London to Lancaster

[klv]

Does anyone have any ideas of cheaper tickets from London to Lancaster? Friday onward, Monday back. I'm super flexible so I don't mind long connections, bicycle runs up to 20 miles between stations, etc etc.

 

[yorkie]

Does anyone have any ideas of cheaper tickets from London to Lancaster? Friday onward, Monday back. I'm super flexible so I don't mind long connections, bicycle runs up to 20 miles between stations, etc etc.

Have you tried the forum's site in "cheap" mode?

 

[TheSmiths82]

You can get an open return from London Euston to Manchester quite cheaply via London North Western and changing at Crewe. It is either £40 or £50 (from memory) depending on the time you want to travel, then it would be fairly cheap to get an open return from Manchester to Lancaster. If you can travel off peak then it would be possible to do the complete return journey for around £65 but it is a bit of a faff -

London Euston to Crewe via London North Western
Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly via TFW (these cheap tickets only offer TFW trains and not Northern, the TFW services can get very busy due to a lack of carriages)
Manchester Picc to Lancaster (via any permitted)

The journey planners will probably have better ideas than me though


Update - I checked to see if there are direct trains to Lancaster from Crewe, there are but the open returns are very expensive. I have only included open returns for flexibility as if there are delays and if isn't a through journey things can get a bit complicated. If you are happy with advanced singles though you could probably get a direct train from Crewe, or get it even cheaper via Manchester if you are happy to that third change. Also I would be interested to know if travelling up the East Coast line would work too. My open return method would be about 5 hours or more in travel! So perhaps not so great.

 

[yorkie]

You can save a bit more if you choose to exclude Avanti:

 

[paul1609]

Both Megabus and Flixbus do London to Lancaster Uni price depends on how far you book in advance, Megabus are £36 return for next weekend. Journeytime is not outrageous when compared to the slower rail options. Where possible I join at the London "North" stop Finchly Rd or Golders Green and get the tube as it avoids the crawl in to Victoria.

 

[mangyiscute]

If you can be flexible with what time you leave at, could be worth checking Avanti's superfares: https://www.avantisuperfare.co.uk/ where you can get a single from London to Lancaster for £25, you have to book a week in advance tho.
If you haven't seen the superfare before, you essentially choose a time period (morning, afternoon or evening) and the day before you travel, you get told which train youre taking which will depart your station during the time period you chose, and the fares are very cheap.

 

[klv]

thanks everyone! probably going by bus

 

[BluePenguin]

thanks everyone! probably going by bus

Try the Avanti Superfare, might get yourself a bargain

 

[TheSmiths82]

Try the Avanti Superfare, might get yourself a bargain

I have only just seen this, might have been useful when I was coming back from London, although it didn't cost me anything in the end anyway due to delay repay.