Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

Rapidassistant

I've found that if you buy a package deal to London on Superbreak (hotel + rail travel) you get open returns at half the price of the walk-on fare; and available as little as 2 weeks in advance.

e.g Dundee-London (King's X) - 1st Class is normally £300+ for an open return, if you book it as part of a package deal you are effectively getting it for around £80 return, and it is an open ticket so you are not tied to a particular train. Only catch is you need to do the seat reservation bit yourself.

The hotels on offer range from cheap and cheerful numbers that get really bad reviews on TripAdvisor, but right up to some big brand names like Holiday Inn and Hilton.

Thomson, Thomas Cook book through them, and if you click on London Breaks within either National Express trains, East Coast trains or VisitLondon.com it takes you to a mirror of the Superbreak site.

Rapidassistant

if you are staying in London in a hotel, try Superbreak.....refer to my post below.

wealdroam

Rapidassistant wrote: »

if you are staying in London in a hotel, try Superbreak.....refer to my post below.

Post below?

Rapidassistant

wealdroam wrote: »

Post below?

Two posts above now.......sorry new to the site didn't know what order it put messages in.

xdaniellex

Want to travel to Stoke on Trent from London on the 8th May for football but cheapest ive found so far is £57.50 return because guessing cheap tickets have gone? Any way we could split the journey?

Kick offs at 14.05 so wanna arrive in Stoke around 13.00ish

2 Adults

Thanks
x

wealdroam

xdaniellex wrote: »

Want to travel to Stoke on Trent from London on the 8th May for football but cheapest ive found so far is £57.50 return because guessing cheap tickets have gone? Any way we could split the journey?

Kick offs at 14.05 so wanna arrive in Stoke around 13.00ish

2 Adults

Thanks
x

Advance Singles at £19.00 each way from Euston to Birmingham New Street are available.
(There are Advance Singles at £10.50 or even £6 for the return leg, but not many)

Couple that with an Off Peak Day Return New St to Stoke on Trent at £14.20, gives a total return of £52.20 each, or possibly as low as £39.20.

IanD

xdaniellex wrote: »

Want to travel to Stoke on Trent from London on the 8th May for football but cheapest ive found so far is £57.50 return because guessing cheap tickets have gone? Any way we could split the journey?

Kick offs at 14.05 so wanna arrive in Stoke around 13.00ish

2 Adults

Thanks
x

It's £22.50 super off peak return from Euston to Stoke using London Midland trains only. Dep Euston 09:23 arr Stoke 13:19 (change at Milton Keynes for a bus to Northampton and then back on the train to Stoke!). Return through trains at 17:59 (Euston arr 20:53) or 19:57 (23:13). Difficult to get this on the London Midland website as it only shows later through trains (presumably because of the replacement bus bit) on the outward leg but the fare is available on thetrainline (or firstgreatwestern website which uses the same search engine but has no booking fees) if you ask the see cheaper fares by slower routes. According to the London Midland website you only need to select a service if you want to reserve a seat so you shouldn't be tied to a particular train - as long as it's a London Midland Train. Probably best to check with them though. (On their website, when the fares are shown, select 'Show other routes' on the left then select both 'London Midland trains only' boxes to display the cheaper fares). It's a slow trip via Northampton particularly if you have to get a bus as well but you have to balance that against the potential £35 saving!

xdaniellex

IanD wrote: »

It's £22.50 super off peak return from Euston to Stoke using London Midland trains only. Dep Euston 09:23 arr Stoke 13:19 (change at Milton Keynes for a bus to Northampton and then back on the train to Stoke!). Return through trains at 17:59 (Euston arr 20:53) or 19:57 (23:13). Difficult to get this on the London Midland website as it only shows later through trains (presumably because of the replacement bus bit) on the outward leg but the fare is available on thetrainline (or firstgreatwestern website which uses the same search engine but has no booking fees) if you ask the see cheaper fares by slower routes. According to the London Midland website you only need to select a service if you want to reserve a seat so you shouldn't be tied to a particular train - as long as it's a London Midland Train. Probably best to check with them though. (On their website, when the fares are shown, select 'Show other routes' on the left then select both 'London Midland trains only' boxes to display the cheaper fares). It's a slow trip via Northampton particularly if you have to get a bus as well but you have to balance that against the potential £35 saving!

THANK you so much!! £22.50 what a bargain. All booked now.. thanks again

leos_nanny

Has anyone an idea on the cheapest rail company to go from Paris to Faro Portugal ? I was going to buy global rail passes ,but it adds up to over £1,100 ,so thinking just buy Paris to Faro return Thank you

p00hsticks

No first hand experience, but hopefully this should help. (In particular see the map on the right for the various routes and companies from Paris to Faro

http://www.seat61.com/Portugal.htm

Further details here

http://www.seat61.com/Portugal.htm#Algarve