Cheap train & coach deals
Streamline the cost of travel tickets with the latest discounts
The below list of cheap train and coach deals will put you on the right track to cut your travel costs.
We check with firms that deals are open to all and if there are any restrictions, but policies can change, so check before booking. These are often limited-time promos – for top ways to save on any journey, see our Cheap Train Tickets guide.
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If you're feeling spontaneous and love to travel, you might want to consider booking Eurostar's Snap. These are train fares 'reduced up to 50%' if you're willing to book a last-minute journey – the only catch is that you won't find out your train's departure time until 48 hours beforehand.
You can specify both a travel date and destination, but Eurostar will allocate you a train time based on unsold seats. It told us the number of Snap fares available will vary depending on how full the trains are as it aims to optimise seat capacity.
Warning: These fares are non-refundable, non-exchangeable, non-transferable, and non-cancellable – so if you cannot make the time Eurostar books your train for, you will not get your money back. Snap fares are a good way of getting cheap train tickets if you can be totally flexible and willing to travel at short notice. See full Ts&Cs.
Eurostar told us that bookings can be made two weeks in advance for travel to and from London, and up to eight days ahead for other routes. The latest you can book a Snap fare is the day before departure.
When we checked and compared fare prices to Paris for five day's time, the standard fare on Eurostar's website displayed a price of £97 as the lowest fare option. Comparatively, via Snap, this fare was £40, see image below.
Eurostar wouldn't tell us what the lowest possible discount would be as the exact saving varies depending on availability and demand at the time of booking. Ultimately, this is a bit of a 'no risk, no reward' travel hack as you won't be able to get your money back once you've booked. You'll need to weigh up if a cheap fare is worth a time you may not like to travel during, especially if you live further away from London and need to factor in getting to St Pancras station.
Return journey include:
- Paris and Brussels
- Paris and Amsterdam
- Paris and Cologne
- London and Brussels
- London and Paris
Or you can travel one way between London and Amsterdam.
As ever with travel deals, the best way to make your money go further is to be flexible. Of course, it may incur more costs and be slightly more risky to book a hotel last-minute, so it's worth having a few options for accommodation to book in case there's no availability or researching a neighbourhood you'd like to stay in beforehand. That said, sometimes you can also bag hotels at a cheaper price if you book last-minute, so it's a bit of a luck game.
Alternatively, if you're lucky enough to stay have friends and family living at your chosen destination, this could be another safe bet to secure yourself somewhere to stay.
How to book:
- Visit snap.eurostar.com to select a travel date and destination.
- You can book up to four people, although there’s no guarantee you’ll all be seated together.
- Eurostar then allocates the train times for the chosen date.
- 48 hours before departure, Eurostar will confirm the train details.
See our Cheap train tickets guide for more ways to save.
See all deals: Eurostar (1 deal) -
Get a 16-25, Family & Friends, Senior or Two Together Railcard via Tesco Clubcard* for £15 in Clubcard vouchers instead of the usual £30. You'll be sent a code that can be used at the Railcard* site.
You can use Clubcard vouchers for the Disabled Person's Railcard, but Tesco says a technical error means you can only exchange £18 of vouchers for this, and as the railcard costs £20, you would need to pay the £2 difference separately.
What discounts do the railcards get you?
16-25: A third off fares if you're aged 16 and over and under 26.
Family & Friends: A third off adult and 60% off child fares, a minimum of one adult and one child, and a maximum of up to four adults and four children (age 5-15) can travel using one card.
Senior: Those aged 60 and over get a third off rail fares.
Two Together: A third off rail fares for two named adults when they travel together.Check the railcard site for restrictions and to ensure you're eligible before exchanging your vouchers. See our Tesco Clubcard boosting guide for other ways to use your points.
See all deals: Railcard (4 deals) -
If your train season ticket is an annual gold card (or comes with one), you can get extra discounts you don’t get with a standard season ticket. One of the biggest perks is being able to buy a railcard for just £10 (up to 66% off the normal price) for yourself or someone else.
This discount only works for those in the south of England, but if that’s you, it can be a winner. Railcards usually give a third off most fares – see full info on what each railcard gets you.
How do I get a gold card?
To do this, you'll need to have an annual gold card – this will either be your actual season ticket or come with it. You should have been given one automatically if you’ve bought a year's season ticket or Travelcard (not weekly or monthly) from one of 600+ stations on this annual gold card area map, and at least one of the stations on your ticket falls within the same area.
This won’t work in much of the UK, but the gold card area includes a large part of the south of England.
Which railcards can I get for £10?
You can choose from most of the major national railcards – 16-25, Family & Friends, Two Together, Senior, Network Railcard for London and the south of England (all normally £30) and Disabled Person's Railcard (normally £20). These cards get you a third off most journeys – see all railcard types.
You can get one annual railcard for £10 at any time during the validity of your annual gold card.
Don't have a gold card? You can still get a £10 railcard
The person buying the railcard doesn’t have to be the person who ends up using it.
So if a friend or family member who commutes has a gold card, just ask them to buy the £10 railcard for you if they don't need it, and they can follow the steps below. Check the Railcard* website to make sure you're eligible beforehand, and provide the gold card holder with any photos or evidence of eligibility required.
You can only buy the £10 railcard from a station
If you bought your annual season ticket from a train station, you'll need to purchase your railcard from that particular station. If you bought it online, then you can go to your nearest station. The only exception is if you're getting a Disabled Person's Railcard – see 'More info' below.
Let the staff member know you want to purchase a £10 railcard with your gold card and fill in the application they give you. Some railcards such as 16-25 and Senior require photos and evidence of eligibility so have that with you, and you'll need to show your gold card.
If you're buying a railcard for someone else, Railcard says the person you're buying the railcard for doesn't need to be present.
Another way to get a discount on railcards
- If you have a Tesco Clubcard with enough points, you could use your Clubcard vouchers to get a one-year railcard for £15 in vouchers. See National Railcards for £15 in Tesco points.
See all deals: Railcard (4 deals)