Head off to the sun it’s usually cheaper than a train to London!
THE WORLD’S YOUR OYSTER FOR PRICE OF RETURN TICKET TO CAPITAL
WHAT do Dubrovnik in Croatia, Budapest in Hungary, Larnaca in Cyprus and Antalya in Turkey all have in common, apart from being desirable and popular places for a break?
Well, the thing linking them from a Leicester perspective is that they are all cheaper to get there and back by air than a typical return train ticket to London.
After the mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, highlighted last week that you could travel to Jamaica for less than the cost of a return ticket from Manchester to London, we decided to see where we could fly to for the cost of train travel from Leicester to the capital.
We compared three tiers of train prices: anytime returns, off-peak returns and super off-peak, with some surprising - even shocking results.
We ran the figures last Tuesday, April 26 and found an “anytime return” from Leicester to London, leaving on a recent Wednesday, would have cost commuters a whopping £182, according to the Trainline ticket selling website.
We then used prices set by airlines to see where we could fly to directly from East Midlands Airport in May for less money – and there were plenty of options.
For around £30 less, you could bag return flights to two cities in Turkey.
Flights to and from the historic coastal city of Antalya would set you back £150, or you could travel to see the archaeological sites of Izmir, on the west coast of the country, for £153.
Flights to and from Enfidha in Tunisia, on the North East coast of the country, came in even cheaper at £138 per person – the only catch being you would have to make it a two week break as flights are infrequent.
Larnaca in Cyprus is another possible destination if beach holidays are your thing, coming in at £150 for return flights.
An off-peak return to London St Pancras last Wednesday was certainly cheaper than the anytime option, but would still have set you back £105.50.
In comparison, you could travel to Burgas, in Bulgaria for £90 or Dubrovnik, in Croatia, for £89.
A super-off peak return to and from London would cost Leicester commuters £70.
However, there are still plenty of places to fly to for less.
A return flight to Corfu would cost as little as £69, Crete would set you back around £50 and a Budapest break even less at £36.
Some flights to more traditional holiday destinations such as France, Spain and Italy could even cost under £20 for the two-way trip.
Mr Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, highlighted the issue of the cost of train travel when he stated you could travel to India, Jamaica, Brazil and the Ivory Coast for less than the £369 cost of a return ticket from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston.
Mr Burnham, a long-time campaigner for cheaper rail fares, said: “As long as train tickets cost more than plane tickets, the economics of transport in the UK will be in entirely the wrong place when it comes to facing up the climate crisis, but the truth is it is unlikely to change any time soon.”
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said more than one million train tickets would be reduced this spring in what is being called the Great British Rail Sale.
Passengers are currently eligible to travel for a discount of up to 50 per cent on off-peak fares until May 27 as the government tries to ease the cost of living crisis.