March 15 – April 30, 2010

England, Scotland and Wales continue to entice international travelers with their vibrant cities and scenic country sides, plus ACP Rail International is now topping off the perfect BritRail vacation with a free travel day. This offer represents great value, extending your reach to that extra destination or two now made possible for free!


Receive an extra travel day on BritRail’s most popular passes:

• BritRail FlexiPass
• BritRail Consecutive Pass
• BritRail England FlexiPass
• BritRail England Consecutive Pass

Just purchase between March 15th and April 30th, 2010 to take advantage of this promotion and note passes can be purchased up to six months in advance so travel dates can extend to the end of October.

To further sweeten the deal, this promotion can be combined with BritRail’s range of discount Passes, including the BritRail Party Pass (up to 50% off on the third through ninth passengers), BritRail Family Pass (one child per adult travels free), BritRail Senior Pass (up to 15% off in first class), BritRail Youth Pass (up to 20% off in first or standard class), Eurail Pass Holder Rate (up to 50% off for youth with a valid Eurail Pass) and the BritRail Guest Pass (up to 25% off for you and a British resident).

Select the pass duration that best suits your itinerary at http://www.acprail.com/rail-passes/united-kingdom, plus one free travel day of course!

BritRail in conjunction with the Heritage Railways Association (HRA) is offering savings on many Heritage Railways in the U.K.  Present any BritRail Pass and receive up to 25% off the admission for Heritage Railways in England, Scotland and Wales.

Take a ride on many turn of the century steam locomotives or learn about the history of these storied railways. For a list of participating railways or more information visit www.britrail.com/promotions or www.heritagerailways.com.  Don’t miss out on this special offer!

BritRail is now on Facebook and will be featuring promotions, sharing travel information and more.  Simply become a fan of BritRail on Facebook and not only get in the loop with what’s happening in the UK but also have the chance to win a pair of BritRail Passes.

2 First Class 4 Day BritRail Flexi Passes are up for grabs to fans of BritRail on Facebook – to enter just become a fan before March 1^st, 2010.  A random draw will determine the winner and BritRail will contact the winner by sending them a Facebook message.  http://www.facebook.com/britrail

ACP Rail, BritRail’s exclusive distributor, is now offering rail passes in exotic destinations, including beautiful Australia!  With 2 great rail passes to choose from, explore Australia with unlimited travel over a whopping 6 month period!

The Austrail Pass is an economic way to enjoy rail travel all over Australia to cities such as Adelaide, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth, Darwin, Brisbane and Canberra, plus travel along the east coast all the way up to Cairns.  Trains that accept this pass include: The Ghan, Indian Pacific, the Overland, XPT, Inlander, Spirit of the Outback, Sunlander, Tilt Train, Westlander and the Xplorer.

The Rail Explorer Pass is a flexible pass that offers rail travel on Australia’s most popular trains including journeys along the Indian Pacific between Sydney and Perth, The Overland between Melbourne and the Ghan between Adelaide and Darwin, via Alice Springs.  Trains that accept this pass include: The Ghan, the Indian Pacific and the Overland.

To have the chance to win 2 First Class 4 Day BritRail Flexi Passes share a few sentences about what you would do on your trip to Great Britain by commenting on this article between October 1^st and November 30^th, 2009.  One entry per person.  A random draw will determine the winner and BritRail will contact the winner via email.

Buy any BritRail Pass & any validity London Sightseeing Pass* in the month of August and September and automatically be entered to have the chance to win 200 £ in spending money courtesy of London Pass.

No trip to London is complete without the London Sightseeing Pass! This all-inclusive “smartcard” provides free entrance to over 55 of the city’s most popular attractions including the Tower of London, St. Paul’s Cathedral, Windsor Castle, museums, famous art galleries and much more.  Skip the queues and enjoy great savings with the London Sightseeing Pass!

*Purchases made on www.BritRail.com which include a BritRail Pass and a London Sightseeing Pass will be entered into a random draw to win 200 GBP.  Valid for travelers departing for the UK after October 15, 2009.

If you “Name that Castle” correctly you will automatically be entered to have the chance to win 2 FREE First Class BritRail 4-day FlexiPasses.  Many enchanting, medieval and architecturally-stunning castles are found throughout England, Scotland and Wales, so what better way to visit them than while touring the UK with your BritRail Pass?!

Simply post your answer on this article by September 30th, 2009*.

Using the picture provided, “Name that Castle” from the following choices:

a)       Culzean Castle
b)       Conwy Castle
c)       Leeds Castle
d)       Bodiam Castle
e)       Castle Howard
f)         Edinburgh Castle
g)       Lincoln Castle

Good Luck!

