help understanding the national rail
 

Hello to all

I will be traveling to a few different cities, London to Edinburgh, Edinburgh to York, Edinburgh to Alnmouth and back, plus a few days trips. I am having trouble understanding the ticket type pricing and do not understand how one chooses which type of ticket to buy. There are standard class off peak, apex single, super advance single, saver single, open single. I have never seen so many different pricings for one ticket. I am not sure if it would be more cost effective to buy a Britrail pass from the US or to buy my tickets in the UK. Can anyone help? Thank you to all. This is a very helpful site and I have gotten many wonderful ideas from many of the postings.

Yes, those fares got very complicated. If you're certain about the travel dates, then getting the various advanced tickets seperately may be cheaper. But if you want flexibility in both routes and train times, then a Britrail pass is more convenient, and should be cheaper than getting standard fare tickets at the stations.

For London-York-Edinburgh fares on GNER, you can download the fare guides in PDF file from here. There's a chart that explains the rules of the different fares:

http://www.gner.co.uk/pages/buying_using.html

I can not help you on the Brit Rail Pass but by the lines you will be using you are probably going by GNER have you been on their website www.gner.co.uk?
Roughly the cheaper the ticket means you will probably not be able to change the times of the trains you have booked on, there should be an explanation next to all the ticket prices.

some times it might be cheaper and more convenient to fly from London to Edinbrough try easyjet.com. Virgin also have rail tickets try virgin.com

It may be cheaper and certainly easier to buy a Britrail pass in the USA. I have purchased 8 day flexipasses in USA dollars for our upcoming trip. If I wait until I get to the UK, I will have to pay for them in GBP, at $1.84 or so a pound. But it depends on your itinerary, how many trips you will be making. It is much easier to use the Britrail pass, and you can take any train run by any company. The pass which allows travel between London and Edinburgh is more expensive than the one I bought. If you can compare the standard fares for the trips you wish to take purchased in pounds, with the cost of a Britrail pass, this may help you decide.

David

Yes, there is an almost endless array of discounts, ticket types, etc. employed on British rail systems. "Confusing" is an understatement.

But USUALLY the cheapest tickets are those purchased in advance--APEX (advanced purchase) tickets of some type. Several services provide this type of tickets:

www.qjump.com
www.thetrainline.com

The trick for overseas visitors is that these services don't mail tickets outside of the UK, unless they have changed their practices very recently. But you can purchase tickets from TheTrainLine.com and pick them up at Fastticket ticket machines located in many UK rail stations.

Britrail passes usually are cost effective if you are taking lots of train trips in a set period...for my money, purchasing APEX point-to-point tickets is more economical.

David White
[email protected]

Thank you all for your replies. I will call Britrail and ask about a 4 day pass which I think might cover my needs. I will have to add up the totals for buying tickets separately and see which way is the least expensive for travel. I think I would rather take the rail than fly but thanks for the suggestion. I will research your ideas David on the apex and check out the websites that everyone has posted. You've all been very helpful. Thank you.

I was in London last summer for over a month and took the train several places including Edinborough. We waited until we were there and the rail prices were very expensive (especially with the terrible exchange rate for US$ to pounds). My brother came over for a few weeks and bought a Britrail pass before he left the US and he got a much better deal for much more travel. Also I had some friends who used easyjet and ryanair to go to several places and it was very affordable if they booked ahead of time, but if they waited until a week or two ahead of times the fairs jumped up.

Alnmouth? - good for you. While you are in that neck of the woods, and if you have time, check out Craster and Bamburgh on the coast; Alnwick, inland. And Hadrian's Wall?

Alice, I don't know if I will have time to see the areas that you suggested, Bamburgh and Craster as my plan is to head for Alnwick castle (I love castles, can't get enough of them, especially the furniture and artwork) and I don't know how much time that will take up, are they near Alnmouth and would I need a car to see them as I will be traveling by rail. What would you suggest of interest to see in those towns?

Following up David's comment about buying advance tickets: I'm trying to buy an Apex ticket online, and where to collect the ticket is the issue. They don't offer pickup at Heathrow or Paddington (why on earth not?) though they do at Gatwick... Nor can I collect at Waterloo, the station I will be using. Doesn't make much sense to me. <sigh>

So I am trying to call the UK number for SW Trains, which has worked for me in the past -- I just picked up my ticket at the ticket office in Waterloo. (Having calling card problem, but that's a whole 'nother issue...) Just one of those days, I guess.