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cheapest or quickest way to blackpool please.!
14 Answers
ive just spent an hour looking at all the options to get a train to blackpool from norwich. its around £87 return. does anyone know of a better cheaper way possibly via london.? i dont drive and a coach is 8 hours!! thanks.
Answers
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. . . and having posted all of that lot, can I ask, Ibizaboy, that you tell us the dates that you'll be travelling on (and any time constraints that might apply)? That's the ONLY way that you'll get a definitive answer to your question.
22:55 Tue 21st Jun 2011
The bad news is that, unless you've been quoted Advance fares (for specific dates which you've not mentioned in your question), the fare of 'around £87' referred to in your question is the SINGLE ('cross-country) fare from Norwich to Blackpool, not the Return one. (That's the 'Anytime' fare. There doesn't appear to be an Off-Peak Single fare available).
The Return fare on the cross-country route is £143 using an Anytime ticket, or £112 travelling Off-Peak.
Via London an Off-Peak Single ticket is £121.50, with an Anytime Single costing £202.90. There are no Return fares, per se, available, so you'd have to pay in each direction.
It's possible (but not necessarily very likely) that you might be able to get cheaper rail travel by combining Advance tickets but that would probably only apply (if at all) if your travel dates were well in the future. For example, on certain trains you can get to London Liverpool Street for £15 single but I'm unable to find any equally low fares from Euston to Blackpool. I doubt that you'd find any ticket combination cheaper than the normal £112 Off-Peak fare. (If you provide your travel dates I take a look for you though).
Megabus can get you from Norwich to London. (There are no cross-country routes available). Leaving at 0630, you get to London at 1000. (3½ hours). The fare, when booked a reasonable way in advance, is £1.
From London, Megabus will take you to Preston. with the 1200 departure getting in at 1825 (approx 6½ hours). On a random date I've just chosen in July, the fare offered is £12.
Coming back from Preston, you could get the 1150 service, getting into London at 1730, then the 1930 service arriving in Norwich at 2245. (£8 + £1 on my sample dates). That would make £22 return from Norwich to Preston.
20:37 Tue 21st Jun 2011
The Return fare on the cross-country route is £143 using an Anytime ticket, or £112 travelling Off-Peak.
Via London an Off-Peak Single ticket is £121.50, with an Anytime Single costing £202.90. There are no Return fares, per se, available, so you'd have to pay in each direction.
It's possible (but not necessarily very likely) that you might be able to get cheaper rail travel by combining Advance tickets but that would probably only apply (if at all) if your travel dates were well in the future. For example, on certain trains you can get to London Liverpool Street for £15 single but I'm unable to find any equally low fares from Euston to Blackpool. I doubt that you'd find any ticket combination cheaper than the normal £112 Off-Peak fare. (If you provide your travel dates I take a look for you though).
Megabus can get you from Norwich to London. (There are no cross-country routes available). Leaving at 0630, you get to London at 1000. (3½ hours). The fare, when booked a reasonable way in advance, is £1.
From London, Megabus will take you to Preston. with the 1200 departure getting in at 1825 (approx 6½ hours). On a random date I've just chosen in July, the fare offered is £12.
Coming back from Preston, you could get the 1150 service, getting into London at 1730, then the 1930 service arriving in Norwich at 2245. (£8 + £1 on my sample dates). That would make £22 return from Norwich to Preston.
20:37 Tue 21st Jun 2011
http://uk.megabus.com/Default.aspx
From Preston, you could take the X61 to Blackpool. (Fare unknown, but £6.50 buys you a day's unlimited travel on Stagecoach services in Lancashire so, at the very worst you'd have to add £13 onto the £22 above, making £35 in total):
http://www.stagecoach...1%20%28Chorley%29.pdf
Chris
From Preston, you could take the X61 to Blackpool. (Fare unknown, but £6.50 buys you a day's unlimited travel on Stagecoach services in Lancashire so, at the very worst you'd have to add £13 onto the £22 above, making £35 in total):
http://www.stagecoach...1%20%28Chorley%29.pdf
Chris
JB12:
The problem with seeking 'Advance' fares is that they're not available on all routes. Where they are available, I agree that purchasing 6 weeks ahead is usually the best way to get the lowest fares. However the fares at the ticket office should always be exactly the same as those on the National Rail website:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
The problem with the question, as asked above, is that we don't know the dates of travel. It's pointless me (or anyone else) trying to find low fares for a month or so ahead if the questioner is travelling this week!
