So as I'm planning our budget for the London portion of our trip, I came across the two for one deals through National Rail.
Am I correct that we are eligible to pre-purchase these two for one vouchers for all of these attractions as long as we've purchased and can show our 7 day pass for zones 1-2 of the Tube? Am I reading this right?
Seems too good to be true........
Thanks! :)
Am I correct that we are eligible to pre-purchase these two for one
vouchers for all of these attractions as long as we've purchased and
can show our 7 day pass for zones 1-2 of the Tube? Am I reading this
right?
With one massive proviso: you must buy this travelcard at a National Rail station, above ground, at a train ticket office, and it must be on the National Rail stock card with the double chevron logo.
A seven-day travelcard bought in a tube station would not be valid.
Effectively you're utilising a loophole. The 2-for-1 deal was set up to encourage people to use the train. So if you can show train tickets to and from your destination, you qualify. This extends to include season tickets, and a seven-day travelcard for tube/buses etc ONLY WHEN it's bought at a National Rail station on National Rail stock card with the logo, effectively counts as a train season ticket.
Other tourists have also had success buying a decoy train ticket - simply buying a train ticket for the cheapest rail journey in London on the day they want the offers. But I'm sure that loophole will get closed at some point. Officially you're supposed to have used your ticket to travel to the attraction.
The 7-day (or even 1 day paper) travelcard is not a loophole, because it is perfectly reasonable for someone resident in London to be able to take advantage of the offer.
Buying the cheapest ticket possible between two stations vaguely in the London area was not a loophole either really, more an try-on and has been now clearly stopped with explicit rather than implied terms.
This still leaves relatively cheap tickets possible provided they are to London terminals bookending the trip. For most people though who are in London for a week the 7-day travelcard does it fine anyway. If you go out of the zones covered (eg to somewhere like Hampton Court) remember to buy the extension before you start.
I think someone at TripAdvisor did some research on this topic:
Thanks for the replies! I still have a few clarifying thoughts/questions:
Our daughters are 19 and 17, so we will typically require four adult tickets for each attraction
(though at a couple, the 17 year old is free/reduced).
If I'm reading this correctly, I will need to purchase our seven day tube passes at an above ground National Rail station. I had planned on purchasing our tube passes at the first opportunity upon arrival from Gatwick on a Tuesday morning. The plan was to travel into the city to Victoria station and then take the tube to our final destination (Celaledonian Road) after having purchased the passes at Victoria. But it seems that we'll need to purchase the passes elsewhere to be sure to get the proper ones. Can anyone please help.me plan our journey from Gatwick to Caledonian Road station so that we will find ourselves near an appropriate above ground station to purchase our tube passes?
Second, is there any benefit to purchasing the two for one vouchers online in advance? It seems that we would still have to wait in queue to exchange the vouchers for tickets, so I'm not sure I see an advantage.
Thanks again for any help!!
You can buy the travelcards at Victoria. Go upstairs from the underground and you will find yourself in one of London's biggest train stations. Go to any ticket window at the train station at ground level.
Are you by any chance departing London by train? If you take the Gatwick Express into London, that counts as the first leg of a "return" journey and you could use the 2-4-1 offers throughout your stay.
https://www.daysoutguide.co.uk/travel-by-train/is-my-ticket-valid-for-2for1
However, a 7-day paper Travelcard is very useful for getting around London, so I would recommend doing that. You will need a passport-size photo to buy the Travelcard for each person. You can buy them at Victoria rail station---not the tube station.
As for the vouchers, you do not purchase them in advance. You download them for free, print them out, and take them to the attraction you wish to visit to show when you purchase entry tickets.
You can also find the vouchers in booklets at rail stations in London, but they often run out. Paddington Station never seemed to have them; twice we found them at London Bridge station.
The point raised by Lola is an important one.
What are you doing after the London portion of your trip, and how are you getting there? All your 2-4-1 problems may be solved....
Will be in London and only in London for the whole week, or will you have day trips or excursions, say to York or Windsor or such?
We'll be taking the Eurostar to Paris.......does that work?
Oh, and we're planning a day trip to Oxford by train. Maybe that would do it?
But regardless, we're planning on purchasing the 7 day tube pass upon arrival just for the sake of convenience.
"We'll be taking the Eurostar to Paris.......does that work?"
No it doesn't, it's not National Rail and it's not TO London.
With a ticket from Gatwick to London Victoria or a Thameslink station, and a ticket from London to Oxford you should be good from the arrival day to the Oxford day - but using the weekly Season Travelcard will do you with no effort.
Take the photos.
Sorry to high jack your thread, but I am also wondering if this will work for me. :)
HELP! Please! :)
My brother and I are traveling on Sunday evening 7/2 (arrive Paddington approx 7:00 pm), coming on a train from Bath (is Great Western a National Rail company)? We can't use a 1-day travelcard for the 2-4-1 deals that day, since attractions will be closed by the time we arrive. However, can we buy a 7-day Travelcard at Paddington once we arrive, so as to get the 2- for-1 deals for our stay from Monday through Thurs evening? Is it valid for all 7 days? I guess I'm wondering if we need to have a ROUND TRIP ( return) ticket leaving London to be able to buy and use the 7- day Travelcard and qualify for the 2-4-1 deals? The only other train we plan on taking is to Heathrow when we leave. I know the trip to Heathrow doesn't count.
We want to see the Churchill War Rooms, Tower of London, Westminster Abbey, and a few other things. Getting all that for 2-for-1 would be a huge savings.
Then, sorry for this dumb question - can I still ride the tube, etc. using this rail card (i.e. Does it have a certain amt. of the ticket price go to tube rides,etc.)? Do I top it off like the Oyster card? Or, just by virtue of buying the railcard, does it cover all my travel for the whole week, within zones 1-2?
Thanks in advance! Gretchen
Gretchen, buy the travelcards at Paddington at the main train station (you'll need a passport sized photo). I'd ask for Zones 1-2 if you're mostly staying within central London. These cards will cover all your tube & bus fares in central London for the week and enable you to use 2-for-1 vouchers for the full period.
Your train from Bath would only give you ability to use 2-for-1 IF you were leaving London on another valid train.
"(is Great Western a National Rail company)? "
Yes, all the Train Operating Companies (TOC's) are.
Hi Jane and Harley,
Thanks for the info so far! So, just to clarify in my mind (I'm not sure why I'm not "getting" this), I DON'T need a round trip/return ticket out of London to still use the 7- day Travelcard, correct?
When I arrive at Paddington, I go to the railway ticket office with a passport-sized photo - will any small 2x2 photo of me do or does it have to be an actual passport photo? Then, I will buy a 7-day Travelcard (I know it is a paper ticket with the logo on it) to get the 2-4-1 deals all week. I know I should print vouchers at home. Is there anything else I need to know?
:) Thanks again!
I DON'T need a round trip/return ticket out of London to still use the 7- day Travelcard, correct?
correct.
As is the rest of your most recent post just above.
Any reasonable photo will do. 2x2 is pretty big.
When I arrive at Paddington, I go to the railway ticket office with a
passport-sized photo - will any small 2x2 photo of me do or does it
have to be an actual passport photo? Then, I will buy a 7-day
Travelcard (I know it is a paper ticket with the logo on it) to get
the 2-4-1 deals all week. I know I should print vouchers at home. Is
there anything else I need to know?
One thing to add: BOTH people need the travelcards to qualify for 2-for-1s. So both you and your travel companion. I mention this because you keep saying "I" in the paragraph above but earlier you mentioned you were travelling with your brother.
