Where can you buy cheap train tickets to London?

While visiting London we'll go to Bath and Salisbury over 2 days. Rent Car or Take 3 city train loop?

• Family from USA with 2 good travelling kids 6 and 9. We'll be in London. For this short 'side trip' should we; 1. Rent a car (cheap with kemwel.com) and drive to Bath - visit and stay the night - then go to Salisbury the next day. See the cathedral and Stonehenge - then drive back to London where we're staying. We will have our bags and stuff so it will let us go at our own pace and have our own stuff. Will these roads be conjested outside of London? (will be a monday/tuesday in august). 2. book a train multicity 'loop' - London to Bath- next day to Salisbury - same evening train back to London. With a friends and family pass perhaps we can get cheap fares? We can go 'off peak' for all legs. Will this constrain us too much? (can we change which train we take if our schedule needs adjustment - i.e. take an earlier or later train without penalties?) Also we won't have anywhere for our bags while we see stonehenge and cathedral, etc. while in Salisbury where we'll just be for the day. Train tickets for the 3 legs came up to 77 pounds plus we have to buy the 'friends and family pass' and figure out how to have it mailed to UK where we can pick it up before travelling. I'm leaning towards the car (have gotten a quote for 3 day compact rental for 90 pounds - with extra insurance covered by my Amex card). But don't want to be in a 'slog' of traffic getting to Bath, and then to Salisbury and back into London the next day. Once we're out of London could it be an enjoyable drive out to Bath and back to Salisbury the next day - or is all of SE England congested.? Also - where to pick up car (we're coming in on Eurostar so we could pick up at Euston - but then will have to drive out of the city - mid day on a monday. Thanks for any advice!!!!!

• Answer:

  you'd definitely be more comfortable hiring a car, especially with the kids ... the cities all tend to be congested (sorry!) but once you're out of cities it's not too bad ... however places like Salisbury tend to have narrow old-fashioned streets which can be a bit of a challenge ... how confident do you feel at driving on the "wrong" side of the road and managing things like roundabouts? ... have you studied our Highway Code for driving regulations http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/TravelAndTransport/Highwaycode/index.htm Stonehenge is difficult to do by public transport ... I believe there is a bus from Salisbury ... many tourists do Stonehenge on a coach tour from London such as http://www.evanevanstours.co.uk/stonehenge-bath-tours.htm ... but if you were going by car it is easy enough to get to as well as the car hire cost, you need to add on fuel cost, petrol is currently around 106.99 a litre (a bit more a bit less depending where you get it) if you do decide to drive, avoid rush hours (7.00-10.00 in the morning, 4.30-6.30 in the evening) ... once you're out of London it should be an enjoyable enough drive ... and do use the freedom the car gives you to stay at hotels out of town and explore a bit my personal choice would definitely be a car, even if it were a bit more expensive, because you would see so much more that way