skatterfly

Hi,
I just started researching this on Rail Europe and nationalrail.co.uk and the cost is outrageous! For 4 adults round trip it is going to cost 360GBP.

Am I doing something wrong... is there another operator I should look at, or is rail travel in the UK just really expensive? I don't recall point to point fares being this high in France or Italy.

Unfortunately for this price Bath will be out of the question for our budget.

Are there cheaper ways to get to Bath?

Thanks,
~kat

AR

Hi Skatterfly.
The easy answer is that, yes, UK rail travel is horrendously expensive. That's one of the reasons that the roads are so congested here (plus poor punctuality, dirty trains and last minute cancellations).
However, there are ways of getting cheaper prices than the one you've been quoted. You don't say where you are going to travel to Bath from, but I assume that it may be London? Do not buy an open ticket as this is by far the most expensive option. If you are willing to travel after 10am then the prices drop dramatically.
Look at www.thetrainline.com to see the range of fares. There are savers, supersavers etc. I think you've been quoted £90 open fare each. The best I could find was around £34 each.

Phil

skatterfly:

The regular open return ticket from London to Bath actually costs GBP 90.00 per person.

Depending on the trains you will be taking (avoid morning rush hour), the time you will be spending at Bath, and subject to advance booking, the return fare per person can be as low as GBP 19.00.

There are also coach services from London to Bath with return fares around GBP 15.50. Be advised, however, that it takes twice as long to go by road as compared to the rail journey.

Useful sites you may want to check:

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk
http://www.nationalexpress.com

Hope this helps.

Phil.

skatterfly

Thanks for the info. Coach will be out, as we're travelling with a toddler and I think a longer journey is not a good idea.

But because of her schedule travelling during peak times might also be useful. Oh boy... decisions.

We also weren't planning on an overnight stay (though we have an apt in London), but it may actually end up being cheaper if we get the cheapest tickets possible and travel midday on two consecutive days.

Anyway, thanks. Guess I'll also be looking into other day trips that aren't so ridiculously expensive for our group.

~kat

flanneruk

Apart from serious searching on the First Great Western site for special deals, do remember that the more or less standard, turn up and buy the ticket, price drops from £90 return if you get the 0915 out to £34 on the 1015.

KidsToLondon

RailEurope usually offers the standard (read that "highest&quot fares. But you can certainly purchase much cheaper rail fares elsewhere....

As FlannerUK indicates, try the First Great Western site, or try:

Qjump.com
Thetrainline.com

these sites sell cheaper advanced purchase tickets. QJump lists a £19 fare for this trip! They and Thetrainline don't mail tickets outside the UK, I believe, but you can pick up your prepurchased tickets at ticket machines located in many UK rail stations.

Hope this saves you some money and/or rescues your trip to Bath.

Dave White
[email protected]

P.S. "Bath" may appear as "Bath Spa" on some rail scheduling systems.

hnami

I thought the trip to Bath was going to be prohibitive also, but if you take advantage of the cheap day returns (leaving London after 9:30 am. returning the same day) you can save AND if you've purchased a Visitor's Travel Card you can save further when you buy the tickets. Children under a certain age were only 1 pound (kid for a quid promo), but if you're all adults that won't help... Buses are cheaper too. Bath IS unusual and worth the trip, if you can swing it.