to think it shouldn't cost a thousand just to visit family

[number5namechange]

a few hrs away on the train?

So both me and dh don't drive due to medical issues/lack of confidence.So use public transport.

We are going to visit his family in a few weeks ( monday to Wednesday) with a grand cost of one thousand pounds!!!
That includes train fare for 2 adults and 3 kids. Premier inn with breakfast. We also have to pay for our own food when there. Some spending money ( 200)

(Sorry, hadn't rtft, rushing to be helpful!)

I'm also assuming OP had to book 2 rooms.
Would probably be cheaper in Airbnb apartment for 2 nights

This may be worth looking into as well.

To get the best deal on train tickets you need to book them 12 weeks in advance, you get great deals then.

In my case it's my family and I would like to see them even though I get a tad frustrated they don't meet us half way.

If you are "just" going to visit family, stay with them. Buy food at the supermarket and eat at their house, would cost the same as being at home. So the train for the 5 of you isn't much more than 2 tanks of petrol for a car big enough to fit 5 people and all their luggage. Is the journey a tank full distance ?

What you are doing is having a little holiday. Perhaps think if you want to spend your holiday budget visiting family and having days out with them, or going elsewhere.

Have they come back - because we looked for some for uni open days and we knew that far in advance and they didn't seem to be there as they were pre-pandemic.

I know how you feel OP.
We're off to visit family in the Highlands shortly and I haven't calculated the total cost because I know it will shock me. My sons are over 16 now so we'd need 2 rooms in the Premier Inn, so with breakfast for 2 nights for 4 of us it was going to be nearly £700. The days when budget hotels really were cheap seem to have gone. We've been away a few times recently- university visits, a wedding and so on so not popular holiday destinations - and I think the cheapest Premier Inn room I have found was £87.00. Most have been over £100, and £150 isn't particularly unusual. I've booked a cottage for just over £400 this time instead.
We're driving, as the train was prohibitively expensive, plus would have left us twiddling our thumbs in Glasgow for ages. But with the fuel prices as they are it is going to be a costly trip.
I'm not too bothered in a way as for various reasons we are not having a main holiday this year, and it will be an enjoyable visit. But it's an expensive weekend for sure. We have got 3 weekends away in different parts of the UK this Summer and I could definitely have booked a fortnight's package holiday abroad for less than we will spending in total on those weekends. I know the causes are multiple and there isn't an answer as such, but I do share your pain.

I thought kids under 16 went free on trains off peak.

Only in London

Definitely take advantage of the kids for a quid for the train thing. I didn't know about it before booking train tickets for me and DD in Scotland last week but the conductor told me I should have only booked for myself, then gone to the ticket office in the station to get her ticket for a quid. Would have saved a bit.

Never heard of that and I've being traveling with children for 16 years now all over UK.

www.thetrainline.com/trains/deals-discounts/kids-for-a-quid
You can secure Kids for a Quid train tickets on selected Southeastern, West Midlands Railway, London Northwestern Railway and Chiltern Railway routes at Trainline.

May help you OP - it's not in areas we need but very useful if you can use it.

Have you tried split my fare? It’s a website and spilts the tickets up so works out cheaper a lot of the time (not always though so double check)

Don't go.

Wrong link - Scots one more useful to you OP:

Scots rail:Kids for a Quid

Doesn't sound extortionate to me for what is essentially a trip away for a few days for 5 people staying in a hotel.

If it’s Inverness, hotels are always affa expensive in summer - due to all the tourist trade so that’s going to explain hotel prices. You canna greet aboot the £300 you’ve allocated for spending money and food shopping.

Edinburgh to Thurso next week, family of five plus railcard £154 return. How far are you travelling on that is costing £250 by taxi?

You must have booked in advance. Given a rough idea of OP's dates, the the best I could do is £205 Edinburgh to Inverness (not necessarily the correct destination) for 5 with a family rail card. I've discounted Thurso because it is more than a few hours. The availabilty of a Premier Inn narrows down the possible destinations and also limits how much a taxi would cost. So £400 still sounds rather a lot.

I don't think rail fares are so much extortionate so much as hugely variable. A train journey from Edinburgh to Notts cost me the princely sum of £17.10 this May!

Depends where the family lives I guess... ask any Australian living in the UK... they will be spending many thousands to see their families..

So, £700 for 5 people for 3 days. £140 a head, for 3 days... £47 a head per day. What's terrible about that?

You're choosing to spend money on treats (the £200) and you'd have to feed yourself at home (the £100). You're adding this up in an interesting way!

Haven't RTFT but have to ask why it makes a difference that you are visiting family

to think it shouldn't cost a thousand just to visit family

Should fares etc. be cheaper because you are using them for that purpose?

I literally look this morning. Tickets next week. Then remembered about the kids for a quid and it's even cheaper.

OP is claiming that it's £400 to travel north in Scotland, that's about as far north as you can go. Aberdeen/Inverness closer and even cheaper.

I suspect if it was booked 12 weeks in advance it would be cheaper still.

What's the spending money for? You don't need that if you're visiting your family.

In fairness you do if going on day trips, out for meals, ice creams etc.

Sorry, that's it the children pay £1. I live in the rural Highlands and booked me and dds train tickets for Inverness online. The ticket office told me to buy them at the station next time as dd would get a reduced ticket. I must have imagined the free tickets for kids or maybe it was only a certain offer for a time. I only get the train maybe 4 times a year either to Inverness or Edinburgh.

As a side note. It costs me and dh £95 return from Inverness to Edinburgh when we go away for the weekend a few times a year.