Where's the best place to buy train tickets to that there Lundun?

[MsAdorabelleDearheartVonLipwig]

Thinking about a family day out to London at half term. Just had a look at the Trainline website and for some reason it said over £400+ for a family return ticket? Please tell me that's not right.

Might be easier to drive and find a park and ride.

I don't know London at all. Have been inside the capital twice, I think, in my life. And the first time was a school trip. Am clueless but am also on a little bit of a budget these days so can't afford to book the wrong tickets.

Where do you live? Train prices in this country are ridiculous. I am in SE London and work in central London so happy to advise on Lundun stuff if you want.

Ooh thanks. We're in Suffolk. I just don't have any idea where you buy train tickets at sensible prices.

Prices will vary enormously on the Trainline depending on times. Have you tried looking at an hour or two either way of the tickets they're showing you?

I don't know how different places/providers differ but I live an hour from London and my kids usually go for about £10 each return and about £20 max for me with Virgin or London Midland. Tickets are usually flexible as long as you don't go during rush hour and you can pick any train from the same company in case you miss the one you wanted.

Wow. I've just had a look at MoneySavingExpert and they found adult singles for about £40 each and child singles for £8. That works out about half the price of the other one.

We're over two hours away so can't leave it too late in the morning. Wonder how early I can get the kids up? It's gonna be a long day.

Remember to avoid commuting times if you're going in the week. You won't get a seat otherwise.

You'll be fine on the train though, commuting two hours into London every day isn't uncommon. It goes pretty fast.

Oh also check the restrictions on the tickets. Super off peak, for example, has really limited times that you can travel. Off peak is a bit less limited. If you'll be entering or leaving London around 9pm or between 4 and 8pm (I think! Double check) you'll need a peak ticket.

Check with your train provider, though

Right, ok, thanks.

Gonna be an expensive day out as well.

If you have a Friends & Family Railcard you can travel on peak trains. And save a fair bit of cash!

It might be worth getting a family railcard if you travel a bit. It costs £30 but saves money on all tickets.

Go after 9am & use a Family & Friends railcard. We live 3 hours from London & visited for the day. It cost £100 for 2 adults & 2 children & that included travelling on the underground too.

Family & Friends railcards are free with Tesco vouchers.

I always use National Rail Enquiries to find out times & prices.

We also stayed overnight in Hemel Hempstead once & caught the train into London for the day. It cost £50 for a Travelodge & £30 for all 4 of us to get into London plus underground so cheaper than a day from home & more time there. Obviously, we did have to drive to Hemel Hemstead & back too.

DH commutes across several counties twice a week. He found that booking the journey in 2 halves is often cheaper ie booking A to B (within same network but including transfers in London) then B to C (another network/operator) is considerably cheaper than A to C and he does not even have to change trains at B because the train from London to C goes through B.

Definitely get the railcard - with that and advance booking and comparing routes, 5 of us went all the way from kent to cumbria for just over £230 return!

if you'll say what station you're travelling from and how many adults and children and what date, you can have a MN challenge to see who can find the cheapest fare??

Do you have a One Stop shop near you? I'm not sure if they exist all over the country or not, but when I lived in Sussex there was one in Brighton that I used and it was actually much cheaper than booking online (although had the disadvantage of having to actually go to the shop).

Have you thought about using the bus?

Phantom I like it!

Halesworth to London Liverpool Street. Two adults two children.

what day/date?

www.thetrainline.com/buytickets/combinedmatrix.aspx?Command=TimeTable#Journey/HALESWORTH/LONDON%20LIVERPOOL%20STREET/28/10/15/09/00/Dep/28/10/15/19/00/Dep/2/2

less than £100 return, without a railcard too (but depends on what time trais you actually want)

where were you looking?

Halesworth to Ipswich and Ipswich to Liverpool St, no tube required.

Have you tried splitting the journey so that only one leg of it falls within peak time? I used to do this on a daily basis and saved £100's each month.

I live 1.5 hours from London and the train costs are horrendous, especially at peak times. What you can do though is buy a ticket to a station half way to London, then an onward ticket for the rest of the journey. You don't actually get off the train, the train just needs to stop at that station. Think I once saved nearly £100 on one return ticket doing this.

I'm pretty certain someone has built a tool to automatically cost it for you - let me see if I can dig it out...

Here it is - www.splitticketing.com/