It's coming up to the most wonderful time of the year again. Christmas is a time for celebrating with friends and family, and what better way to get there than by train? Our cheap Christmas train travel guide to here to save you money in seven easy ways.

　　1. Book in Advance

Train companies in the UK tend to release tickets around 12 weeks before the travel date, usually at their cheapest price. And, during popular travel times like Christmas, these popular Advance tickets sell out pretty quickly. So start keeping an eye out around September time to snap up the cheapest deals.

　　2. Sign up to Ticket Alert

If you don't want to keep checking for when those Advance tickets go on sale, let us do the hard work for you. Pop your chosen route and date you'd like to travel into our Ticket Alert tool and we'll email you as soon as they go on sale. It's as simple as that! 

　　3. Get a Railcard

If you haven't already, why not check if you're eligible for a Railcard, and save up to 1/3 on train journeys in the UK all year round. At just £30 for a whole year, there are Railcards for specific ages, areas and people that travel with friends and family.

　　4. Split your train tickets 

Splitting your journey into two or three parts, rather than buying a single train ticket, is another great way to save. If ticket splitting sounds complicated, fear not. Our clever app feature SplitSave does all the hard work for you and automatically find split ticket combinations to make your journey cheaper. 

　　5. Travel with others

If you're travelling with friends or family, you might be able to take advantage of GroupSave train tickets. Groups of 3 to 9 people who travel together can save up to 34% on UK travel on certain Off-Peak train journeys. 

　　6. Look out for deals

Lots of train companies in the UK have ticket offers running all year round that can help you save, including Family Travelcards, Kids for a Quid or discounts for weekend or evening travel. Take a look at the train deals and discounts you can book with us.

So what are you waiting for? Now you know how to get cheap Christmas train travel, get booking! Want to check which train services are operating over the Christmas holidays? Check out our guide to Christmas, New Year's and Boxing Day trains.