Hello,
We are a family of 2 adults, 1 senior, and 3 kids (ages 8 to 12) vacationing in the UK between June 7th and 25th. We plan to fly into London, stay in London for 9-10 nights, York for 2-3 nights, Edinburgh for 5 nights, then back to London for 1 night before flying out. I have a few questions about how trains work and would appreciate your advice.
1) We plan to do 4 day trips from London. Exact locations are not yet decided, but they would be among Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, Canterbury, Windsor, and Stratford-upon-Avon. We can get a 4-day "BritRail London Plus Pass" for for the entire family for $565 (or 454 GBP). I looked at some sample round-trip tickets from London to these potential destinations for our family. Would you agree that the rail pass is a cheaper and better option if we want to travel during peak hours (i.e., before 09:30)? It seems off-peak tickets might be cheaper, but limiting travel to off-peak hours seems a bad trade off for tourists.
2) We will also need to buy train tickets from London to York, York to Edinburgh, and Edinburgh to London. I believe we qualify for the "Family & Friends Railcard." However, I am not sure how buying / using railcards work. I use the https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ website to search for train tickets and there is an option to select a railcard, which then shows reduced pricing for tickets. Do I buy one "Family & Friends Railcard" online for 30 GBP, then buy train tickets with that railcard option selected, and then show my tickets and railcard at the station?
3) For the single journey train tickets between cities, how far ahead should I book them? When do prices start increasing or trains become booked up? For example, should I book all tickets now? In May? Or a few days ahead while I'm in the UK?