My husband and I will be in England and Scotland this summer. Our plan is to be on the train 4-5 days over a three week period. One day will be a trip from London to Bath and back. Does anyone have experience with the Two Together Rail Card? Is it worth it? Should we consider a rail pass? What are your experiences?
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17563 posts
If your plans are firm, the best value is Advance tickets booked 12 weeks (approximately) in advance. A TwoTogether Railcard will give you an additional 30% off --- hard to beat. We used a combination of the two on one trip because my research showed noAdvance fares on three routes, but I am still unsure we did the right thing. Next trip we will just use the TwoTogether Railcard and Advance tix.
Posted by
Royaume-Uni nul points, pas plus
2600 posts
it's worth it if you save money, but as you don't give details of your train journeys it''s impossible to say
you need to do your sums
Posted by
262 posts
We used the Two Together card with advance fares and figure we saved quite a bit.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34001 posts
I echo the prior suggestion to do the arithmetic.
You will pay £30 for the card, and each save about a third on eligible tickets. If you don't save £30 you didn't need the Railcard. If you save about £30 you broke even, or less because you have to provide the photos and time to get the pass. If you save over £30 it worked well for you.
Be sure you know the restrictions.
Posted by
Seattle, WA
17563 posts
Restrictions:
http://www.twotogether-railcard.co.uk/help/terms-conditions/
Note in particular that is is not valid for travel between 4:30-9:29 am on weekdays. That may affect your trip to Bath if you want an early start.
Posted by
Rick Steves' Europe
16895 posts
There is a BritRail Pass for 4 days of travel within a month ($352 per person with no need for advance booking), but not one for 5 days, so you'd choose the shortest route to buy locally. If traveling roundtrip in one day, or making several stops, you're covered until midnight by one day of a rail pass.
If buying tickets for a roundtrip, book it as such (a "return" trip), which also can provide a significant discount.
Posted by
1 posts
We had a TwoTogether rail card last year, and did save some money on not a whole lot of travel. Gatwick to Canterbury to London to Bath to Moreton-in-Marsh to London to Gatwick.
To save time at Gatwick, we filled out the downloaded application and had photos taken before leaving home. The photos were a mistake. Apparently US passport photos are larger than UK ones, and they were too large for the pass. The guy finally got some scissors and trimmed them, which was only partially successful. The Photocard number didn't print on the Railcard (you have two separate cards for the pass). I bought all but one ticket online. The only ticket agent I dealt with challenged my pass, but she eventually gave in when I showed her the receipt for the pass purchase. Keep your receipt.
When we go back in May, we will have the photos taken in a booth at the station.