Luton Airport train prices

On 22nd October 2019 Luton Airport Parkway joined TfL's "Contactless" scheme

No longer do you *have* to buy a paper ticket ... although sometimes it may be cheaper.  Remember that this is contactless only - your Oyster card will not work at Luton Airport Parkway.

Standard fares using Contactless are 15.50 gbp peak (both morning and evening) and 12.00 gbp off peak.  This pricing also applies from any Zone 1 or Zone 2 station - so you no longer will get charged separately for getting to St Pancras.
Adding in the separate bus fare, the prices become 17.90 gbp and 14.40 gbp

If you use Contactless for a journey from Zone 2 Overground without entering Zone 1 (for example from Kensington Olympia via West Hampstead Thameslink) the fares are 12.00 gbp peak and 7.80 gbp off peak
Adding in the separate bus fare, the prices become 14.40 gbp and 10.20 gbp

If you use Contactless for a journey from Zone 2 Underground without entering Zone 1 (for example from White City via Shepherds Bush and West Hampstead Thameslink the fares are 13.70 gbp peak and 9.30 gbp off peak
Adding in the separate bus fare, the prices become 16.10 gbp and 11.70 gbp

The normal paper ticket fare from St Pancras to the airport (including the bus) is 17.40 gbp (a saving of 10 pence compared with buying separate tickets) - with no obvious change in price between peak and off peak.
However this fare can be reduced by using a Railcard - so for example if you are travelling after 10am, the price drops to 13.00 gbp and if you are travelling at a weekend the price is 8.65 gbp

The normal paper ticket fares from Kensington Olympia to the airport (including the bus) is 18.60 gbp - and this drops to 13.00 gbp after 10am on weekdays and to 12.30 gbp at weekends if you have a Network Railcard.


In summary: use Contactless apart from - if you are staying near St Pancras it is usually cheaper to buy a paper ticket (apart from if you are travelling off peak without a Railcard) and if you are travelling at a weekend from a Zone 1 or 2 tube station via St Pancras

It's also worth highlighting that if you have a Railcard and are in Zone 2 near an Overground station - it's actually slightly cheaper to take the tube to St Pancras, and get a paper ticket from St Pancras than travel via West Hampstead Thameslink


If you don't have a Railcard:
From Zone 1 tube station - use Contactless - 17.90 gbp / 14.40 gbp
From St Pancras during peak - use paper ticket - 17.40 gbp
From St Pancras off peak - use Contactless - 14.40 gbp
From Zone 2 Overground - use Contactless - 14.40 gbp / 10.20 gbp
From Zone 2 tube station - use Contactless - 16.10 gbp / 11.70 gbp

If you do have a Railcard:
From Zone 1 or 2 tube station weekday - use Contactless - 17.90 gbp / 14.40 gbp
From Zone 1 or 2 tube station weekend - use paper ticket - 11.05 gbp  (8.65 + 2.40)
From St Pancras station weekday - use paper ticket - 17.40 gbp / 13.00 gbp after 10am
From St Pancras station weekend - use paper ticket - 8.65 gbp
From Zone 2 Overground weekday or weekend - use Contactless - 14.40 gbp / 10.20 gbp
From Zone 2 tube station weekday or weekend - use Contactless - 16.10 gbp / 11.70 gbp

Dublin to Ischgl for a few days skiing

Ischgl isn't the easiest of places to get to from Dublin ... there aren't (m)any direct flights from Dublin to Innsbruck (the nearest) airport to Ischgl ... so the journey is a bit longer ...

The other complication is that Swiss (the airline) seem to have gone back to the dark ages with their pricing ... single flights are exorbitant ... so if there isn't a flight in one of the directions on one of the days that you want - you're screwed !

Aiming to fly out of Dublin on Tuesday 2nd February ...

Dep Dublin 16:15
Arr Zurich 19:25
price 79 eur plug baggage (EI)

Dep Zurich Flughafen 20:18
Arr Landeck Zams bahnhof 23:42
price approx 60 eur

Taxi to Ischgl
price ?

Another option is to fly to Innsbruck on a connecting flight ... with plenty of time to check in again in LGW

Dep Dublin 07:35
Arr LGW 09:10
price 23.40 eur plus baggage (FR)

Dep LGW 11:30
Arr INN 14:30
price 68 eur plug baggage (EZY)

Bus F from the Flughafen terminal to the Hauptbahnhof takes less than 20 mins and departs every 15 mins
price 2.7 eur

Dep Innsbruck Hbf	15:57	17:01
Arr Landeck-Zams	16:58	17:57
Dep Landeck-Zams	17:05	18:05
Arr Ischgl	17:58	18:58

Price 16.1 eur for the train (postbus not bookable online - fare approx 10 eur)

A further option is to fly to Salzburg - one advantage of this routing is sold as a connecting flight by BA (although DUB-LGW is operated by EI) - so if you miss the connection in LGW, it's up to BA to find you a new one !

