Trains are expensive in UK and the railpass is expensive, too. A Britrail pass probably isn’t as good a deal as a Eurail pass, but it will probably save money over point to point train tickets if you take long trips. I’ll try to find some info on how the pass pricing is determined and post it later. Bus is a cheaper option in UK.

While you can still get to most places by train, the Irish rail system is not as extensive as in other countries, so bus is an option there, too.

Some things that might make a Britrail pass worthwhile, even though it’s expensive:

1. You can buy a 2nd class pass, even if you’re an “adult” and can’t buy a 2nd class Eurail pass.

2. Youth passes and Sr. Citizen passes are cheaper, although Sr. citizen passes are available only in 1st class.

3. A child’s pass (ages 5 to 15) is free with an adult or sr. pass — buy “family pass”

4. 3 or more of you traveling together can save a lot with a “party pass.” 1st two passes are full price, 3 through 9 are 50% off.

Price point to point tickets at http://www.nationalr… to see if a Britrail pass is worth it. Remember that Ireland may be covered by your eurailpass. Price tickets in Ireland to see if it’s worth it to buy a eurail pass that covers Ireland (particularly if you’re an “adult,” as I don’t think there is a 1st class in Ireland). http://www.irishrail… Another possibility is to buy a cheaper Eurail pass and cover Ireland with a Britrail +Ireland pass.

The right railpass or combination of passes or combination of pass or passes and point to point train tickets plus maybe a cheap flight, a bus or two and a ferry can save lots of money.

Cold_gorilla, just want to be sure you’re aware of these:
http://www.virgintra… and
http://megabus.com/u… — I know you asked for trains and this one is (mostly) bus, but they are very cheap on some routes with advance purchase; maybe an option on shorter distances?

Thanks so much to all your help i’ll get on to researching all that we were just going to wing it mostly but i think now i’ll get a bit more organised so i can check out the point to point prices and how many places we will actually be going to.
Thanks again.

Where did you find the prices? I don’t see either a 10 consecutive day britrail pass or a 10 day britrail flexipass.

In UK I believe the government owns the tracks and a number of private rail companies operate the trains — Virgin is one of several operating companies. Trains operated by all of the companies are covered by a Britrail pass and prices and schedules for all are on the nationalrail link. They may all show on the Virgin link, too, I haven’t checked.

How long are you going to be in UK?

I found the prices on the britrail website i know i did get it wrong i think its more like 8 days in two months with a flexi pass or there are consecutive day ones.
I’ll be in the UK and ireland for only a month so its not worth wasting a whole month and getting a two month pass.
Oldlady have i been looking in the wrong place?

If i get a consecutive pass does that mean i can use it on any rail line… not including london but say if i was to stay in Birmingham and take day trips to surrounding towns is all the rail lines i would take to do that included?

Not sure what you mean here…. You can use it on any train, but not subways or buses. If you’re going to be in UK for a month, doesn’t a flexipass make more sense than a consecutive day pass? Britrail website would be as good as any — prices should be the same, but you’ll want to compare shipping fees and “freebies” (other than map, schedule and travel bonuses) with other sites. Does the Britrail website sell Eurail passes, too? If not, I’d check other sites like www.railpass.com or www.raileurope.com that sell both to see if you save on shipping costs or maybe get some advantage from a higher $ order if you buy them together. You can buy Eurail passes, but not Britrail passes, at guaranteed lowest price on this site.

The flexi passes as far as im aware only offer 2 month passes but i will only be in the UK for 3 weeks to a month and about a week in ireland.
Thats why im thinking the 22 day consecutive sounded good since we’ll be doing lots of sightseeing. I was thinking of making a few different places throughout the UK our bases and doing day trips to surrounding places i’d like to see. This is instead of just going from place to place and staying in each individual place we want to visit.
Oldlady what do you think of this? I want to visit places like the Cotswold, though i have read thats not easy by train, salisbury and Oxford do you think for these places day trips from London would do or should i move on and say go to Birmingham for a few days?

