UK travelfilter: How to plan options for a long-distance journey?
August 22, 2022 10:32 PM Subscribe
I’ll be heading from Derbyshire England to Carmarthenshire Wales at some point in September. I’m open to all travel options including car, coach, rail, flight or more. How do I find out how to get there cheaply and quickly?
(I’m most stuck on finding options for travelling by coach.)
Thank you.
(I’m most stuck on finding options for travelling by coach.)
Thank you.
I would take the train. Derby to Cardiff. Change there and then take the West Wales line which stops at Llanelli, Carmarthen, etc. Book in advance for cheaper tickets.
You're not going to get good options by coach. As socky_puppy says you'd have to get to Birmingham. Best way to do that from Derby is train. There is a coach from Leicester.
posted by einekleine at 11:11 PM on August 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
You're not going to get good options by coach. As socky_puppy says you'd have to get to Birmingham. Best way to do that from Derby is train. There is a coach from Leicester.
posted by einekleine at 11:11 PM on August 22, 2022 [2 favorites]
Crossing the UK from side to side with public transport is not easy.
You can go cheap, using the coach options suggested, but the quickest option would be to hire a car and drive. Even then, from Derby to Carmarthen is about a four hour drive.
Train prices on national rail show it's about 5 hours from Derby Train Station to Carmarthen, and about £100 return. You might be able to find better prices if you're willing to book advanced tickets and fixed times, but they're not flexible.
posted by Braeburn at 1:44 AM on August 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
You can go cheap, using the coach options suggested, but the quickest option would be to hire a car and drive. Even then, from Derby to Carmarthen is about a four hour drive.
Train prices on national rail show it's about 5 hours from Derby Train Station to Carmarthen, and about £100 return. You might be able to find better prices if you're willing to book advanced tickets and fixed times, but they're not flexible.
posted by Braeburn at 1:44 AM on August 23, 2022 [1 favorite]
You might be able to find better prices if you're willing to book advanced tickets and fixed times, but they're not flexible.
Small detail, but actually until the end of September they are. Kind of, anyway — you have to pay any difference in fare.
Train would also be my choice, but, I like trains.
posted by breakfast burrito at 1:58 AM on August 23, 2022
Small detail, but actually until the end of September they are. Kind of, anyway — you have to pay any difference in fare.
Train would also be my choice, but, I like trains.
posted by breakfast burrito at 1:58 AM on August 23, 2022
Definitely train over coach.
You don't say what you'll be doing in either location but know that local public transport, outside the large cities, is often limited to infrequent and expensive bus services in large parts of the UK. So if you plan on getting around in more rural parts it may be worth hiring a car and driving. Not suggesting Derby for example is pleasant to drive around in - it's not (I used to live there). But if you plan on getting around anywhere rural, e.g. to visit different beauty spots and villages, a car soon becomes the only efficient way to go.
posted by koahiatamadl at 2:41 AM on August 23, 2022
You don't say what you'll be doing in either location but know that local public transport, outside the large cities, is often limited to infrequent and expensive bus services in large parts of the UK. So if you plan on getting around in more rural parts it may be worth hiring a car and driving. Not suggesting Derby for example is pleasant to drive around in - it's not (I used to live there). But if you plan on getting around anywhere rural, e.g. to visit different beauty spots and villages, a car soon becomes the only efficient way to go.
posted by koahiatamadl at 2:41 AM on August 23, 2022
Google maps is pretty good in giving details of public transport in the UK (the operators are required to publish open format data on it). You can force it to find coach routes by selecting 'bus' in the options. Air is not going to be a realistic option.
Cheapest is difficult to establish in advance across modes directly, but any train ticket website will give you the cheapest currently available fare, and the relevant coach company will show you their cheapest fare. Driving costs are dependent on what you're driving in. If it's helpful, it was about £1.80 (plus or minus) for unleaded petrol when I filled up a week ago.
posted by plonkee at 3:30 AM on August 23, 2022
Cheapest is difficult to establish in advance across modes directly, but any train ticket website will give you the cheapest currently available fare, and the relevant coach company will show you their cheapest fare. Driving costs are dependent on what you're driving in. If it's helpful, it was about £1.80 (plus or minus) for unleaded petrol when I filled up a week ago.
posted by plonkee at 3:30 AM on August 23, 2022
it was about £1.80 (plus or minus) for unleaded petrol
Note that this is per litre.
If booking trains, two things to note:
posted by fabius at 5:42 AM on August 23, 2022
Note that this is per litre.
If booking trains, two things to note:
- Use a train company's own website to book tickets, for free, rather than something like thetrainline.com which will charge a small booking fee.
- You can book tickets for any UK journey on any of the train companies' websites - they all have the same data. e.g. I've bought tickets for journeys all over the UK from greateranglia.co.uk, rather than set up accounts on several companies' websites.
posted by fabius at 5:42 AM on August 23, 2022
Rome2Rio is good starting point. When we traveled to the UK this summer Rome2Rio helped us identify a coach to get us somewhere when the train strike hit. The coach we used FlixBus was very good BTW.
posted by terrapin at 9:43 AM on August 23, 2022
posted by terrapin at 9:43 AM on August 23, 2022
If you're talking about one single journey (rather than touring), with a reasonably limited timeframe (i.e. you know what day you want to travel so you can book in advance), and you're travelling by rail, then do check out the trainsplit app. Split ticketing can save a significant chunk of change on long journeys, although I don't know that specific route. Even on relatively local trips, it usually saves me £5 or so, and on longer ones it's sometimes been more like £30. I love trains, believe in trains, am angry at the degradation of rail service in the UK over the course of my lifetime, etc., and often pay more to go by train simply to make a rather futile point.
Having said that, if the time is similar (and I personally consider 4 hours the same as 5, when it comes down to it, although it will really depend where you are in Derbyshire, which is... not a small or equally-well-serviced-by-public-transport county -- several commenters are assuming you're in Derby, but if you're on holiday you might be in the back of beyond, nearer Sheffield), National Express buses are entirely comparable to trains in terms of comfort and reliability -- and hella cheaper. Oh, and their wifi tends to work, unlike the wifi on trains (at least in the South).
In conclusion, and at the risk of contradicting myself: in this case, I would take the National Express bus described by socky_puppy, assuming I could get to Birmingham in a reasonable manner -- or check for similar buses from Sheffield, if that's closer. Sheffield is a reasonably excellent transport hub.
posted by obliquicity at 1:26 PM on August 23, 2022
Having said that, if the time is similar (and I personally consider 4 hours the same as 5, when it comes down to it, although it will really depend where you are in Derbyshire, which is... not a small or equally-well-serviced-by-public-transport county -- several commenters are assuming you're in Derby, but if you're on holiday you might be in the back of beyond, nearer Sheffield), National Express buses are entirely comparable to trains in terms of comfort and reliability -- and hella cheaper. Oh, and their wifi tends to work, unlike the wifi on trains (at least in the South).
In conclusion, and at the risk of contradicting myself: in this case, I would take the National Express bus described by socky_puppy, assuming I could get to Birmingham in a reasonable manner -- or check for similar buses from Sheffield, if that's closer. Sheffield is a reasonably excellent transport hub.
posted by obliquicity at 1:26 PM on August 23, 2022
« Older Is there such a thing as a good walking shoe with... | Can someone explain Soka Gakkai to me? Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by socky_puppy at 11:08 PM on August 22, 2022