How to save time and money on your next weekend getaway

FAMILIES getting away for a weekend could save hours of extra travelling and great expense if they work out the quickest and cheapest way to get to their destination.

Depending on where travellers are going, they could save time and money by letting the train take the strain instead of the plane or by abandoning the bus in favour of their car.

An examination of the cost of making seven different trips to popular destinations by plane, train, coach and car found the plane was not always the quickest way but was often the most expensive, while rock-bottom fares on the bus were often outweighed by the punishingly long journey times.

Going by car was never the cheapest or slowest option, but offered modest savings to drivers prepared to sit behind the wheel and concentrate non-stop for hours.

For example, a journey from Dublin to Galway city takes just 45 minutes on an Aer Arann flight starting at €25 one-way, compared to €30 on the train. The journey with Iarnród Éireann takes up to two hours 40 minutes, meaning families face a trip lasting almost four times longer by rail.

The coach takes five times longer than the plane and with tickets at €12.60 passengers are only saving half on the air fare.

Going by car takes as long as the train yet the savings are modest, at €10 cheaper than Irish Rail or €5 off the lowest air fare.

Similarly, holidaymakers heading for Galway from Cork would do well to look at their travel plans as each competing form of transport has an advantage over the other.

The most expensive is plane, starting at €79.99, as passengers have to fly to Dublin first before boarding a flight to Galway.

But their total journey time can be as little as two hours 45 minutes if they manage a quick turnaround in Dublin or as long as six hours and 15 minutes if they do not.

The train, though, can be the slowest, with a maximum journey time of six hours 21 minutes as passengers have to change at Dublin and wait for connecting trains.

However, the journey costs €51 and can take as little as four hours 35 minutes if passengers set out at a time to give them the shortest waiting times between connecting trains.

Coach is cheapest at €17.10 for a one-way ticket on a direct journey lasting a maximum four hours 20 minutes — quicker and cheaper than Iarnród Éireann.

But going by car is the best option, taking two hours 29 minutes at a cost of €18.97 in petrol for an average saloon car, according to Automobile Association figures.

The problems faced by most people — in terms of cost and length of time — of going by road or rail are sharply demonstrated by a journey from one end of the island to the other.

The trip from Cork to Belfast takes seven hours and 30 minutes on coach while the fastest train journey is six hours and 25 minutes.

The cost one-way on the train is €77.70 against €31 on Bus Éireann and €39.37 for a car journey lasting four hours 29 minutes.

Passengers going by plane can justly feel superior — and more relaxed — as their journey lasts 70 minutes though the fare costs €96.29 one-way. Flyers pay €65 more than the coach, the cheapest form of transport, but they get to Belfast six times quicker than bus or rail and less than a quarter of the time of car drivers.

* Plane fares quoted are for a one-way journey, booked two weeks in advance.