travelling to London - cheaper by train or car?

[bluebread]

2 adults, 2 children plus baby in pram. We need to get to central London for the day. We are about 90 mins from London by train, same by car.

I think it's going to cost about £85 by train (family travelcard). Am wondering if it will actually be cheaper to drive in and park in an NCP car park. I know there will be congestion charge on top.

Any advice much appreciated!

Depends how far in advance you book. There are some very cheap tickets about if you can plan ahead. Google the trainline and see what is there. Baby obviously doesn't pay on train and can stay in pram/pushchair for the journey. I would always go for train due to stress reduction - can sit and play/chat/eat snacks, don't have to concentrate or navigate London.

What rail service do you use because Southern Rail has a special group ticket which you have to buy a week in advance, from their website.
is £20 for up to four people (might be cheaper from stations closer to London than we are)
I think that this is a bargain.

then you only need to get a travel card for underground/buses.

I would get the train, every time. the hassle of driving in London is horrible and you want to have a enjoyable day not one where the children learn 15 new swear words due to you being continuously cut up by taxi and bus drivers.

Thanks, this is helpful. We are going tomorrow so no booking in advance .

Think you're both right about train being more relaxing, altho' we will need to travel home during the rush hour and the thought of dd3 having a meltdown in her pram in a crowded commuter train doesn't fill me with excitement...

if it's going to cost you that much, I'd drive. Even the most expensive parking lot near me is £27 for the day (and that's Covent Garden). Don't know where you want to go (best to park near your main route into London so you're not driving right into central London where the traffic will be bad).

Then if you are happy to bus around, just get a bus ticket for you and the other adult (think it's something like £4.50 for the day for each of you for a London bus pass, can't remember....so you can do as many journeys as you need to).

If you choose to drive, let me know your main road in and I'll let you know if I know of a good parking lot!

Do you need to come back during rush hour? I don't know where you are, but we love spending time at the south bank centre (I think it's called) by Waterloo. Loads of space to run around, great sandwiches, often live music. Give them tea, let them run off the last of their energy, then take a later train with younger dc (hopefully) asleep. Then straight into bed fully clothed at home!

Could you drive to a station just outside London, park there, and get the train in?

No idea where you're coming from, obviously, but parking at Luton Airport Parkway (for example) is about £6 per day, then train ride of 40 mins. I assume something similar would be available from other directions and trainlines too?

Thanks everyone, lots of really good ideas.

Foxinsocks, we're coming from Oxfordshire, so would drive in on the M40/A40, and need to be in the West End.

ah bluebread, can give you several places to go

come into central London on the A40, over the marylebone flyover and carry on going straight. Past Baker Street Tube, Past Regent's park tube. Keep going but stay in the left lane (not the bus lane, the one next to that).

once you go past regent's park, I think there's a left only turn. STRAIGHT after the left only turn, there's a sign to filter off left for Holborn and the West End (with a road name, can't remember which one, probably A400 West End something like that).

You'll know where it is because it means you DON'T go into the Euston underpass. The filter left is JUST before this. If you're in the underpass, you've gone too far (doesn't matter, you can get back again if necessary, just gets a bit complicated).

You go off that filter.

Stay in the right hand lane and turn right and as you turn right, you follow the traffic (it will take you right then left a bit so you are parallel with the main road).

Then you hit a traffic light and you go straight through (it takes you to the right).

(the road you are on now is Gower Street, A400).

Turn left on Kempel Street (the next left turn after Torrington Street).

Turn right at the end and follow the road round to the left (Montague Pl).

Turn left into Russell Square. Go round the square and at the traffic lights at the end, get in the lane to turn left.

Turn left onto Southampton Row/Woburn Place (big road)

Turn first right into Coram Street. Parking lot on your right and it's £19 for the day.

Loads of buses around there to get you into where you need to go.

Also ludicrously convenient for getting home. You come out of the parking lot. Turn right onto Southampton Row and then left at the end and you're on the Marylebone Rd and you keep going straight straight and that's the A40.

Anyway, you can probably ignore all those directions if you have a satnav and just type in Coram Street

should have said last night, that's within the cong charging zone so you'd need to pay it

otherwise just park in an NCP off the marylebone road nr marylebone (loads there!)

Thanks so much foxinsocks. I am going to copy those directions down for next time!

In the end dh was keen on the train so we did that, and all was fine until the journey home - crowded train, screaming baby, nowhere to go - not fun...

Thanks again .