The problem with seeking 'Advance' fares is that they're not available on all routes. Where they are available, I agree that purchasing 6 weeks ahead is usually the best way to get the lowest fares. However the fares at the ticket office should always be exactly the same as those on the National Rail website:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
The problem with the question, as asked above, is that we don't know the dates of travel. It's pointless me (or anyone else) trying to find low fares for a month or so ahead if the questioner is travelling this week!
Haven't read the answers really....
Chris - when I went to Blackpool by train (2010) we checked national rail, got our price, but as the site was being a twonk we headed to the train station....where we got it considerably cheaper...
They quoted £180 on line (2 adults 1 child) and £110 at the station...
Chris - when I went to Blackpool by train (2010) we checked national rail, got our price, but as the site was being a twonk we headed to the train station....where we got it considerably cheaper...
They quoted £180 on line (2 adults 1 child) and £110 at the station...
Another possible way of reducing the fare:
As I've indicated above, Advance fares aren't available on all routes. (Even when they're available on a certain route, they might not be available between all station pairings along that route). So I've just tried changing my search criteria (for some random dates in July) to ask for fares from Peterborough to Blackpool. I've found single fares of £17.50 outbound and £22.50 coming back, so that's a total of £40 for that part of the journey. For the Norwich to Peterborough sector, I've found Advance fares of £6 in each direction, making £52 in total. (Even if Advance fares weren't available, the regular return fare is £27.50 Anytime or £20.80 Off-Peak. Alternatively, the First Excel X1 bus links Norwich and Peterborough).
As I've indicated above, Advance fares aren't available on all routes. (Even when they're available on a certain route, they might not be available between all station pairings along that route). So I've just tried changing my search criteria (for some random dates in July) to ask for fares from Peterborough to Blackpool. I've found single fares of £17.50 outbound and £22.50 coming back, so that's a total of £40 for that part of the journey. For the Norwich to Peterborough sector, I've found Advance fares of £6 in each direction, making £52 in total. (Even if Advance fares weren't available, the regular return fare is £27.50 Anytime or £20.80 Off-Peak. Alternatively, the First Excel X1 bus links Norwich and Peterborough).
thankyou buechico. your a gem.!! to be more precise its mon sept 18th and fri sept 23rd. i dont want to go by bus. ive done a few checks but as you rightly say theres no easy option. ive even split the journeys and so far got it down to £64. going via london seems quicker and cheaper than 6 hours on one train from norwich to manchester then changing. thanks once again.
Thanks for your reply. 'Advance' ticket allocations for those dates probably won't be released until around the middle of August, so that's when you should be seeking to book your tickets (but it could be worth checking the National Rail website in about a fortnight's time, when tickets for those dates will first become available for online booking).
Travelling via London is typically only 15 minutes quicker than going cross-country. Given that you'd have to walk between Euston Square underground and Euston (which can be a bit tedious when you've got lots of luggage and/or it's raining) or else connect between two Underground lines, the time saving (possibly at the expense of a far higher fare) simply doesn't seem to be worth it in my opinion.
Chris
Travelling via London is typically only 15 minutes quicker than going cross-country. Given that you'd have to walk between Euston Square underground and Euston (which can be a bit tedious when you've got lots of luggage and/or it's raining) or else connect between two Underground lines, the time saving (possibly at the expense of a far higher fare) simply doesn't seem to be worth it in my opinion.
Chris
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