BritRail or Eurail pass?

Are you sure a rail pass will save you money over the cost of individual tickets? They often do not. What trips do you plan to take?

I’m more than willing to believe the OP when she says she has researched the prices for point to point for her trips and compared with the price of the passes. I have to admit my knowledge about these passes is rather low. Have you looked at the website. https://www.seat61.com/

I find this is often a good place to do a little research on train travel in Europe.

Before you make your decision, look at the National Rail website for suggestions on how to save money on tickets.

Do you know about Advance tickets these are the least expensive type of tickets?

Tell us your planned journeys and we'll let you know how much you can save compared to the pass(es).

Please tell us your journeys. Where did you get your individual ticket prices?

Do you need first class or do you want that because that's how the pass comes, even if many trains in the UK only have Standard Class, or basically the same seats in First?

I find it unlikely that any pass will really be cheaper than 4 individual tickets. Happy to help, Valeria...

The big plus to using BritRail Passes, that we found, is the flexibility. We often did day trips by rail, and could change plans if weather, or other circumstances indicated we should. We also liked the comfort of just being able to walk up to our platform and board- no going to the ticket booth, etc. It might not always be the least expensive, but for us, there were always other factors than money.

Thanks for all the information, everyone - very helpful. Some background …

I used https://www.nationalrail.co.uk to determine the fares for my four destinations, looking at senior anytime fares. While I know the dates I’ll be traveling, I need flexibility with departure times so didn’t look at the cost for advanced purchase tickets. My trips will be London Kings Cross to Stroud (am hiking part of the Cotswold Way for a week), Bath to Brighton, Brighton to Chesterfield, and Chesterfield to Kings Cross.

I came up with a total of £311.40 for the four destinations, which (at yesterday’s exchange rates) is the equivalent of $407.93 for standard coach fares. Add to that the £30 cost of a senior BritRail pass. A four-day standard coach pass was considerably less expensive - $279 for a senior BritRail flexipass from the ACP site, and $224 for a senior Eurail flexipass from the RailEurope site. But I couldn’t ascertain if the Eurail pass was as easy to use as the BritRail pass. The first-class Eurail pass was $299 - not that much more than the senior BritRail pass - so I thought I might spring for that, just because I’m in my eighth decade!

So back to my original query - is there an advantage to using a BritRail pass over a Eurail pass? Or am I missing something? Admittedly maths are not my strong suit so perhaps my calculations are not accurate?

National Rail website does not always tell you the cheapest ways of doing rail travel. On some routes, passengers can save money by splitting the tickets - even though you stay on the same train.

I have used this site to work out some of your journeys on Tuesday 5th April (Cheap Advance fares are not yet loaded for June) using a Senior Railcard (£30) and going second class.https://www.traintickets.com/?/

I presume you wish to walk the Cotswold Way between the Stroud area and Bath - I would do it in reverse. The London station you depart from is Paddington (but you can include King’s Cross if you wish).
PAD > BTH 1 hour 18 minutes £13.95
Stroud > Chesterfield 3 hours £23 (multiple split tickets & 1 change - at Cheltenham). (From Cheltenham it is only around 2 hours).
Chesterfield > London St.Pancras 2 hours . Around £20.
St.Pancras > Brighton £13.35 off-peak pay on the day. 1 hour 17 minutes.

If you wanted to go from Bath to Brighton, you have the hassle of crossing London from PAD to Victoria. Advance fares around £17 and takes 3 hours 14 minutes. Alternatively avoid London by changing at Reading and Gatwick 3 hours 30 minutes £28.04 Advance booking.

If you wanted to go Bath to Brighton, another way is:>
BTH > Southampton 1 hour 27 minutes £13.95 Advance purchase. (These trains do not have 1st class).
Southampton > Brighton (1 change at Barnham) 2 hours 8 minutes £11.90 off peak pay on the day or £18.70 1st class.
(The few direct trains that run from Bath to Brighton via Southampton will cease in early May).

Another website that tends to find the cheapest way of doing rail travel in Britain is:>https://trainsplit.com
Note that off peak travel tends to start at 9.30am on weekdays but all weekends are usually off-peak.
You can make advance purchase tickets assuming that you already have the Senior Railcard.

