Keen to encourage families to continue their adventures at weekends, UK train operator Grand Central has revealed eight of their top tips and money-saving tricks for making some extra savings when travelling by rail on a family day out.

Grand Central’s Top Money-Saving Tricks when Traveling by Rail as a Family:

Always book direct with Grand Central to avoid any hidden booking fees!
2. Investing in a family and friends railcard ahead of your journey can save you up to a third off rail travel for adults and 60% off for kids. These cards cost just GBP30 per year or GBP70 for three years, and allow travel for up to four adults and four children when travelling together, with potential savings for an average family of up to GBP150 a year.

3. Travelling with students or bigger kids? Why not treat them to a 16-25 or 26-30 railcard which gives them up to a third off tickets. Much like the family and friends railcard, the 16-25 and 26-30 railcards are just GBP30 per year, or GBP70 for three years.

4. Grand Central offer further discount for students on advance fares, with savings of up to 25% on Grand Central Advance fares for students – meaning savings of up to 50% on tickets if you have a railcard. You can learn more about travel discounts for students here.

5. Book in advance as the cheapest tickets are available up to 26 weeks ahead, with huge savings of over 80% on Grand Central trains. Naturally, tickets with this big-a-discount are limited in numbers, so it really does pay to plan ahead where you can – especially where half-term adventures and Christmas are concerned!

Don’t worry If your plans change as you are able to make changes after purchase, however, these can only be made ahead of the original departure date and time. It’s also worth noting that you may have to pay the difference if the new ticket cost is higher.

6. Be the first to know when the cheapest tickets are released by signing up for Grand Central email updates via the website.

7. Be flexible! If you’re not in a hurry to get to your destination, then take a look at alternative times, especially off-peak and weekdays for the best availability.

8. Fancy treating yourself to a first-class upgrade? Use Seatfrog to bid for discounted first-class seats.

Luke Purcell, Marketing Manager at Grand Central Rail, commented: “The kids may be back to school, but at Grand Central, we’re huge advocates of weekend mini adventures.

“It’s one of the reasons why we’re launching a very exciting competition and challenging children across the country to get creative and draw, paint, sketch, or even put together a collage of their favourite days out. We’d also like them to tell us a little bit about the things they’ve enjoyed seeing or doing the most as a family in the UK.

“The winner will be the lucky recipient of an art kit to help get their creative juices flowing this autumn, plus a first-class family train ticket for up to four people, to help you plan your next big day out along any Grand Central route!”