I'm traveling to the UK in June and I've been searching for the best railpass and it seems I have too many choices. Which one do I buy?

Or maybe since I only have a few trips I really should just buy indivdual tickets?

And is the 1st class ticket worth the extra price?


Basic Plan:

Train from London to Cardiff, Wales via Bath, England.

A couple days later Cardiff to Edinburgh, Scotland.

Thanks.

I had to click on your name because someone asked an almost identical question a couple of days ago - but no, it wasn't you.

basically there really isn't a good reason to get a rail pass - they really only pay for those taking a lot of long distance trips. Just buy point to point tix. As for 1st class - that is really up to you. I almost never fork over for 1st but if you feel the extra service is worth it to you - -

In my experience, not many GWR (First Great Western) trains even have first-class services. We went from London to Salisbury on one trip, London to Bath on another, and London to Portsmouth on a third and never got to use our 1st-cabin passes once. The lounges at some of the stations are pleasant, though. Nice places for a nice cuppa and a wee bikky.

I don't think we should blame First Great Western for not offering first class carriage on the London to Salisbury and London to Portsmouth services since it is South West that operates those two services.

I agree with Janis that point to point tickets will make more sense than a pass. And early booking will save you some money, possibly a lot of money on the Cardiff to Edinburgh leg.

I've only used First Class when on an expense account. I had the impression that most of the others were not spending their own money either.

Yes. I should have said Bath, Bristol, or Cardiff.

<b>Excuuuuuuse ME!</b>

There are practically no First Great Western (or Virgin) trains that operate without a first class section, though there are a few such First Great Western Link ones.

You might encounter single-class trains on bits of the Bath-Cardiff journey, or the Cardiff-Edinburgh one, if you take non-direct trains: both these journeys are a bit minor, so you often have to take a local train for 50 miles of so to the main line.

I never spent my own money on first class for me in Britain. I do for elderly (&gt;80) relatives at peak travelling times. But at those peak times, even in first, you need to reserve a seat in advance. And Virgin - the main operator on the Cardiff-Edinburgh bit - is perfectly happy at peak times to stop enforcing seat reservations.

I think the best practice in order to avoid some of the ridiculous fares is as follows:
1. Book well in advance.
2. Be prepared to travel outside the rush hours.
3. Look for day saver tickets (I think thats what they are called anyway)
The most irritating thing about taking a train, is the huge number of reserved seats that are not used as the owners have flexibility built in to the ticket and therefore don't take that train, leaving the reserved 'stub' tucked in the top of the seat so others don't use them.

Another fact between the London -Cardiff route is that many people are only travelling as far as Reading, so the train dramatically empties at that point, so don't despair if it's crowded at first.

Muck

The Cardiff-Edinburgh route is no fun. I'd recommend flying (www.bmibaby.com) which will save you practically a day and almost certainly cost a lot less. Random sample - fly at 15.35 on June 14th, headline fare 99p, with extra charges &amp; tax a grand total of &pound;14.94.

Caroline sorry to digress....how was the cardiff trip?

Muck

Hi Mucky. Our trip in Feb ? Great, thanks : DH liked the Dr Who exhibition &amp; we both very much enjoyed the tour of the Artes Mundi exhibition, but I have to say WNO's production of 'The Flying Dutchman' was rubbish ! But we've now booked for further WNO productions in Sept &amp; next Feb, plus been lucky enough to get tickets for the Kirov's Ring Cycle in Nov-Dec ! We're booked in to the Novotel for the latter - sounds OK on Tripadvisor ? Hoping it's not too scary a walk back at night ? Can't remember the name of it but we liked the new cocktails &amp; dim sum bar at Mermaid Quay - does life get any better ? Cheers, Caroline.

SavTrav, sorry to hijack your post...!


Caroline I am not an opera fan, so I cannot quantify your dissapointment in Bryns show, but I hope the others are better for you.
However the Novotel was formerly the Hanover hotel, looks really nice, I was there a few years ago for a training course but it is a fair old walk from the Millenium center, reasonably safe to walk, but I guess in Nov/Dec I would be thinking about a taxi if it was after dark.

Glad DH enjoyed Dr Who exhibition

Muck

As I said on the 5th April

&quot;BMIBaby from Cardiff to Edinburgh is from &pound;16.94 on the 11 May though that's at 6:45 am. The only other flight of the day at 15:35 costs &pound;13 more though you could get the flight the previous day for under &pound;20 at a reasonable time.&quot;

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34782232

Alan: but that was on another thread, to another OP and for a different month - so I don't think you can assume this OP will have seen that.