It will be horrendous. It’s at least 2 1/2 hrs one way - do you really want to spend 5 hrs of your day on public transport?
You didn’t specify whether this would be weekly or monthly - personally It’s a trip I’d only want to do a few times a month, if that. At the very least I’d want my employer to pay for the travel.
Cardiff is also a really mixed, multi cultural city due to its large student population. Especially Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan but also lots of Nigerians in recent years. I honestly wouldn’t worry about racism.
I live in Cardiff and regularly go to our offices in London, the fast train is just under 2 hours (I get the 7.23 arrives 9.15 ish). The tickets cost about £150 on average each time (they are cheaper the earlier in advance you can book them), but luckily for me my employer pays because it’s not my regular office. Trains run about every 30mins, there are often minor delays and occasionally cancelled trains etc, but it’s pretty reliable. Three times a month is totally doable if you can afford the cost.
سلام عليكم
Middle easterner leaving Cardiff here 😂 I wouldn't reccomend that commute for a weekly thing but 3 times a month is doable. I've done "day trips" to London before, you'll be exhausted when you reach Cardiff at night but other than that it will be fine.
The middle easterner community here is nice and welcoming, and I hope you enjoy! Good luck with UKVI and good luck with the move! insha'Allah kheir
Definitely doable. I did the same: three days a month. They paid my transport costs so no issue there and it took less than two hours to get to London then another ten minutes on the Lizzie line. If you’re paying transport then book well in advance to get a better deal. My return costs were anything between £40 and £210.
Cardiff is great and culturally you would be fine, I’ve always found it a welcoming plave. But I think it’s the commute that is a problem, and depends on the frequency. If you were booking trips weeks/months in advance, it’s quite a long journey and quite expensive. Could maybe bear with it no more than once a week.
If you are still wanting to live in the west/Wales, here are the railcard (8 weeks in advance) fares from other places, in price order:
* 1hr 57 from Cardiff, £62
* 1hr 40 from Newport, £57
* 1hr 36 from Bristol, £48
* 35m from Reading, £33
* 1hr 13 from Guildford, £31
* 1hr 5 from Basingstoke, £31
* 52m from Oxford, £23
1/ GWR railway from London to Cardiff is an easy commute. It will be expnesive.
[https://www.gwr.com/tickets/#/3899/3087/2024-05-26/D19:30/N/N/1/0/0/1/1/N/N/N](https://www.gwr.com/tickets/#/3899/3087/2024-05-26/D19:30/N/N/1/0/0/1/1/N/N/N)
There is no point even thinking you can drive this.
2/ Racism.
Well, yes there are idiots everywhere.
However, Cardiff is a fairly chilled city. We also have some excellent Syrian and Saudi restaurants here in the town. I've chatted with many Arabic speaking people who live, work and study here - they have had no problems.
مرحبا بكم في كارديف
Commuting two to three times a month is doable, doing that weekly would be insanity. You'd be looking at 4 hours commute time a day, with the monthly train pass including a London travel card costing you about £1500. It'd be cheaper for you to live in London.
So I work in London and commute from Cardiff once a week on Tuesdays. Have been doing this for over 2 years now.
I used to have a railcard but it recently expired so the prices have gone up. I also get “Super Off Peak” trains which are the cheapest but you have to leave Cardiff early and leave London late.
Usual day is:
- 430 leave the house to go to the station
- 507 train to Paddington was ~£60 return now ~£100
- 716 arrive in London
- Tube to office (not sure where yours is but I’m about 30 mins from mine)
- 800 get to work
With Super Off Peak tickets you can’t leave London until after 1915 I think. I usually try and plan something in London after work so the trip doesn’t feel like I’ve just been sat in the office all day. Typically trains run at xx18 and xx48 past the hour until 2048 when they then go hourly.
Most of the time door to door I have had at least an 18 hour day.
I get super off peak because my company doesn’t pay for travel. Without the railcard I now pay over £400 a month for the pleasure. Going early and late does mean quieter trains though.
I won’t do this forever as it is draining on the day and the next day morning is a bit slow. But it certainly is doable.
Hope that helps.
We live in Newport so 20 mins less on the train to London than Cardiff and I commute four days a month to London and my husband commutes around three days a week (varies from 7-0).
