Exeter Central to Nottingham (Cheapest Route)

[Stefan44]

Dear all.

Could anybody please provide me with the cheapest way to get to Nottingham from Exeter Central, on an open return type of ticket?

I'll be leaving on the 4th of February and returning on the 10th.
Anytime is acceptable.

I have a 16 to 25 railcard.

Thank you all so much.

Best wishes.

 

[Starmill]

www.trainsplit.com identifies the following:

Nottingham to Cheltenham Spa Off-Peak Return £33.45 2V (16-25 Railcard)
Cheltenham Spa to Bristol Temple Meads Off-Peak Return £12.40 WG (16-25 Railcard)
Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter Central Off-Peak Return £19.55 WG (16-25 Railcard)

Total: £65.40

Trains must of course call at all of these stations, but you should not find this restrictive.

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

If you want a flexible ticket, there's not much difference between a combination of Advance tickets and the relevant Off-Peak Return tickets. As you don't mind about the time of travel, you can easily travel within the Off-Peak time restrictions.

As an example, you could get:

Nottingham to Cheltenham Spa, Off-Peak Return ("SVR"), £33.45 with railcard discount, then

Cheltenham Spa to Bristol Parkway, SVR, £12.40 with railcard discount, then

Bristol Parkway to Exeter Central, SVR, £19.55 with railcard discount,

Total would then be £65.40 (return).

With advance tickets the cheapest total might be £63.10 (return), but would involve many more tickets - an SVR to Birmingham New Street, then an Advance to Cheltenham Spa, then another Advance to Bristol TM, another Advance to Exeter St David's, 2 Off-Peak Day Singles ("CDS") to/from Exeter Central, an Advance to Bristol TM, an Advance to Cheltenham Spa, and finally an Advance to Birmingham NS. Not sure that's worth it for the £2.30 saving, at least to me , especially given that with the Advances you have to take the booked train or else get a new ticket.

There may well be cheaper combinations, so don't go buying just yet, but this is what a short play on TrainSplit.com has revealed! If you go with a single through ticket (an SVR) it's £78.15.

Also, be aware that there aren't any trains between Nottingham and Derby on the outbound journey - there are rail replacement bus services instead. It's included in the ticket, but obviously takes longer than if by train and is somewhat inconvenient - so if you can get to Derby yourself that might be better and cheaper.

EDIT: Just noticed I got the direction mixed up. Make sure you get it the right way around when you book (!), but I think the prices, tickets etc. would essentially remain the same.

 

[Starmill]

Another £5ish can be saved by increasing your journey time very significantly if you travel via Worcester too, you split at Bromsgrove instead of Cheltenham Spa. This is unlikely to be worthwhile but it's an option to save £5.

 

[Starmill]

I actually wrote the post out the correct way around, noticed fortheloveof's post and then went and flipped what I've written because it appeared that I had written it the wrong way around. I'm not going back and changing it again, but please in future can we have from written first and then to written after it...