.:T ive been looking to travel from rhyl to preston sometime during school hols,would cost £42.75 return for myself and son.just checked seperate journey prices (ie rhyl- warrington & warrington- preston) works out at £30.75!! nearly £12 cheaper:j
so,thanks again and if anyone got any ideas to make journey even cheaper and love to hear them:beer:

starlite_2

Glad to help! The only other suggestions I can think of are to check other times close to when you want to depart as there can be a huge difference from one hour to the next..and also a family railcard is invaluable if you use trains regularly. There are sometimes discount codes floating around on here for the trainline website..i.e 10% off. hth.

aurora_borealis_2

I need to travel between Cardiff and Liverpool on the 1st September, leaving before 10am (one way). The cheapest ticket I can find is £45 :eek:

Any better deals out there please?

espresso

aurora_borealis wrote:

I need to travel between Cardiff and Liverpool on the 1st September, leaving before 10am (one way). The cheapest ticket I can find is £45 :eek:

Any better deals out there please?

Apex single leaving at 07:50 arriving at 11:26 with one change at Crewe for £15.50 on Virgin Trains website.

HTH

UltraCheap_2

Hello,

I need to buy 2 return tickets from London to Brighton, to arrive in Brighton by 11-11:30 on a weekday.

Megabus only arrives at 12:30, which is a shame because their prices are great.

National Express will come to about £16, however the journey is over 2 hours each way because the bus stops at Gatwick for 35 minutes.

Megatrain doesn't go to Brighton.

Virgin Trains / Trainline are coming in at £27. It woud be the most ideal to take the train because it will get us there must faster, but the price is too high.

Any ideas on how to bring down the train price? Are there multiple tickets that I can buy that will come to less than £27?

Many thanks in advance!

pompeyrich

Ultracheap, you could get a "DAYSAVE" ticket from Southern for £20 for up to 4 adults, you have to book online a week before you want to travel and you can only use Southern trains from Victoria you cant travel before 10a.m. but there is a train at 10;06 arriving at Brighton at 10:58.