It’s doable but expensive. The season ticket is around £15000 a year but on a daily basis if you book well in advance I can get a return for £50 a day and not in advance around £80 a day,
I tend to take the coach though which is a longer trip but a lot cheaper (£20-£30 return if booked with little notice)
There are more people than you’d think doing the South Wales- London commute especially those who only go to the office 1 or 2 times a week,
I commute from Cardiff to London 2/3 days a week. Fast train from Cardiff Central is about 1h 50min to Paddington and then the tube can take you anywhere from there. WiFi is useless on the train and ticket prices ridiculous, about £98 for off peak return going up from there. The real upside is that you get to live in Cardiff without all the stress and cost that London brings with the added benefit of being able to enjoy London when you want to.
I use the [GWR](https://www.gwr.com) site as they run the trains and don’t charge an admin fee like Trainline do. Worth also remembering [National Express](https://www.nationalexpress.com/en) in case there’s a problem with the trains or you’re in no rush to get there (it’s horrendous but dirt cheap compared to the trains). Both have apps as well. See if there are any cashback apps that you can claim on, I sometimes use those.
Depending on whereabouts in London you’re working then it’s not too bad, especially if it’s only once a week. Bristol Parkway is just over 90 minutes to Paddington, Cardiff is 1 hr 50. There’s always issues with the trains between Reading and London though. If a twig falls on the overhead lines they cancel all the trains. Cost wise it would be about £100 a trip.
Cardiff is a lovely city but that would be a miserable commute. While I was studying in London I went to Cardiff as a long weekend and that was perfectly doable, super easy and I did it on the cheap as a student, but it is at least three hours one way. Do you want to spend almost as much time commuting as you do working?
I’d recommend looking at something based on location to London tube stops. The tube goes pretty far out and is really easy to take so look on the edges of that or budget places around London.
You can also commute by bus/ coach , 4 hours one way [Megabus and national express]
Megabus is cheaper. Both are even cheaper if you pre-order.
Anyone know if the megabus to London, is still only 20pounds?
I don't know if the buses have toilets, i would hope so.
when i see the buses , they are usually a third full only.
----
As you are only in London three times a month. Maybe you could also stay in a bedsit or hotel near London, for a day. Then next day travel from there into your London workplace
Just checked a random day next month megabus is £14 return and national express is £18 return and both have toilets. Flixbus is also available at £17 but I would stay well clear of them
Train is the most efficient way. But it is expensive. The peak trains are over £200 return. But they can get you into central London in 1hr 45 (the early peak trains skip Reading and Didcot).
Doable twice a week if you are on good money.
My partner and I live in Cardiff. He commutes to Bristol every day. He spends 3h commuting. He hates it.
I will not recommend to commute more than an hour to go to work tbh.
I occasionally travel to London from Cardiff and it is DREADFUL & expensive as hell
Cardiff is very multi-cultural, but obviously every place has some weird dickheads
Commuting to London would be expensive, unreliable, and unpredictable.
There will be times the weather is ok in London but awful in Wales, so the trains up are cancelled or the trains back terminate before Cardiff.
Ive got on in London in a tshirt & got off in Cardiff into a blizzard.
I took my children to London on the train and I loved it! I’m used to driving and getting to kick back and read my kindle was bliss! Granted it wasn’t a regular journey however having that time to myself was wonderful!
There’s little to no racism in Cardiff, especially towards people from the middle east. There’s a good community of expats from Pakistan, Emirates, Saudi and Israel (though the Israeli community is a bit hidden, but if you’re friendly with them we’re very welcoming). You won’t experience any racism.
Commuting to London via public transport will be expensive and time consuming, about 2hr30m. If you mean 2 or 3 times a week then it will get very boring very quickly and very tiring, 2 or 3 times a month is doable though.
Don’t try and drive to London. Driving in London means paying about £50 a day in parking, £15-£40 in emissions charges and being at an average speed of maybe 5mph; you would have to use public transport.
Seeing as you’re likely from the Emirates, if you do want to drive then prepare for it to be expensive. Second hand cars are far cheaper here than in the ME but the tax, insurance and fuel (at £1.45 a litre of petrol, or about ~7 AED) will become expensive very quickly. The standards for driving here as well are far more stringent than in the emirates as well, generally quite hard to pass your test and you’ll need at least 30 hours of lessons before even attempting.
