Man outraged after discovering cost of London to Manchester train is 'more than family holiday to Spain'

It is actually possible to book a holiday in Spain for a family of four for less than it costs to purchase a specific return train ticket from London to Manchester.

In fact, LADbible even found a holiday in Granada for two adults and two children that was less than half the price than anytime return tickets from the UK capital up to the north.

X user Mike, a self-proclaimed investor, caused a stir on social media on Saturday, August 22, when he shared his anger at the sky-high costs for a just shy of three-hour journey from London Bridge to Manchester Piccadilly.

Sharing proof of the prices he saw on Trainline for the Avanti West Coast service, travelling out on August 28 and returning two days later on the 30th, he wrote on X: "£786.79 for a weekend return train from London to Manchester.

"Not first class. Not a European holiday.

"Standard class for a family of 4 on Avanti West Coast."

Mike then claimed a family could fly to Spain for a holiday and still have some cash left over.

He continued: "You could literally fly the entire family to Spain and book a hotel for less than the price of going 200 miles up north.

"UK rail pricing is entirely broken."

He followed up in a subsequent post that he had made a 'mistake on my end' as he had priced up Anytime Return tickets, which are naturally more expensive, and managed to get the price down to between £200-£300 for advanced singles instead.

LADbible had a look at the prices of the trains and holidays to work out if a holiday really is cheaper, with some interesting results.

You can get to Granada and Costa Brave for less

Using online travel agent On The Beach, LADbible found a holiday for two adults and two children, flying out from London Luton and lasting four nights, at Elvira Suites in Granada, Spain, for £145 per person.

That works out at just £580.

Though hold luggage and airport transfers are not included in the price, that's £206.79 cheaper than the most expensive train ticket Mike found.

However, the holiday does run during the week, with the flight out on Monday, August 31, rather than the Friday Mike had enquired for a Manchester train ticket for.

Additionally, LADbible found a holiday at Hotel Urban Dream Nevada, also in Granada, for £620 and another in Pierre & Vacances Estartit Playa, on the Costa Brava, for £640.

So, yes, it certainly is possible to enjoy a short break in Spain, inclusive of flights and hotel, for less than some train tickets between London and Manchester, depending on which tickets are selected.

Pricing up London to Manchester train tickets

When LADbible searched for the train tickets using Trainline, it found Anytime Return peak tickets for four at an even higher cost than Mike did, coming in at £1,178.79.

That's more than double the £580 holiday we found during our search.

On their website, Avanti says anytime tickets are 'our most flexible ticket,' allowing a person to 'take any train on your chosen route.'

Anytime Return tickets are more expensive as they offer travellers complete flexibility to travel on any train, even at peak times, to their destination within a month of their outbound journey.

As a result, train companies can not be certain what train the ticket will be used on, like they can with advance singles.

The cheapest LADbible could get train tickets for two adults and two children from London Bridge to Manchester Piccadilly, leaving at 9:15am on August 28 and returning at 5:55pm on the August 30, as Mike was looking to book, was £231.89.

This was using split save on Trainline, which shaved £84.40 off the price of advanced singles. An off-peak return, which also lasts for a month but has time restrictions during peak hours, came in at £362.79.

LADbible Group has approached Avanti West Coast for comment.