Cheapest tickets for London-Canterbury-Dover-London

[stq123]

What would be the cheapest tickets for a day trip from London on a Saturday which involves taking:

• The fast train from London St Pancras to Canterbury West
• The train from Canterbury East to Dover Priory
• The fast train from Dover Priory to London St Pancras?

My gut would be to buy a London St Pancras - Canterbury East/West return and then singles for Canterbury - Dover and Dover - Ashford Int'l. Is that correct or would there be a better way?

 

[P Binnersley]

Canterbury to Folkestone Central is £16.60 off peak day return and valid via Dover or Ashford.
No break of journey restrictions.

 

[Class800]

London Terminals to Dover Priory off peak day return route plus high speed is £54.40 (public rate no railcard). So that's your benchmark - can you find something to beat that?

Off-peak day return London Terminals to Canterbury East/West is £47.30

So can't see splitting in Canterbury saving money

I've checked the code on the London Terminals to Dover Priory off peak day return plus high speed and cannot see any break of journey restriction.

This would mean you could use it as you intend changing trains/stations in Canterbury

 

[stq123]

London Terminals to Dover Priory off peak day return route plus high speed is £54.40 (public rate no railcard). So that's your benchmark - can you find something to beat that?

Off-peak day return London Terminals to Canterbury East/West is £47.30

So can't see splitting in Canterbury saving money

I've checked the code on the London Terminals to Dover Priory off peak day return plus high speed and cannot see any break of journey restriction.

This would mean you could use it as you intend changing trains/stations in Canterbury

Is London-Dover via Canterbury *West* a permitted route?

I’m currently messing around w the NRG and can find nothing that seems to permit it as a route - if someone could point me to the maps that would be great

 

[yorksrob]

Why not treat yourself and get the classic route from Victoria. You can just get a cheaper return to Dover and break your journey at Canterbury.

 

[stq123]

Why not treat yourself and get the classic route from Victoria. You can just get a cheaper return to Dover and break your journey at Canterbury.

no i want to take HS1

 

[jtshark71]

no i want to take HS1

HS1 will cost more. Even with a rail card

 

[pelli]

So the desired route is
St Pancras [STP] - Ashford [AFK] - Canterbury West [CBW]
Canterbury East [CBE] - Dover Priory [DVP]
Dover Priory [DVP] - Ashford [AFK] - St Pancras [STP]

I believe the Super Off-Peak Day Returns Plus High Speed (Restriction code F4, which has no weekend restrictions) from London Terminals to a variety of destinations including CBE/CBW, DVP, Ramsgate [RAM] and Deal [DEA] all have the same price, £41.20. Fast trains travel both STP-AFK-CBW-RAM and STP-AFK-DVP-DEA-RAM.

It seems the £41.20 ticket to DEA (or any other station between DVP and RAM) is valid both via DVP and via CBW-RAM (due to DVP and RAM both being valid routeing points). Hence, a ticket for London Terminals to DEA can be used for STP-AFK-CBW outward, and DVP-AFK-STP return. Here's a Trainsplit search for next Saturday, forcing changes at CBW out and DVP return:

You then just need a separate £10.50 Anytime Day Single for CBE-DVP (unless you spend an extra 40ish minutes going via RAM for free). That makes a total of £51.70.

(I initially thought a ticket to RAM would also work since journey planners will validate STP-RAM via DVP, but then I realised they only do so if you don't change trains at DVP, so that's just the direct train rule obscuring the lack of a mapped route from London Group to Ramsgate Group via DVP.)

P Binnersley's suggestion of a Canterbury return together with a Canterbury to Folkestone Central [FKC] Off-Peak Day Return (Route Any Permitted) would be £41.20 + £16.60 = £57.80.

 

[paul1609]

So the desired route is
St Pancras [STP] - Ashford [AFK] - Canterbury West [CBW]
Canterbury East [CBE] - Dover Priory [DVP]
Dover Priory [DVP] - Ashford [AFK] - St Pancras [STP]

I believe the Super Off-Peak Day Returns Plus High Speed (Restriction code F4, which has no weekend restrictions) from London Terminals to a variety of destinations including CBE/CBW, DVP, Ramsgate [RAM] and Deal [DEA] all have the same price, £41.20. Fast trains travel both STP-AFK-CBW-RAM and STP-AFK-DVP-DEA-RAM.

