London to Swindon via Oxford

[ECMLjag]

I'm looking at travelling from London to Oxford, and then onto Swindon on the same day. I then intend to travel back to London. I'm trying to figure out the cheapest way to do it. Would I be able to buy a Paddington to Swindon return, break my journey at Didcot parkway, buy a return from Didcot to Oxford, then use my initial Paddington to Swindon ticket to continue onto Swindon? Thanks for your help in advance.

 

[Romilly]

Yes, so long as there are no restrictions on break of journey on the outward part of your London-Swindon ticket. And, so far as I can see, there are no BOJ restrictions on any of the anytime return, the offpeak return or the super offpeak return.

Alternatively, buy a London-Oxford return ticket, break the return journey at Swindon, and then buy a Swindon-Didcot return. However, I think that will require you to do the Swindon-London journey on a train that calls at Didcot, which may be limiting depending on the time of day when you wish to make that final journey.

If that's not a problem, see which is cheaper according to your proposed travel times.

And if you know your precise times of travel, maybe see if Advance fares are available.

 

[Paul Kelly]

Alternatively, buy a London-Oxford return ticket, break the return journey at Didcot, and then buy a Didcot-Swindon return. However, I think that will require you to do the Swindon-London journey on a train that calls at Didcot, which may be limiting depending on the time of day when you wish to make that final journey.

Without checking prices, that sounds to me like it would be a much cheaper option. You can buy all the tickets at once too; no need to wait until you are at Didcot. Through tickets Paddington to Swindon can be very expensive. And there are more trains from Swindon to Paddington that stop at Didcot than there are trains from Paddington to Oxford that stop at Didcot (if you exclude slow stopping trains), so I think this second option is a winner all round.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

Bear in mind too that there's a direct bus from Oxford to Swindon (the 66) which could be faster or cheaper in some circumstances.

 

[miami]

I take it that Marylebone-Bicester-oxford-didcot-Swindon isn't a valid route?

 

[MarlowDonkey]

I take it that Marylebone-Bicester-oxford-didcot-Swindon isn't a valid route?

If you try it on the National Rail Enquiries site, it requires the tickets to be split at Oxford.