Train Travel Waterloo Bournemouth

[smurfchops]

Very expensive with SW Trains. Ae there any reputable companies that do cheap day return rail tickets? We dont have any discount cards.... Tia

[New Judge]

I think South West Trains is the only operator on that route. £42 return is the cheapest I can see.

[SeaJayPea]

I know I'm risking incurring Buenchico's wrath here, but I've just looked on The Trainline and they say £16.80 going and £11 coming back. Will depend on your dates. I looked for the 19th August. BUT there's a thing called Summer Promo and you'd get a day return for £20.

http://www.thetrainline.com/buytickets/combinedmatrix.aspx?Command=TimeTable#Journey/LONDON/BOURNEMOUTH/19/08/15/09/45/Dep/19/08/15/18/00/Dep/1/0//

[Buenchico]

If SeaJayPea has found those advance fares on Trainline.com then they should also be available on the National Rail website:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
(Without the risk of being issued with invalid tickets, or having to pay booking fees, as tends to happen on third party websites).

Indeed, having just checked, they most definitely are. (Out at 0835, arriving 1020. Back at 1959, arriving 2124. Later departures also available at 2022 or 2112).

As NJ indicates, SouthWest are the only operators on that route.

[New Judge]

You could always travel by coach National Express do it for about £10 return if booked in advance. Journey time about 2h 15m.

[Buenchico]

Further to NJ's post (and taking Wed 19/08 as an example again), coach times from Victoria Coach Station are as follows:
0700 > 2h 50m journey > 0950
0800 > 2h 25m journey > 1025
0900 > 2h 15m journey > 1115
1000 > 2h 25m journey > 1225

Return times are as follows:
1740 > 2h 20m journey > 2020
1920 > 2h 30m journey > 2150
2000 > 2h 20m journey > 2220

£5 each way is currently offered on all of those services.

[jno]

special offers to the end of August

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/summer.aspx

[Buenchico]

Hang on!

I forgotten that the London to Bournemouth rail route is a 'Megatrain' route. Promotional fares on those routes are the onlyfares which don't appear on the National Rail website (or, indeed, on third party websites - such as Trainline.com - which are sourced from the National Rail site anyway).

Confusingly, you need to go via the MegaBUS website to find cheap TRAIN fares!

Using Wed 19/08 as a reference point again, you could travel out from Waterloo at 0905, arriving in Bournemouth at 1100, for £8.00

Coming back you could take either the 1759 (arriving 1951) for £8.00 or the 1959 (arriving 2149) for just £6.00.

So you can get your day out for just £14.00!!!

http://uk.megabus.com/

[DaisyNonna]

London to Bournemouth for £8?
Worthing to Bournemouth with Senior Rail card?

[Buenchico]

Hi DN:
The return fare from Worthing to Bournemouth, using a Senior Railcard, is £25.30 peak or £13.55 off-peak. (It's not a Megatrain route and there don't seem to be any discounted 'Advance' tickets on offer).

[Cathyhuns]

If you're going to Bournemouth to go to the beach, it's worth thinking about getting a PlusBus ticket. It's quite a walk from the station to the beach and up hill on the way back.

The disadvantage of the Megatrain is it has to be booked in advance and you can only use the train you are booked on. The £20 Promo can however be bought on the day and used on any off peak train. You can also use Weekend First