Dep Dublin 07:00
Arr LGW 08:25
Dep LGW 10:05
Arr Salzburg 13:05
price 157 eur including baggage

Dep Salzburg Flughafen	14:25	15:25
Arr Salzburg Hbf	14:47	15:47
Dep Salzburg Hbf	15:00	15:56
Arr Landeck-Zams	17:39	18:30
Dep Landeck-Zams	18:05	19:05
Arr Ischgl	18:58	19:58

Price 53.6 eur


Accommodation

Ischgl has a reasonable amount of accommodation bookable through the town's website - with B&Bs in the town (rather than in Mathon which is 5km away) from about 55 eur per person per night sharing.  Ganahl is showing availability on the website - others may be available offline by email the tourist office.


Return flight

Need to get back into Dublin around lunchtime on Sunday 7th February ... so looking at options that give a full day skiing on Saturday 6th ...

None of the airports have late flights on Saturday to Dublin - so starting off looking at late flights to London (so could fly to Dublin on Sunday morning) ...

Innsbruck
The last (sensibly priced) flight out on Saturday evening departs at 17:15 - so that's not much good

Salzburg
There's a 19:45 flight on Saturday evening from to London for just 37 eur - but you'd have to leave Ischgl by 2pm in order to make it

Zurich
The 20:50 departure to LHR is 148 eur - that would mean leaving around 3pm

Munich
The last flight from to London on Saturday night is soon after 7pm - so that's not much use


Looking at travelling to direct to Dublin on Sunday morning - so spending Saturday night near the airport ...

Munich
dep Ischgl 17:58 (or 15:58) and arr Munich 22:21 (or 21:15) for 39 eur (no price showing for earlier timings)
dep Munich Sunday at 11:05 and arr Dublin 12:45 for 106 eur plus baggage (EI)
or Sunday evening departure at 20:10 (arr Dub 21:50) for 100 eur plus baggage (EI)

Zurich
EI direct flight departing at 8pm (arr Dub at 21:25) for 102 eur
or connecting BA flight departing at 7am (arr Dub at 12:20) for 150 eur

Innsbruck
No direct flights
connecting FR/EZY flights departing at 10:45 (arr Dub 15:35) for 150 eur with 2:35 in Luton to transfer / check in

Salzburg
No direct flights
connecting FR flights departing at 10:30 (arr Dub 15:05) for 99 eur with 2:05 in Stansted to transfer / check in


Looking at travelling to London on Sunday evening

Munich
8pm departure for 86 eur plus bag (EZY) or 9.15pm departure for 100 eur - but doesn't work with connections
to make the 8pm departure - would need to leave Ischgl around 2pm

Zurich
9.25pm departure for 171 eur plus bag (EZY)
departing Ischgl soon after 3pm would get you to the airport by 7.45pm

Innsbruck
sadly the last flight to london is at 5.40pm (for a crazy 473 eur) and the 3.10pm flight (for a still hefty 219 eur) isn't very helpful

Salzburg
the last flight to london is at 5.05pm for 157 eur with BA
departing Ischgl soon after 10am would get you to the airport for 2.30pm - trains only every 2 hours

London to Budapest ... by rail

For a different experience, I thought that I would look into going to Budapest by train ...

As always Seat61 is a fantastic resource for anything train related ... and they suggest a number of different routes to Budapest ...

With Eurostar starting direct trains to Lyon from 1st May, I thought that might open additional options, but in fact they aren't great either for timings or for pricing.

Whilst an overnight in Zurich and taking the scenic route sounds beautiful, I'm not sure that I have the patience for that long on a train !
So I'm thinking the London - Paris - Munich - Budapest, with the final leg on an overnight sleeper, looks like the best option.


Looking at prices for early (just to give an idea) - they are somewhat higher than those quoted on the Seat61 website:

London to Paris - I will hopefully be able to use my Eurostar Frequent Flyer points

Paris to Munich - there is just the direct train, but plenty of connecting services
79 euro (3rd May) to 99 euro (4th May) to 119 euro (2nd May)

Munich to Budapest overnight - the options for a sleeper (I'm ignoring the couchette and seat options):
3 person cabin - 89 euro per person
2 person cabin - 99 euro per person (an extra 10 euro for one less person sounds like good value)
1 person cabin - 149 euro per person

So 79 + 99 = 178 euro, assuming I can use my points to get to Paris

This compares to about 100 euro for a Wizzair flight (including train ticket to Luton).

london to italy for the jubilee weekend

Looking to go to Florence from Sat 2nd June to Tuesday 5th June

Flights to the nearby airports (Florence / Pisa / Bologna) are either too late or too early ... so there seem to be two reasonable options:

STaNsted - Trieste
dep 11:35 and arrive 14:35 for 76 gbp, and then get the train from the nearby Monfalcone station (no need to go into Trieste itself) at 15:07 arriving into Florence (via Venice) at 19:00 for 38 eur (58 eur in first class) or the later 16:07 departure which arrives into Florence at 20:35 for 48 eur
LHR - Milan Linate
dep 9:25 and arrive 12:30 for 142 gbp, and the get the train from Milan at 14:20 (or an hour later) arriving into Florence at 16:05 for 49 eur

