Interrail london to Holyhead

[adrianboult]

I am intending to travel from London to Ireland for a week or so in the near future.

I have looked at the Interrail website and just wanted to check that if I buy a period ticket (first class), that it would allow me to travel from Euston to Holyhead on the morning train as 1 of my travel days?

I have not done it for years and just checking that it was still a valid journey?

Thanks.

 

[drueberflug]

I am intending to travel from London to Ireland for a week or so in the near future.

I have looked at the Interrail website and just wanted to check that if I buy a period ticket (first class), that it would allow me to travel from Euston to Holyhead on the morning train as 1 of my travel days?

I have not done it for years and just checking that it was still a valid journey?

Thanks.

Avanti, TfW and the other ToCs should recognise your pass provided that your pass has validity in the UK on that day (regarding the in-/outboundary days).
If I remembered correctly, Interrail (at least for the mobile passes) tie their travel days to CET/CEST time, so do be aware of that.

 

[danm14]

Have you checked that Interrail actually makes financial sense for your journey?

If you haven't travelled by train in Ireland for some time, you may be surprised to learn that Irish trains are now relatively inexpensive, even if tickets are purchased on the day (as long as you do so online around two hours before travel).

First class is now only available on the Dublin-Belfast and Dublin-Cork routes, not even on all services on these routes, and on some stock the sole additional benefit of first class is a table lamp.

 

[185143]

Have you checked that Interrail actually makes financial sense for your journey?

If you haven't travelled by train in Ireland for some time, you may be surprised to learn that Irish trains are now relatively inexpensive, even if tickets are purchased on the day (as long as you do so online around two hours before travel).

First class is now only available on the Dublin-Belfast and Dublin-Cork routes, not even on all services on these routes, and on some stock the sole additional benefit of first class is a table lamp.

And, whilst they're standard class only, there's a couple of rover tickets available.

The Trekker ticket valid for 4 consecutive days comes in at €88. There's also a 5 in 15 Explorer (I think that's the name?) at €128.

You're almost certainly aware, but worth mentioning to others. Fares in Ireland were decreased by 20% in 2021 I believe and haven't risen since. I first bought one of those Trekker tickets in March 2020 and it was €110 then. When I next came to do one I thought the ticket clerk at Connolly was selling me the wrong thing at first, as I hadn't appreciated they were included in the decrease too.

Interrail is unlikely to make financial sense in Ireland, unless you're planning a fair bit of cross border travel. Neither Irish Rail nor Translink offer rover type tickets valid across the whole island, though Translink do offer day/3 day/weekly passes for Northern Ireland only, including a special Sundays only £10 day ticket for any train in NI.

I used to go over to Ireland a lot, but haven't been over much since Irish Ferries and Stena starting smashing up Holyhead Port between them. The new Stena ferry timetables are dreadful for train connections.

 

[Mainline421]

Holyhead is a port so yes you can change use your outbound day for this, but this is very unlikely to be good value. Sailrail + Seatfrog + walk up IE 1st Class tickets would probably be cheaper. The only benefit I can see to using Interrail is you're guaranteed 1st on the Avanti leg.

 

[MrJeeves]

If I remembered correctly, Interrail (at least for the mobile passes) tie their travel days to CET/CEST time, so do be aware of that.

They say they do, but my experience in the UK has been that it always uses London time for the pass days.

I've boarded trains at 23xx perfectly fine on the same day used for earlier trains.

I'm not sure whether the CET/CEST logic only applies within Europe for countries on UTC+2, for example.

 

[Segedunum]

They say they do, but my experience in the UK has been that it always uses London time for the pass days.

I've boarded trains at 23xx perfectly fine on the same day used for earlier trains.

I'm not sure whether the CET/CEST logic only applies within Europe for countries on UTC+2, for example.

Can confirm as I've run this down to the wire before (getting a 23:40ish from Heathrow to Ealing Broadway after a delayed flight from Stockholm a couple years back).

 

[Mainline421]

The rules have officially been changed to local time a while ago now, and only ever applied to mobile passes. From what I've heard the app actually used local time all along, so anyone boarding sleepers late night in the UK had to manually enter the journey anyway to use the benefit.

 

[danm14]

You can also upgrade any ticket or pass (without exception) which is valid in Standard Class to First Class on Irish Rail by booking a First Class "Reservation Only" ticket online. It is very often cheaper to buy a Standard Class ticket and a First Class upgrade than a First Class ticket.

For trains with real First Class, the upgrade fee is €16 for Dublin-Belfast and either €20 or €12 depending on the time of day for Dublin-Cork.

For trains where the First Class offering is just Standard Class with added table lamps, the upgrade fee is €10 on all routes.

Where First Class (which will always be of the latter variety) is provided on a route other than Dublin-Belfast, Dublin-Cork or Dublin-Tralee (direct with no change at Mallow) it is declassified.

 

[bkhtele]

Assuming you are living in the UK: my understanding of interrail is that you only have partial Great Britain travel with a Global interail pass which is unlikely to be value for money. An Ireland interrail passes would not be valid for any travel in Great Britain.

 

[30907]

Assuming you are living in the UK: my understanding of interrail is that you only have partial Great Britain travel with a Global interail pass which is unlikely to be value for money. An Ireland interrail passes would not be valid for any travel in Great Britain.

A Global pass gives you two days' for the outbound and inbound journeys.
Whether it is worth it in this case requires doing some maths.