London-Edinburgh - Can anyone help please?

[lvlarky_130y]

Hello all, great forum. Have been lurking and reading for a while now but thought I would sign up now to get some advice on an upcoming journey if possible.

I'm planning on travelling from London to Edinburgh on the 1st May and returning 3rd May. I'm very flexible with timings and route on those days and I'm looking to do it as cheaply as possible. Simply firing in EUS-EDB still has me around £80 for the return but I'm sure it can be done cheaper.

I also have a Tring-London Terminals Season Ticket if that helps at all and my closest station is Tring, so don't necessarily have to start the journey in London.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

 

[cf111]

Welcome to the board!

East Coast will get you there from Kings Cross (KGX) for £46.00 return if you leave at 0510 and return on the 0930. A later departure from KGX, the 0900, ups the price to the still very reasonable £63.70. These are advance fares and as such you must travel on the trains you are booked on, unless there is service disruption.

You can go to http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/ and have a look there if you would like.

 

[lvlarky_130y]

Hi cf111, thanks for the welcome and info.

As I see it, there's no benefit from starting at say Tring or Milton Keynes Central and doing the journey that way, even though they are further North?

 

[andythebrave]

The trusty 0623 from Milton Keynes will get you to Edinburgh for £20 with 1 change if you can get someone to drop you off.

 

[cf111]

Not really, as I understand it advance fares are loaded for specific journeys, so EUS or KGX-EDB will have more, and probably better, cheap fares loaded than MKC or TRI-EDB, it's not a 'distance-based' system either. I have also found East Coast to be cheaper than Virgin on this route, and they won't offer such fares from MKC or TRI.

I think this one will be cheapest if you go into London, your season means you don't have to pay for that journey and EUS-KGX is easy to do by Tube, bus or walking if it's a nice day.

 

[kieron]

As I see it, there's no benefit from starting at say Tring or Milton Keynes Central and doing the journey that way, even though they are further North?

Milton Keynes-Edinburgh advance tickets are usually a bit cheaper than Euston-Edinburgh on a train which stops in Milton Keynes, but you miss out on the trains which don't stop there and you have to get to Milton Keynes to catch them. Tring-Edinburgh ones are generally dearer as you pay extra to switch operators part way through.

Virgin haven't released their advance tickets for the 3rd yet according to National Rail Enquiries, so you can't find their cheapest fares on the WCML yet. The line between Penrith and Carlisle is closed that day, so I wouldn't expect too much even when they become available. You don't have to go to Scotland and back using the same route, of course.