I found this site if anyone else is interested http://www.railplus…. where if you buy a eurail pass and a britrail pass you get 50% off the Britrail.

So, what difference does that make? You just use the number of rail days. The two months doesn’t really matter. A 3 day pass would be worth it, if you planned to take 3 longish train trips in any period of time. IMO, a consecutive day pass is almost never the best deal financially, but it could be for you. Buying point to point tickets for some or all of your day trips will probably be cheaper than buying a more-comprehensive-than-you-really-need railpass.

Find a copy of Britain by Britrail. Check your library first. Don’t worry about getting the latest edition as most of the stuff in it never changes. It’s based on day trips from London, Edinburgh (don’t miss Scotland) Glasgow and Cardiff. I like day trips as a travel style. We visited Salisbury and Bath as one really long day trip from London.

If you buy a Britrail pass before April 30 (travel must be COMPLETED by October 30 — different from Eurail) you get a free extra day. That probably wouldn’t matter much on a consecutive day pass, but could save a bunch on a flexipass if you could buy a shorter one because of the free day.

Note that RailpassPlus is an Australian website with prices in Australian $. Check shipping costs, how they figure exchange rate, if they sell internationally, etc. if you’re buying from North America

Thanks so mush Oldlady your help is invaluable your right about the train so ill look at it from that way i just throught if we were going to be using the train everyday anyway but if the pass is really more for longer trips and can save money with point to points that would be ideal.
I’m looking up Britain by Britrail as i type thanks for the tip, i was finding it really hard to just get basic info and the guide sounds perfect for what i need.
Thanks again Oldlady

BTW, on Britrail’s official website it has an option where if you have a Eurail pass (I think you have to enter the pass ID# on checkout to verify) you get a pretty big discount on the Britrail pass. goes to look it up
Ok, checked and as a “Eurail passholder”, it is $129 instead of $205 for a 3-day pass, $159 vs $249 for 4-day pass, etc. This seems to be just for people who qualify for youth passes though, so it might not help you any.

Great find — appears to be the same as cold_gorilla found on the Australian site. I found the same thing for a Britrail youth pass on www.railpass.com so it’s probably available on all the websites, but it may not be easy to find. On railpass.com, it’s fairly well hidden, so, as always, it pays to spend some time nosing around the railpass travel agency websites.

Oldlady have you ever driven in the UK? just weighing up that opion too.

Yes, and we had a great time driving. Trip 1, drove pretty much all over Britain, Scotland and Wales. Rented a sports car (probably 4 times the cost of an economy car, and we absolutely, positively could not afford it) and had a blast. Trip 2, decades later, we covered pretty much the same territory by train, renting a car in Edinburgh to drive around Scotland. Probably equally fun. Despite the fact that we thoroughly enjoyed it in UK, I don’t generally recommend renting a car for city to city transportation:

1) Train is usually faster, often more convenient, and always a whole lot less nerve-wracking. Having a car in any European city is a nightmare — parking is expensive or non-existent, traffic is terrible, street signs are usually impossible to spot, let alone read. If you stay in the suburbs you end up using public transit to get into town each day, anyway.

2)Unless 3 or 4 of you can cram yourselves and all of your gear into a subcompact, the train will probably be cheaper. Insurance, drop off charges, extra fees for some rental locations, VAT and other taxes will quickly double the cheap rate you initially see. Fuel, parking and tolls add up quickly once you’re on the road.

3) Driving “in a foreign language” (and UK is pretty much just as “foreign” as anyplace else) is a full time job for one person. Navigating, map reading and “spotting” (reading signs, finding parking places, spotting the road you want to turn on, reading advertising type signs to get where you want to go) is slightly more than a full time job for a second person.

We often rent a car for a couple of days to see something specific or to explore a rural area. I consider it a luxury, not a way to save money.

Good advice thanks for that.

Visiting the historic places

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