On the return journey, there are options from Rome to Luton (dep 19:35 arr 21:15 for 98 gbp), or Milan to Gatwick (dep 21:50 arr 22:40 for 109 gbp) ... but since it would be good to check out the leaning tower, the options from Pisa are:

Pisa to Luton departing at 16:25 and arriving at 17:45 for 131 gbp
Pisa to Leeds Bradford departing at 16:20 arriving at 17:45 for a ridiculous 33 gbp.  The 19:15 departure from Leeds arrives into Kings Cross at 21:28 and costs 60 gbp, or 89 gbp in first class

more flights to barcelona ...

now looking for flights from london to barcelona ...

thu 30th dec

dep Luton 08:45 to Barcelona for 79 gbp with Easyjet

dep Luton 17:40 to Gerona for 83 gbp with Ryanair or

wed 29th dec

dep Gatwick 17:20 to Gerona for 72 gbp with Ryanair or

dep Stansted 16:05 to Barcelona for 83 gbp with Easyjet or

dep Gatwick 13:50 or 18:15 to Barcelona for 87 gbp with Easyjet or
dep Luton 08:45 to Barcelona for 95 gbp with Easyjet or

dep Stansted 17:40 to Gerona for 105 gbp with Ryanair

on the way back, looking to depart from Alicante on 3rd Jan, the best option is at 19:50 for 95 gbp

london to morocco ...

departing london thu 14th october ...
morning flight: dep STN 07:50 arr FEZ 10:10 for 30 gbp
evening flight: dep LGW 18:50 arr AGA 22:00 for 90 gbp

departing london fri 15th october ...
morning flight: dep LTN 06:00 arr RAK 08:35 for 73 gbp ... or ... dep LGW 09:55 arr GIB 13:45 for 48 gbp
afternoon flight: dep LGW 16:10 arr RAK 18:50 for 125 gbp

departing london sat 16th october ...
no morning flights listed ... but could dep LGW 07:15 arr GIB 11:05 for 58 gbp
afternoon flight: dep STN 15:50 arr AGA 18:40 for 45 gbp


departing morrocco sun 31st october ...
dep FEZ 19:35 arr STN 22:55 for 67 gbp
dep GIB 19:15 arr LTN 21:00 for 124 gbp
dep RAK 17:35 arr LTN 21:15 for 176 gbp ... or ... dep RAK 15:30 arr LGW 19:05 for 177 gbp
dep CMN 12:20 arr LHR 15:50 for 182 gbp
dep AGA 12:00 arr LGW 15:35 for 189 gbp

a weekend in Sighisoara ...

am looking to go to Sighisoara in Romania from London for the 2nd May bank holiday weekend ...


one option is to fly to Bucharest and drive [the 300km] to Sighisoara ... the best flight option is an 08:00 departure on Sat 23rd from LUTon with WizzAir for 91 gbp, with a return departure to LHR at 17:05 on Mon 25th with BA for 132 gbp ...

a closer option is Cluj - just 150km from Sighisoara ... but there are no direct flights that weekend ... so the best option would be an LH departure from LHR at 06:05 via MUC, arriving in CLJ at midday for 164 gbp ... with a return departure at 18:00 again via MUC, arriving into LHR at 22:20 for 164 gbp ...

there is a direct departure on friday at 08:10 from LUTon with WizzAir for 136 gbp ...

west of ireland for a long weekend ...

at slightly short notice, i decided to take a trip to the west of ireland for what was a bank holiday in the UK ...

my preferred routing was LGW - NOC with XL ... but the price was exhorbitant, at well over a hundred quid - i guess lots of people are scrambling to use the route before it is withdrawn in a few weeks time. flights from LUT or STD to NOC with Ryanair were also very expensive ... so it was back to skyscanner.net to find the best priced flight to DUB ...

i did even consider taking the train to Holyhead, and the ferry over to Dublin, but the timings were dreadful ... the latest afternoon sailing with Irish Ferries departs Holyhead at 17:15 and with Stena an even poorer 15:00 ... and the train connections don't help - there is a 12:45 departure from London Euston that frustratingly arrives into Holyhead at 17:20 ... so to catch the last afternoon ferry, it would be the 11:46 train from Euston ... which would mean taking a full day off work rather than just the afternoon.

on the return journey, i again considered taking the ferry option, but with engingeering works on the direct train routes, it would have meant a 7 hour journey with 3 changes ... and a 7am departure from the west of ireland ...

so it was back to the airlines, and again both XL and Ryanair were charging over 100 quid for the monday flights from NOC to London ... but I was prompted to look at flights from NOC to BRiStol ... and unbelievably, they were selling for just 24 euro [plus the 3rd world style 10 euro departure fee charged at the airport] which is a huge saving over a direct flight to London ... and luckily there aren't any engineering works on the line from Bristol to London.

thetrainline.com have singles from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington for 21 gbp, charging 1 gbp for ticket delivery, or 0.50 gbp to collect the ticket from a machine at the station ... however First Great Western have the same priced tickets, but don't charge for collecting your ticket from the station ...