Traveling by train is a wonderful experience, as it gives you the perfect opportunity to connect with the locals and observe the culture of a particular place from close quarters. However, most of the time, you may notice that the train tickets aren’t as affordable as you expected. If you thought you could do nothing about this, you are mistaken.
Here, we give you some simple hacks to get cheap train tickets, so that you can explore the world without burning a deep hole in your pocket. In the UK and most other parts of the world, it is quite easy to get cheap train tickets, if you are organized and plan well in advance for your trip. Follow these simple but effective tips to get surprising deals on train tickets.
Book your tickets early
It is highly recommended that you book your train tickets 3 or 4 months in advance or on the date when the ticket window opens, whichever is earlier. As you get closer to the date of your destination, the price of the ticket keeps going up, because the railways can add various quotas and reservations. Most of the times, a full block of tickets are reserved for the ticketing agencies, leaving only a few seats that are priced exorbitantly for you. Therefore, book early and avail the early bird offers.
- Railcards & Season Passes
If you are planning to remain in a country like the UK for a long time, you must consider getting a railcard or season pass. While a railcard is a great option for you if you plan to stay for a year or so, the season pass is a good choice if you visit the country for a few weeks.
You will be surprised to know that a railcard costs only £30 for one year and $70 for 3 years. You can travel for as many times as you want on a train without paying anything, throughout the validity of this railcard! Teenagers, students, and senior citizens get attractive discounts when they buy these railcards.
If you are going to travel on the same route to your office for a few weeks or months, you can consider getting a monthly or seasonal train pass in the UK. A weekly pass will cost you a little over £40, whereas a monthly pass will cost you around £180. This is way lesser than what you would have paid daily for traveling on the same route. Check the official website of the respective country’s airlines to be aware of the latest offers and deals on train tickets. > thetrainline.com <
- Be flexible with your travel plans
It is highly recommended that you remain flexible to adjust the date and time of your travel based on the ticket fare. Sometimes, you may get a cheap train ticket on the day after or day before your actual date of journey. By being flexible with your travel plans, you can save quite a lot of money. Therefore, if you don’t have any urgent commitments to attend to, you should always consider deferring or advancing your trip, as the case may be.
Please consider these points when you book a train ticket in the UK or anywhere else in the world:
- Train tickets during peak hours (around 7 to 10 in the morning and 5 to 8 in the evening) are costlier than the non-peak hours. Hence, you could try to book a non-peak hour train route to get a good deal on your tickets.
- Tickets are costlier on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays than the weekdays, especially, on the long routes. Most of the people prefer to travel during the weekend, which explains the reason for the surge in the ticket prices. Choosing a mid-morning train (around 11) on a weekday (ideally between Tuesday and Thursday) is considered ideal.
- Please try to avoid traveling on festival days, public holidays and other school holidays, if you want to save money on your train tickets. During these holidays, tickets tend to be way costlier than normal working days. So, it is important to be flexible with your plans to get cheap train tickets.
- Split the journey to get good rates
If you are traveling on a long route, it is highly recommended that you split the journey into two or three sectors and get the passes/tickets accordingly, to save quite a reasonable amount on your train tickets. A train pass from Point A to Point C might be costly. So, what you can do is to get a pass from Point A to Point B and then another pass from Point B to Point C. Though, you are going to be seated in the same train throughout your journey from Point A to Point C, you can still buy two passes to save money.
- Travel in groups
This may sound like news to you, but it is true. In countries like the UK, National Rail offers a 34% flat discount on the ticket prices for groups of 3 to 9 people, even during peak hours. All you need to do is to go through the instructions properly on the GroupSaver ticket and adhere to the rules to claim the benefits. Some of the strict rules that you have to follow when opting for a GroupSaver Ticket are:
- You should travel with your group at all times
- You are not entitled to any more discounts (like railcards, students and senior citizens concession and the like) when you have opted for this package
- All the members of the group must start from the same origin and get down at the same destination
There is more to this package than what meets the eye. Ensure that you read the rules and exceptions thoroughly to save a good deal on your train tickets.
Search for cheap train tickets – https://www.thetrainline.com/information/cheap-train-tickets
Conclusion: Cheap train tickets aren’t that difficult to buy; the key is to look at the right places and book at the right time. Having an open mind to travel only on days where good deals are available will help you get cheap train tickets anywhere in the world.
Written By Boyan Minchev