The UK never used to be included in the Eurail pass. Now it is, and if it gives you the flexibility you want then I can't see the harm in it. Just read the T&Cs carefully https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-a-eurail-pass.htm

If you could commit to trains, then Advance tickets using 20 April as guide, prices approx:

London PAD > Stroud £20
Bath > Brighton £25
Brighton > Chesterfield £35
Chesterfield > London KGX £27
Total £107

So you can see the savings can be significant.

I used a BritRail pass about 5 years ago on a two week trip to the UK which was planned to include a lot of rail travel. Flew into Glasgow and out of Gatwick, and covered a lot of ground in trains. Edinburgh, York, Penzance, London, Brighton - plus day trips. I crunched the numbers when planning the trip. And yes of course, the total price of advance purchase tickets for my various journeys, when compared to the cost of the BritRail (senior 1st class) pass, was much less. But, the cost of those fares as same day purchases was clearly more than the cost of the pass.

If I were a by-the-schedule type of traveler, I'd just buy all advance fare tix, and turn up for all the specific trains I'd booked for (come what may), and it would be a no-brainer that the BritRail pass would be a waste of money.

But I'm not that kind of traveler. I crafted an itinerary in advance and reserved lodgings accordingly, but when on the ground in the UK I tweaked my plans a bit because of among other things, weather and discovering some places I wanted to see. I didn't lose any money on rail fares even with last minute changes of plan, thanks to the BritRail pass. As Toni said above, the big advantage of the pass is the flexibility. I benefitted financially from having the pass, as otherwise I'd have paid same-day walk up fares for a couple of long journeys.

Only you know what is more valuable to you - saving money by buying advance fare tickets which lock you into specific trains, or the flexibility of one of those rail passes. I hope you have a fun trip!

As a ticket seller in the UK pointed out to me back in 2017, you can often save a lot of money on rail tickets by simply buying one day in advance, rather than on the day of travel. He basically chided me for wasting my money, which I appreciated and took to heart.

To save money in comparison to the cost of a rail pass, it is sometimes necessary to simply pre-book one high-cost trip. The savings from one Advance ticket alone can make a huge difference.

I first began traveling to the UK in 2001, generally going about once a year, and have NEVER encountered an occasion where I felt like I had wasted money getting a rail pass over point-to-point tickets, even when there was some money savings to be realized. I have never noted any functional advantage of one rail pass supplier over another and the actual use of the pass is identical. It's been my experience that the guard on the train barely looks at the rail pass in any case. I've also never had anyone ask for identification to compare with the name on the pass. On a couple of occasions I had two guards checking tickets together and it appeared to be some sort of training situation where the inexperienced guard would be required to examine the pass more carefully, but still not comparing an ID card.

The reason for my personal preference for rail passes is that, in my personal view and with my personal travel style, the flexibility of using the rail pass has proven to be an enormous benefit FOR ME. YMMV.

I have frequently been on a day trip and decided to take a different train back to London, sometimes a different train to somewhere entirely different. I have been late for trains and simply gotten the next one. I have changed daily destinations from the north of the country to the south of the country based on unfavorable weather. I have made additional journeys in the same day that had previously been unplanned. FOR ME, the convenience is simply too great to pass up.

Unless you can comfortably lock down your travel times I suggest you seriously consider spending the extra money for a rail pass.

Also, I suggest you consider not paying the premium for first class rail tickets. If you are going on a very long journey there might be some benefit but I've always felt comfortable with the cheaper tickets.

No been mentioned before i think
If you have a BritRail Pass you would need to make seat reservations whereas with an Advance Single these are included when booking the ticket. I would not want to make a long journey without seat reservations where they are available.
Some journeys such as London to Stratford upon Avon on Chiltern its not possible to reserve seats

I've been back from England for over a month now and thought I'd report back. I ended up purchasing a four-day standard Flexi pass through International Rail for £216.00 (senior fare) and it worked great for me. I didn't make seat reservations on any of the trips and it wasn't a problem. I can't wait to go back!