It seems the £41.20 ticket to DEA (or any other station between DVP and RAM) is valid both via DVP and via CBW-RAM (due to DVP and RAM both being valid routeing points). Hence, a ticket for London Terminals to DEA can be used for STP-AFK-CBW outward, and DVP-AFK-STP return. Here's a Trainsplit search for next Saturday, forcing changes at CBW out and DVP return:
View attachment 161747
You then just need a separate £10.50 Anytime Day Single for CBE-DVP (unless you spend an extra 40ish minutes going via RAM for free). That makes a total of £51.70.

(I initially thought a ticket to RAM would also work since journey planners will validate STP-RAM via DVP, but then I realised they only do so if you don't change trains at DVP, so that's just the direct train rule obscuring the lack of a mapped route from London Group to Ramsgate Group via DVP.)

P Binnersley's suggestion of a Canterbury return together with a Canterbury to Folkestone Central [FKC] Off-Peak Day Return (Route Any Permitted) would be £41.20 + £16.60 = £57.80.

A London Terminals to Deal ticket would also be valid via Faversham to Dover thence to Deal with a break of Journey at Canterbury East. Although the rules dont allow an interchange between Canterbury West and East if you got a paper ticket with no scan history?

 

[30907]

A London Terminals to Deal ticket would also be valid via Faversham to Dover thence to Deal with a break of Journey at Canterbury East. Although the rules dont allow an interchange between Canterbury West and East if you got a paper ticket with no scan history?

You can of course use HS1 to Ebbsfleet and on to Faversham and that would have no question over validity
Does East have gates on both sides or just the down?

 

[yorkie]

What would be the cheapest tickets for a day trip from London on a Saturday which involves taking:

• The fast train from London St Pancras to Canterbury West
• The train from Canterbury East to Dover Priory
• The fast train from Dover Priory to London St Pancras?

My gut would be to buy a London St Pancras - Canterbury East/West return and then singles for Canterbury - Dover and Dover - Ashford Int'l. Is that correct or would there be a better way?

Have you tried the forum's site? It will look for a cheaper combination of tickets, if one is available.

You can achieve this by specifying London to Dover, and requesting interchanges at Canterbury West / Canterbury East (select the option to only request this in the outward direction, if you wish to return direct)

The only thing the forum's site won't do, is look for tickets for a longer journey, or to an alternative destination, which can sometimes be cheaper to purchase, and then starting/finishing "short" of the origin/destination printed on the outward/return portions (see post by @peli above) and/or swapping from the outward/return portion en-route.

Although the rules dont allow an interchange between Canterbury West and East if you got a paper ticket with no scan history?

I'm not sure what this means; could you edit your post to provide clarification, please?

Why not treat yourself and get the classic route from Victoria. You can just get a cheaper return to Dover and break your journey at Canterbury.

To be fair, if someone asks specifically for a ticket via HS1 to St Pancras, we should respect that. Please also bear in mind that a ticket issued for travel to St Pancras via Victoria would have to be issued to a London Zonal destination (i.e. "Zone U12). Is it really worth the hassle of changing onto the cramped Victoria Line for a saving of only about a couple of quid?

* Note: this is a rhetorical question; please don't answer!

 

[30907]

Have you tried the forum's site? It will look for a cheaper combination of tickets, if one is available.

via the two Canterburys it offers a split at Shepherdswell but only if you return the same way - or (interestingly) a split at Ashford if you come back via Folkestone - but the Deal option in post #8 is cheaper than the Ashford split.

 

[Argyle 1980]

Assuming you will be in Canterbury city centre, the bus station is more central that Canterbury East and is only £2. The direct buses 15/16 from Canterbury to Dover/Folkestone are quick and frequent (The Folkestone service is atleast every 20 minutes so imagine the direct Dover service has similar frequency) so maybe just bus the Canterbury-Dover leg.