* One entry per person.  Only correct answers will be included in the random draw for a chance to win 2 First Class BritRail 4-day FlexiPasses.  Please ensure you correctly enter your email address, as this is how BritRail will contact the winner.

Leeds to Dent

This day was the best in my whole trip, it was like an adventure, with some risk and with unexpected beauty.

Several years ago I had decided to travel around Britain to see something more than London. I had Four day BritRail Pass. It is very easy to travel by rail to cities and there are a lot of very beautiful cities and villages to visit, but I wanted to see also something more of nature. I didn’t want to use the bus, just the rail. So I started to search in internet. After some efforts I found in internet, in the homepage of Yorkshire Dales National park, that there is possibility to have a nice walk from Dent train station to Ribblehead train station. I printed short description of this walk and very simple map.

We started this part of trip in Leeds, where we stayed at home of some hospitality club member. When I informed her about our plans to have a walk in this national park and showed our map, she tried to persuade us, that we will get lost with such map, that we need a real and decent map. But I decided to risk.

So, early in the next morning we took a train from Leeds to Dent. The trip was about 1h30 and we were entertaining ourselves by playing cards. Some old man with a little dog was looking at us for a while and then came and sat next to us and also wanted to join us. We tried to teach him the game we know, then he tried to teach some English game, but it was not easy because of the real British English language, which was not so  easy to understand for us. When we arrived at Dent, I was suprised to see, that Great Britain can look like this – almost no houses, just the hills and sheeps and sheeps, a lot of nature. And no shops or cafes, no place to buy something for lunch. Unfortunately we had taken almost nothing to eat with us. We started our walk and it was very clear at the beginning, were we are and where we should go. We enjoyed the beautifull and unusual views for us. We could see also the viaducts, which you usually don’t see because you are in the train on it.

We met only a few people, other walkers. So, we often felt, that we are there alone and it gave the feeling of adventure. Will we survive and get to the final destionation? We luckily found some raspberries to eat. We met also some other walkers, who were sitting and having a picnic. We had a temptation to stop and start maybe some conversation in hope that maybe they will offer somethong also to us. But decided not to do so.

About in the middle of our walk we had to turn at the Bridge End Cottage and take the next path. At the beginning we though that this is the right place, where we should turn, but then the path almost disappeared in the meadow and we started to doubt. Maybe that house was not a Bridge End Cottage. So we turned back and tried to find the name of the house, but we could not. So we continued our way forward to find maybe other cottage or some person to ask. We walked and walked and had a bad feeling, that it is not correct and we decided to turn back. Then luckily at the same cottage and I noticed, that on the electricity pole there is a sign, where was written Bridge End Cottage. We were very happy to realize, that this is the real point we should turn and that we really should take that dissappearing path. So we continued our way and got to the next points mentioned in the description of walk. We went over the railway tunnel and continued to enjoy the wonderful landscapes.

Soon our trip had to end, we had not much time left for the train we had planned to take. Luckily finally we reach the great Ribblehead viaduct and the train station and there was a nice place to eat! But we had only 10 mintues till train. So without having anything eaten for the whole day, we took the train and went back to Leeds, where we had a nice meal. This day was the best in my whole trip, it was like an adventure, with some risk and with unexpected beauty.

If your itinerary lists great cities in England then be sure to include York!  Buy a BritRail FlexiPass, BritRail Consecutive Pass, BritRail England FlexiPass or BritRail England Consecutive Pass in the month of July and have the chance to win 2 VIP York Passes*.

York is renowned for its exquisite architecture, quaint cobbled streets, the iconic York Minster and more!

York Passes allow for free entrance to more than 50 of York’s most popular attractions including York Minster, The National Railway Museum and York Dungeon. York Passes help you save time and money with prepaid entrance to top attractions.  Whether you prefer museums or castles, galleries or tours, there is something for everyone in York!

*Valid for travelers departing for the UK after August 15, 2009.

Contest: Travel Stories from Britain
Win BritRail FlexiPasses!

This is a reminder to please send your UK travel story and picture to photocontest@britrail.net by July 31^st, 2009.  For contest details please visit: http://www.britrail.com/community/contest

Now that the new BritRail site is a month old, we would love to hear what you think. Share your comments and have the chance to win 2 free first class 4-day BritRail Passes, which will be drawn at random on June 30^th, 2009.

- Is the site user friendly and easy to navigate?
- Did you find everything you were looking for?
- Do you have any suggestions of how to improve your next shopping experience?
- Would you like to share any other comments or feedback about BritRail’s new website?

Please submit your feedback by commenting on this article!

*Please note that only constructive feedback will be posted on the blog.  Please enter a valid email address so that we can contact you if you win.

Thanks!