Train ticket advice - London-Edinburgh

[BJL]

I don't travel outside London by train much and could really do with some help figuring out the best time to buy advance tickets for a return journey in December from London to Edinburgh.

I need to buy three adult returns, leaving London on the morning of Friday 4/12 and returning the following morning. According to thetrainline.com, three Off-Peak Super Returns will cost just over ?402 if I book now. (I can't check prices on networkrail.co.uk because it's too far in advance.) Does anyone know if I'm likely to find cheaper tickets if I book closer to December? Any tips would be gratefully received.

[Guest]

the prices always tend to go down 12 weeks before travel - and then they can go down further. Don't book them now, you'll kick yourself. I pick up 1st class advances from around ?75

[mancity68]

Try this too http://www.moneysavingexpert.com/split-cheap-train-tickets/

[PeckhamNicola]

I don't know if it would work out but you can get a 1 year two together rail card for ?30 which gives 2 people a third off the price as long as they travel together. It doesn't take many journeys to save ?30. And I concur with lswayne on the timing.

[mima08]

Do also look at single journes. We found booking single journeys there and back (London - Edinburgh) was ?200 cheaper than a the cheapest return. Same train, same travelling conditions. Go figure - lots of googling helped.

[womanofdulwich]

If you look at skyscanner for flights I think you can do it for ?46 return each.( depending on what you call morning)

[Townleygreen]

it can be cheaper to split your journey - see where the Lon-Edin train stops in between. If it stops at York, see if your journey is cheaper Lon-York, York to Edin. You don't have to get off the train, you just stay on for the complete journey. This was explained in Which? last year!

[Katrusja]

I've been travelling between Newcastle and London every week pretty much for the last two years. You can buy weekday tickets up to 24 weeks in advance on v!rgintrainseastcoast.com so they are currently showing 4th December, but not 5th December. 4th December one way KGX-EDB is 39.70. However, as has been pointed out more tickets are available 12 weeks in advance and these can be cheaper. The 13th and 14th of November currently start at 29.40 KGX-EDB and 24.00 EDB-KGX - obviously it depends on the time you want to travel.

So I'd say probably worth waiting 3 weeks and checking the prices for advance tickets then. I wouldn't hang around as in my experience Friday and Monday ticket prices only ever go up after the 12 weeks and never down!

I only use split ticketing if it's closer to the date and the advances are more expensive. I find split ticketing websites never find the cheapest fares though. For example the cheapest for me is often to split the journey in Peterborough, but they generally suggest Darlington or York which normally only saves a few pounds whereas I can often save over 50 pounds splitting the journey at Peterborough. Anyway, as I said split tickets generally only needed/cheaper nearer the date of travel.

[Blah Blah]

Check out website megatrain.com as well.

[BJL]

Thanks to everyone for the advice. I'll wait for a while before booking and will see how 2 single tickets compare with a return.

Womanofdulwich - good idea, but flying's impractical because of the amount of luggage we'll have.

Blah Blah - according to that link, MegaTrains don't operate trains from London-Edinburgh.