In September I will be traveling from London to Dartmoor by train, getting off at Exeter. There seems to be at least 2 web sites that advertise tickets and the prices differ greatly. Are there several lines that travel London to Exeter or is there another explanation? I will rent a car in Exeter and have not used the rental companies I am finding on line: Europcar, Autoeurope, Kemwell, and rentalcars.com which seems to represent 12 rental companies. Avis, Hertz & Enterprise are also in Exeter; I have rented from them elsewhere but does anyone have experience with them in this region. Thanks very much.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
There are two train companies between London and Exeter, the major, fast route operated by First Great Western from London Paddington and the slower route via Salisbury operated by South West Trains from London Waterloo. Were those the two sites you were looking at? Train fares in the UK do vary widely as all the long-distance companies have fully embraced airline-style demand-based pricing, although they won't go down over time. The cheapest tickets will usually be direct from the rail company sites, at least a couple of months in advance.
Posted by
Hampshire, England.
1072 posts
Long distance train fares are usually available a maximum of 12 weeks in advance, book through the actual train company not a 3rd party like The Trainline, as they charge booking fees. www.nationalrail.co.uk website could also be used for journey info as that is the "portal site" for the rail companies and will direct you to the appropriate train operator when you want to book tickets.
Posted by
Tunbridge Wells
6113 posts
Our rail fare pricing structure is the most complicated in the world! In addition to the previous comments, note that rail fares are cheaper after 9.30/10.00 am weekdays when off-peak starts but there are some anomalies when the odd train earlier than this is cheaper! Cheapest tickets are when you name the train time that you will travel on in each direction. The disadvantage is that if you miss it, there are no refunds or alterations.
I have not heard of some of the car hire companies that you have mentioned. I always book car hire in Europe through Holiday Autos and have never had any issues and they are usually cheapest - they use Budget cars from Exeter rail station. If you do not drop the car back at the same location, there will be an additional one-way drop fee to pay.