A friend of mine travels in the States every year (he’s from England) and he buys an Amtrak month long pass. I did that years ago when the trains still stopped in most towns and it was a hoot.<BR><BR>Anyway, he says I can do the same thing in England with a BritRail pass. I found their website and the passes seem very pricey (but then most things in England do seem pricey to me.)<BR><BR>My question is for those who have bought passes for English train travel. Was it worth it? How long was your pass good for? Was it a good buy for the money? What was the up side? What was the down side? Were there many restrictions? Could you hop on and off at will or did it require reservations for each time you traveled?<BR><BR>Thanks in advance for your response.<BR>

Tora: Yes, with a BritRail Pass you can hop on and off trains at whim and no advance reserevations are required. However, if you plan to travel a busy route ( say from London to Edinburgh) then you might prefer to reserve a seat, you can do this by going to any mainline rail station once you are in England..the last time I did this was 2 years ago and there was no charge to reserve a seat.<BR>As you noticed , there are 2 basic types of passes ..one for consecutive days of travel and another that allows for flexible travel. And note that the pass cannot be purchased once you are in the UK.<BR>The type of pass would depend on your personal plans and how many days you will be in England. ( The pass will also allow you to travel in Scotland &amp; Wales and is good for travel on the Gatwick Express and the Heathrow Express.) <BR>For an idea of what actual point to point train tickets cost, go to www.thetrainline.com

We got the Britrail consecutive pass for 15 days. Since there were two adults and two kids we bought the family pass which meant we paid for the adults and the kids were free. We also bought the 2nd class tickets. Since the pass was good on the Gatwick Express we started out day one using the pass and left on the 15th day on the Gatwick Express.<BR><BR>For us this pass saved us money because we traveled all over Great Britain from Cardiff to Edinburgh. We took lots of day trips from the various cities we were based in along with the long trip from Edinburgh to London. <BR><BR>We never made any reservations and did not have any problems finding seats together. The Edinburgh to London was busy but we did find four seats together with a table.<BR><BR>Before we left I added up the cost for the various trips we were taking and compared to the cost for the pass and discovered it saved us money to get the pass.<BR><BR>My husband loved the passes because he did not have to go to ticket counters and buy tickets every time we wanted to take a trip. I had the schedules for the routes I wanted to take (again, checked on the various web sites before I left home) so we just walked up and got on the train at the times we wanted.<BR><BR>Again, it paid for us to use the passes. You should check the costs for what you want to do and see if the pass will work for you. Also, we did save time by not having to buy tickets every time we wanted to travel.

Good info for Tora, good for me...another question though, is the pass activated when you arrive or what? In other words, lets say I bought the pass here in the States and then my trip was postponed for a month, would that money have been wasted?

Jinx: the pass is activated once you are in the UK. If you use it on the Gatwick or Heathrow Express you can validate it at the airports' train stations. Just be aware that will constitute Day One of your pass.<BR>If I recall ,the pass must be validated with-in 6 months of purchase.

My sister and I bought a 3 day rail/drive pass when we were in England in May. It worked out very well. In fact we got a free day. On two trips the conductor never checked our pass, so it looked like we hadn't used it. The last day we decided to take our chances and see if we could weasel a trip on the Heathrow express for our trip to the airport. They didn't validate it there either and we had no problems! Anybody need a railpass with a day still on it?

The student rates are usually a great deal, but the regular adult rates are often more expensive than buying point-to-point. Do as Kitty did and add up point-to-point fares so you can see if it's worthwhile for you.<BR><BR>The pass is activated the first time you use it. You write in the date and get it stamped the first time it's used. If it's not a consecutive day pass then each day you use it you need to write in the date. If you're caught without the date written in you can get penalized so I wouldn't suggest that at all.

Hello Tora &amp; Jinx,<BR>Unless this policy has changed since the last time I bought a Brit Rail Pass, it will be necessary for you to have your pass validated at the main ticket office of the train station from which you begin your initial train trip. The train official stamps the pass and that stamp is what validates it.<BR>The train official also writes in the first and last day that the pass will be valid (according to which type pass you have purchased).<BR>On your travel days,if you have purchased a flexible pass , you write the day and month of your present train trip on your pass and show it when the conductor is calling for &quot;all tickets, please&quot;.<BR>If you have purchased a consecutive day pass, the conductor will check for the expiration date that the train official wrote on your pass when you had it validated<BR>The train conductor cannot validate your pass.<BR>Of course all this could have changed. *S*<BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR><BR>If you have purchased a flexible pass then you write the day and month of your present train trip on your pass and show it to the conductor.<BR>If you have a consecutive day pass the conductor will check the expiration date that the train official wrote on your pass the day you had it

Kitty, I would be interested to know how convenient it was to get to lodgings. Did you limit yourself to staying in the cities? Also, we want to see sites like Tintagel, and walk on the moors. It would be great to do away with a car if I can.

We did limit ourselves to staying inside cities. We took taxis to the B&amp;B's because of our luggage and not knowing quite where we were going. Going back to the the train from the B&amp;B we either walked (with our rolling luggage) or we took a taxi - depended on how far we were from the train station. In Edinburgh we did walk to the B&amp;B instead of taking a taxi because it was a not far and a flat walk.<BR><BR>We took trains everywhere and walked from the stations to the sites we were interested in seeing. The only exception was getting to the Museum of Welsh Life in Cardiff. We got off the train and took a bus. The bus dropped us off at the Museum and picked us up there. We were a little confused on how to use the busses but we did find the right one eventually and a fellow passenger helped us with giving the driver correct change. We did need correct change but since we had no clue what it would cost for the 4 of us we didn't quite have it right. But this little older lady was very gracious and helpful. <BR><BR>The Brits were very helpful everywhere we went especially when we were away from major tourist sites. Just ask politely for help and people will assist.

Thanks. I will likely go with the train pass, but it will require more organization because of the luggage. I suppose we will work some of it out &quot;on the fly&quot; and still have a good time.