We need to go from London to Oxford and later in our trip from London to Bath. What is the most economical way to do this by train? I checked Brit Rail, but don't see a way to buy a ticket from just point to point. I don't think I would use the pass enough to warrant the cost. What train services providers offer service for Oxford and Bath from London?
Posted by
UK
1015 posts
BritRail is not a British rail operator, just a seller of passes to tourists.
Start with www.nationalrail.co.uk for all tickets and prices, then it will take you to the right site to buy them.
Are you doing round-trips to both these places? These are called "return" tickets.
Enter your start point as London (All) and it will give you the appropriate London start point - I think it's Paddington in both cases.
Cheap Advance tickets (note the capital A for advance) go on sale usually 12 weeks ahead of time - you'll get good reductions on your Bath journey but you'll have to catch the specified train. If you don't want to tie yourself to specific trains then look for off-peak returns if you're happy to travel outside of rush hour.
I'm not sure if Oxford trains will be greatly reduced by buying in advance - with some shorter journeys, the price doesn't change much. You could also investigate the Oxford Tube - despite its name, it's a comfortable fast bus service from central London to Oxford.
Read The Man in Seat 61's website for more on UK rail. It's quite complex.
Posted by
Hampshire, England.
1075 posts
Yes, Britrail used to be based in Switzerland, not sure if that's still the case. The "umbrella" organisation for trains in England is National Rail.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5467 posts
There are advance singles from as little as £5 between London and Oxford. This may be rather unusual but there is intense competition both with the two coach operators and the two train operators. Trains go from Paddington (GWR) and Marylebone (Chiltern). For London to Bath use GWR from Paddington. There is a cheaper route in theory from Waterloo but the number of direct trains is a handful.
Posted by
Troy, Oh, USA
2805 posts
Go to......http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk....use journey planner... for Oxford the train leaves from London Paddington there is one that leaves at 7:57am arriving 9:47am if you buy your ticket in advance 8-10 weeks, a return ticket (round trip) would be £28.00pp if bought the day of travel or a week before it will be £42.00pp.
For Bath, you would leave from Paddington Station leaving at 8:30am arriving at 9:59am return ticket would be £29.00.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34010 posts
generally using the actual train operating company, which will be linked to by the national rail website, will be better than using a reseller like trainline. if you go to the horse's mouth you can see any special offers and pay no fee.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34010 posts
the 9:30 restriction doesn't apply on weekends.