Train Tickets for Day's outing from London

a couple years ago I was in London for over a week and I did several day trips out side of London.
Stonehenge, Bath, Leeds, Oxford, Cambridge etc.
and I I just bought my tickets of the day of when I got to the trains stations. I didn't have any problems and didn't find any trains full or not avail.

Need what trips are in your mind to give the best advice. However I doubt thetrainline.com will be the cheapest because of their fees which many other sites don't charge. Anyone can licence the API and set up a ticket agency in the UK and take the 9% commission on sales. Therefore they can offer deals out of this commission. Best fares are often special offers from the trainn operator.

As to peak, off-peak, super off-peak etc, peak in general is around the morning commute times and often evening one. Precise timings vary by route. Similarly some routes will have cheap advance tickets which can reduce the cost significantly sacrificing you ability to take any train. Others don't and there is no advantage to buying in advance.

So share your plans!

I've done many day trips out of London and being a planner, I like to book my tickets in advance. I've used National Rail and found their prices to be the same as if I would buy at the station (because I've checked on the day prices and asked at the counter a couple of times), so I trust that site. Also, I do think the prices are a tad lower if you buy in advance. Give their site a spin: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

As said, don't use the Trainline, they are a third party re-seller not a charity so they charge a booking fee, use the actual train companies to book tickets.

Some third parties don't charge a fee either, eg redspottedhanky.

National Rail don't sell tickets themselves - you are redirected to another site for that. The default is an appropriate operator for the journey, but you are free to choose someone else from the drop down menu.

Actually, Marco, we will be going to Winchester and Bristol; however, I don't understand about the locations making a difference. We have always purchased a Rail Pass before, but this time we will not be using the rail system that much. I have tried several times to get into the National Rail website and an error message comes up. I understand about the "peak" tickets, but my concern is that we are not "dead sure" as to time of day we would be traveling. We would prefer to purchase tickets that can be used on a certain date, but any time during that date. Thanks for all your comments; we are still open for more!!!!!

The destinations can matter for the reasons above, eg advances not always being available, special offers etc.

Bristol
Super off-peak return is £55.00. Restriction code is YU which means departing from Paddington after 1009 Monday to Friday, any time Saturday / Sunday
Off-peak return is £69.00 valid from 08:09
By comparison, the cheapest advance fare is £11.60 (one way, booked train only).

Winchester
Off peak day return £33.50 - leave London after 09:30 Monday to Friday
There are no advance fares. Little advantage to buying ahead.

I haven't gone into split ticketing (where in going from A-B you actually buy a ticket for A-C and C-B where C is a point the train stops at enroute).

Marco, sorry I did not understand about the locations. Wow, all those combinations you mentioned are really confusing. Think I will stay away from those! As my husband says, maybe it will be better just to wait and purchase tickets on the day of traveling, or at least the day before. I would just like to have tickets in hand......the only drawback being that we are on holiday and maybe we would want to leave at 9:30 or maybe not until 10:05. If advanced purchased I want to be sure that this would be available.

As my husband says, maybe it will be better just to wait and purchase tickets on the day of traveling, or at least the day before.
It won't be better to wait to buy your ticket to Bristol.

Sambol, Please reread Marco's advice. It is not that complicated. For Bristol, what Marco is pointing out is that if you buy your ticket in advance, you could get a fare as low as £11.60 each way. Your ticket will be limited to a specific train so you will have to commit to the departure time when you make the purchase. If you wait until the day of purchase, you will pay at least £55.00. That is a pretty significant price difference (more than £60 on two tickets).

Actually there is something to add, now it seems there are two of you.

You could get a Two Together Railcard for £30 and take a third off the above prices, providing you travel together after 9:30 Monday Friday, anytime at the weekend.

http://www.twotogether-railcard.co.uk/

Wow! Wish I had known about the 2together card earlier.....would have saved some money in getting in from Healthrow. This sounds really good. Thanks much! I still cannot get into National Rail site.

national Rail in the UK at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ which should be accessable to all.

I have just tried nationalrail again and what comes up is: 504 - Gateway Timeout. Any suggestions as to what to do? Actually, I clicked on your entry in addition to trying it myself.
I have logged on to SouthWestern trains and also to Great Western trains. Their prices seem to be okay.

Nationalrail.com is someone else. As Nigel has above, it is http://www.nationalrail.co.uk you want.

I did enter it incorrectly. I clicked on Nigel's posting. I have just now clicked on your posting. I have also gone to the home page, entered the CORRECT address on the search line and it still comes up 504 - Gateway Timeout.

Sorry folks, I have entered it correctly on the MSN home page, and I have clicked on your links. 504-Gateway Timeout comes up. I really do not know what to do in order to bring up the website.

I have just tried again clicking on Nigel's link and Marco's link......nothing.

Well that is clearly a problem with your ISP/browser/proxy/whatever etc.

The site is not unavailable.
http://www.downforeveryoneorjustme.com/nationalrail.co.uk

sambol: are you putting in times on the National Rail website based on the time at home? That being so, those times in the UK would already have gone. Try using the site again (if it loads) and select 'Tomorrow' or your intended date of travel.

If you still do not wish to pre-book a cheap Advance purchase fare for the Bristol route, it is often cheaper to buy split tickets on this line. So, you buy PADdington > DIDcot return. DIDcot > SWIndon return and SWIndon > BRIstol return. These tickets should allow you to use any train but the train must stop at the split point - even though you stay on the same train throughout. Why Bristol & not the previous stop at Bath? Anyway, 2 trains an hour operate on this route and only 1 of them stops at Didcot but all stop at Swindon. Click 'Details' to find the stops.
http://www.splityourticket.co.uk

Travel on Saturday usually means that all trains are off peak (few commuters) except when special events take place.

I don't think the Railcard 2 for 1 deal applies to the Heathrow trains but you can halve the cost by using the Heathrow 'Connect' service instead of the 'Express' service. The 'Connect' service runs every 30 minutes and makes about 3 stops en-route on exactly the same route as the 'Express'.

The Heathrow Express is £50 return for a couple, ie £12.50 per each single journey. Has to be booked in advance at the Express site. However, it sounds as if the OP has already dealt with that.

You can get a third off the Heathrow Express (or Connect for that matter) with a Two Together card, but this is a bit difficult to do on arrival as the card will only be posted to a UK address and can't be bought at Heathrow.

Well folks, I still cannot get into the main website; however, I did get into their enquiries. Strange, isn't it? From what I am seeing, it is better for us to go with the individual train lines/companies. Hope I am using the correct term. As far as LHR transport goes, that is already set but thanks for the info anyway. I would like to go ahead and secure tickets, but husband says forget all the worrying and we'll just pick up tickets when we need them. Obviously, I don't agree, but what with the world situation like it is our trip may be called off anyway. Yes, we do have trip insurance but our 30th anniversary would be good spent on our holiday I've been planning for 9 months.