Cheapest Day For Rail Travel To London?

stressedofdevon

I have to be in London on a given Saturday in the summer and will add a few days either side for shopping and sightseeing. I will be travelling from Devon with my family and we can be flexible so I am wondering is there a cheaper day generally to travel into London or back to Devon?

Thanks in advance for any advice :A

CapricornLass

I don't know about particular days. However, I do know that if you can travel to London very late morning/early afternoon, the price of tickets is a lot less than going early in the morning. Check the prices of tickets on the trainline - that will help you.

elverson

Avoid Friday (morning might be ok though) and Sunday.

davenport151

Also see if you can pick up some advance fares still (you don't say when you are travelling).

daveyjp

No particular day, you just need to know when cheap advanced fares are released and book as soon as they are.

Consider a Railcard. One trip may save you the cost of it.

martindow

CapricornLass wrote: »

. Check the prices of tickets on the trainline - that will help you.

Look for prices on trainline if you like but don't buy tickets there unless you want to pay extra.



From Exeter it can be cheaper travelling to Waterloo on SWR via Salisbury rather than GWR trains. SWR is slower though.

jbuchanangb

Advance fares are usually released 12 weeks in advance. As you are travelling with Family, you should consider a railcard. Look at family & friends railcard, or if just a couple look at the Two Together railcard. Railcards reduce the fare by one-third for adults and the F&F card has other advantages for under 16s in the group.

You could check out a few fares on any ticket selling site, using dates in April (i.e. 10-12 weeks in advance)
If you do decide to get a railcard, you can still book the tickets in advance without actually having the railcard, but you must have the valid railcard before you travel, and carry it with you.

With advance ticket you are restricted to specific train on which you have booked. The ticket is not valid on any other train unless there has been disruption or cancellation to the specific train, in which case it is valid on the next available train of the same train operating company.

When you are in London you can get about on the tubes and buses by paying with contactless debit or credit cards, but each passenger needs to have their own card. Children under 11 travel free on tubes and buses in London, when accompanied by an adult.

System

Book as far in advance as you can, tickets in my local area are usually on sale about 12 weeks in advance. Try to book at least one month in advance - minimum - as cheaper prices and offers decrease as time passes. I would suggest using the train company's own website as their prices are usually the best. Do you have a Family Rail card? If any family members who will be travelling with you are Students or Senior Citizens, there are Rail cards available for those people too. Perhaps worth investigating the cost of these against how much extra you would save on fares when using them. Peak times of day are to be avoided if at all possible, already mentioned by others. Fridays can be expensive whichever direction of travel, again already mentioned. Sundays can sometimes be cheaper actually, and even a Saturday at times. Some advance fares are cheaper because they are for a specific train time only - worth using but just make sure you don't miss the train! When looking on whichever website you use to make your booking - take your time and really study and explore all possible options and all associated details. Check train times and journey lengths as well as prices plus all relevant conditions for the tickets you are thinking to buy. Sounds boring and a pain I know, and time-consuming, but set aside some time (or times) and it could be well worth while financially. And you will also have learnt a lot about it all for future use. Buses are good for getting around in London I find but again some hunting around needed to find which ones you will want - Transport for London website. I have found them sometimes quicker than the Tube, and there is a stop near to where I actually want to be as well as cheaper - but check with the train booking site you end up using as you can also get Tube and Bus passes and nowadays Oyster travel cards included. You also have the added benefit of seeing some more of the city from the bus, rather than heat, fumes and over-crowding from the Tube along with endless walking down passages and escalators. And outside peak times of travel I have seldom had a problem getting a seat on a London bus. If any of your travel companions have a Senior Citizen Bus pass then they can use that in London. Don't know about any other bus travel concessions. Hope all this helps!

scones

As stated by others, the lowest-priced 'Advance' tickets are usually issued around 12 weeks in advance.

However, for various reasons relating to upgrade work and timetable changes, this deadline has varied a lot in recent months - you may find that tickets aren't actually released until as late as 5 or 6 weeks beforehand.

Check the National Rail Booking Horizons page to see exactly how far in advance each train company is accepting bookings. As of today:

• Great Western Railway (to Paddington) is booking up to 17 May on weekdays, but only up to 21 April on weekends
• South Western Railway (to Waterloo) is booking up to 26 April