Bristol has centuries of history and endless numbers of stories to tell. Situated in the South West of England, it’s the perfect place to get away and experience something new. All you need now are some cheap train tickets to Bristol! Here’s our guide to bagging a bargain on your next adventure.

How do I get cheap train tickets to Bristol from London?

One of the most popular routes to Bristol is from London. It’s a busy one, and it can be pricey! Did you know that there’s a different way to get cheap train tickets to Bristol, though? You can do it by travelling from London Waterloo, instead.

To get Railsmartr to show these fares, just search for London Waterloo to Bristol Temple Meads and for the dates and times that you’d like. When it’s done searching, go to the URL at the top of the page and enter “&VIA=WMN” at the end. This gets us to search for a slower route via Warminster, instead:

When compared to taking a direct train from Paddington at around the same time of day, you can see that this offers a decent saving:

If you’re not in a rush, it’s the ideal way to save your pennies for experiencing the city, instead.

Can I save on train tickets to Bristol from Birmingham?

If you pop Birmingham to Bristol into a ticket-selling site, you might think that there aren’t any cheap train tickets to Bristol. If you’re booking a week in advance, some trains don’t even have any availability for cheap Advance fares:

So, what happens if you book from Birmingham to Cheltenham Spa first? Here’s the same 14:42 and 15:12 trains that were £66.80 to Bristol…

Seems like a reasonable saving. Next, we just need to book the last bit from Cheltenham Spa to Bristol:

If you’re catching the 14:42 from Birmingham (which is the 15:29 from Cheltenham Spa), the fare is now £23.10, which is a massive saving over the original price. Naturally, this means that you have to book two tickets, and you want to make sure you’re on the same train.

We’d recommend checking the timetable to make sure that you’re booking tickets for the same service. In this example, trains from Birmingham to Bristol usually spend one or two minutes at Cheltenham.

If you’re making a day return, it’s worth booking this as a return trip all in one go. This is because a day return from Cheltenham to Bristol is £11.60 (valid on any train after 08:29, any time at weekends and Bank Holidays), which is almost the same price as the single fares you see above.

Why such a drastic saving though? This is because CrossCountry (who traditionally price fares higher) are in charge of the price between Birmingham and Bristol. Meanwhile, Great Western Railway set the price between Cheltenham and Bristol.

What if I’m coming from Southampton or the South Coast?

This final option is a little more straightforward. The main thing you need to do is avoid heading in and out of Reading/London, as this makes train tickets to Bristol more expensive.

Great Western Railway runs a direct train from Portsmouth and Southampton to Bristol via Salisbury, so it’s good to aim for this train. This is why:

Here, we’re travelling from Southampton. Not only is it the fastest option, but the cheapest train tickets to Bristol from Southampton are sold for these trains.

Is there anything else I should know?

The final thing we’d recommend is using the Railsmartr website to book your cheap trains to Manchester. We’re completely independent, so we’re happy to ‘tell you like it is’ when it comes to rail fares. Not only that, but we’ll show you the slower, but cheaper options that some websites won’t.

Don’t forget that we don’t charge any fees, either. That includes if you change your mind and want to travel on a different day. If your ticket is refundable, we’ll refund it fee-free, too!

_{^{All fares stated on this page are for ONE adult with no Railcard discount and were correct at 12:00 24/05/23. They’re subject to change at any time and Railsmartr are not responsible for any loss or disappointment incurred as a result of the information provided.}}