London to Torquay/Paignton on Easter

[Talent]

Dear all,

I'd like to go from London to Torquay/Paignton on April 21st and back on April 23rd. The journey planner shows an off peak return ticket for nearly 100 quid. Are there any cheaper options (except coach)?

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Dear all,

I'd like to go from London to Torquay/Paignton on April 21st and back on April 23rd. The journey planner shows an off peak return ticket for nearly 100 quid. Are there any cheaper options (except coach)?

I'll go through some options below.

• The cheapest through walk-up ticket is the Super Off-Peak Return, which costs £97.70. This is unrestricted on the 21st as it is the weekend, but normal restrictions apply on the 23rd.
• One option to save some money would be, assuming you're not eligible for any other Railcard (i.e. you're travelling on your own, are aged 30-59 and don't have a disability), to buy a Network Railcard for £30 to cover the travel from London Waterloo to Exeter St David's via the slower Honiton route, and then to buy a further ticket from Exeter to Torquay or Paignton. The Network Railcard gives you a third off most tickets, so an Off-Peak Return from Waterloo to Exeter via Honiton costs £51.90, and an Off-Peak Return from Exeter to Torquay costs £13.10, so that's a total outlay of £95. Not a substantial saving by any means on this journey, but you save a third on a lot of other journeys you might make in the next year. However the issue with that is that there are engineering works going on between Basingstoke and Andover on the Sunday 21st April that mean there are replacement buses between those stations. So to get to Torquay you'd need to change three times - not exactly ideal. Luckily on the way back it is a much better one-change journey.
• If you 'mixed and matched' routes, going on GWR on the outbound journey and going on SWR on the return journey (to avoid the engineering works), a combination of tickets (Paddington to Torquay Advance there, Torquay to Exeter Off-Peak Day Single and Exeter to Waterloo Advance back) on a morning departure on the Sunday, and an evening departure on the Tuesday, add up to £81.20. But that includes Advances - which are valid for the booked train only, so have less flexibility.
• Another option would be to get a combination of walk-up tickets, splitting somewhere like Pewsey. There aren't very many trains that call at Pewsey, and you need to call at Pewsey for the combination to be valid, but there are about three or four throughout the day depending on when you want to travel, so at least you have a little more flexibility than you get with Advances. The combination of a Super Off-Peak Return from Paddington to Pewsey and an Off-Peak Return Pewsey to Torquay would cost £88.60. Not a massive saving on the through ticket, given the loss of the ability to take any train at all you like, and the loss of the ability to go via Bristol, say, but it may be something that you consider worthwhile.

If you'd like any further detail on any of the above options, feel free to ask.

 

[Talent]

Whoa, thank you. Another (theoretical) question: Given the fact that I'm not a UK resident would be the BritRail South West Pass an option?

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

Whoa, thank you. Another (theoretical) question: Given the fact that I'm not a UK resident would be the BritRail South West Pass an option?

Absolutely, but it's unlikely to be a cheaper option as even the cheapest Britrail South West Pass costs around the same amount as the through Super Off-Peak Return or a combination of tickets splitting at Pewsey (this depends on the website you book through and the country you live in). However, a Britrail Pass undoubtedly offers greater flexibility for the same price.