London to Newcastle

[sunskippy10]

Hi guys.

Any top tips please. traveling from London to Newcastle and wondered if there was a cheap way to do it? apart from thumbing a lift ;) Looking at the train but anyone have some inside info ? Is there a better way than going direct eg stopping at certain station then going direct from there? Been scouring the websites , trainline, virgin, comparison etc.

Appreciate it if any ideas?

Thank you :)

[Lowlander]

Never use the trainline, they add on surcharges. Go direct to eastcoast who run the route and they give you an extra 10%. Book in advance and try very early/very late mid-week trains or at weekends.

http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/

Oh, and it's August - peak holiday season and Edinburgh festival is on, so east coast services will be rammed and cheap fares scarce

[sunskippy10]

Thank you Lowlander :)

Will check it out

[Earl Aelfheah]

There is always Megabus, if you have a LOT of time.

[bonaome]

What Lowlander said. Plus check out if it makes sense to get a rail card. If it's a one-off trip probably not, but if you travel a lot by train, or even 2 or 3 times on longer journeys, they can pay back very quickly.

Or you could hire a car. If you're not travelling alone, it can work out cheaper plus giving you lots of flexibility - you still need a lot of time, it's a long way.

And I have occasionally found it cheaper to fly! FlyBe from LGW, BA from LHR. Though from ED, it's actually quicker to get the train from KX than to fly because you've got to get to LGW or LHR, and then there's the getting from NCL airport ...

[anonymous_third_part]

driving is great. i find its best saturday morning very early - stick to the M11 then on to A1 - normally takes around 4 hours 45 mins.

[ladyruskin]

You could try splitting your tickets on the trains. It can apparently make the journey substantially cheaper. I think there are several sites that offer some kind of service one is called Tickety Split or something, and Money Saving Expert has a tool http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-train-tickets#app

Or you could try Lift Share https://liftshare.com/uk

[ruffers]

Interesting piece here - http://www.theguardian.com/money/2014/aug/01/best-worst-train-tickets-rail-fare

[dulwichmum]

Sunskippy10 sweetie,

What is "Newcastle"?

Why would you ever want to leave Dulwich?

Do they have grammar schools?

Is it outside the M25? I may have had an aupair from there once.