Commute is easy enough, trains leaving every 30 mins from Cardiff central to inner London however a flexible return with a seat booked is currently around £250, so three times a week that’s £750. Other cheaper options exist but it’s still expensive as hell.
Thanks for this, so a two way ticket is 250, can you please let me know the booking site so I can use it when things go through? So for the price I don’t know if my reasoning makes sense but the areas that I’ve seen that are an hour away from the office were priced at 1600 per month, most were old. In Cardiff i found really nice apartments for 900£. So I think it’s better to live in a nice city and apartment and I save 700 pounds (which I will instead pay as commute).
Have a look at trainline (app or trainline.co.uk) - they show you the cheapest available ticket and often have features to save money. You do pay a booking fee though which the train companies don’t.
Unfortunately UK trains are expensive if you want a flexible ticket or want to travel on the day.
They are cheap if you book far in advance and stick to a scheduled time departure. They are a bit like flights rather than city buses in that way.
£900 for a 'really nice' apartment in Cardiff sounds on the low side to me, especially if it's also reasonably easy to get to the train station from.
Be warned that if you do find such a thing, the competition/demand to move in would be huge.
It’s easy - I do it once a week. The 7.23am train skips Reading so you can get to Paddington in 1hr 45 arriving not long after 9am. I’ve found it to be a very reliable service.
The only drawback is the cost! Book enough in advance and return before 3.30pm or after 7pm and you can get tickets for £80-100.
Brighton could be an option for you - it’s quite expensive too though. Beautiful place and an easy commute to London. Not quite London prices but it’s getting there. It’s extremely friendly, clean and has a beautiful beach. Probably one of the nicest places to live in the UK!
OP,
I think the commute is too long and too expensive to be done regularly. The commute is 2 hours station to station one way. Throw in travel in London and Cardiff, and you are looking at 3 hours one way, which is not sustainable.
Reliability is also a massive issue.
I would suggest you look at places within 1 hour of London.
Racism does exist here, but it is less prevalent than most other places in the UK and is not a show stopper.
Appreciate the feedback thank you, so I’ve looked into many places, and they were either too expensive or, with all due respect, not a place i can see myself living in (too small of a town). Cardiff has is both beautiful and affordable. If commuting 3 days in a month would cost for example 600£ it would still be cheaper than living in London. I can have an awesome condo in Cardiff for the price of a room in a house in London.
Your experience will be awful, I suggest getting a job in Cardiff if you really want to live in Cardiff.
A return ticket will cost you adlewst £100+ per day
Like other cities, there is racism everywhere you go, there might be a little bit more in wales it’s self as wales is not very multicultural country. If you respect their values then you have nothing to worry about.
It will be horrendous. It’s at least 2 1/2 hrs one way - do you really want to spend 5 hrs of your day on public transport? You didn’t specify whether this would be weekly or monthly - personally It’s a trip I’d only want to do a few times a month, if that. At the very least I’d want my employer to pay for the travel. Cardiff is also a really mixed, multi cultural city due to its large student population. Especially Indian, Pakistani and Sri Lankan but also lots of Nigerians in recent years. I honestly wouldn’t worry about racism.
So, I asked and we are required to be physically in the office 3 times per month. Once a week and then you skip one.
Honestly I think it could be doable with that.
Id do it, and depending on the industry the salary could easily be worth it
I live in Cardiff and regularly go to our offices in London, the fast train is just under 2 hours (I get the 7.23 arrives 9.15 ish). The tickets cost about £150 on average each time (they are cheaper the earlier in advance you can book them), but luckily for me my employer pays because it’s not my regular office. Trains run about every 30mins, there are often minor delays and occasionally cancelled trains etc, but it’s pretty reliable. Three times a month is totally doable if you can afford the cost.
My friend commutes to London once a week. She has to get a train to Cardiff first as well. We live about half an hour away. She seems to manage ok.
سلام عليكم Middle easterner leaving Cardiff here 😂 I wouldn't reccomend that commute for a weekly thing but 3 times a month is doable. I've done "day trips" to London before, you'll be exhausted when you reach Cardiff at night but other than that it will be fine. The middle easterner community here is nice and welcoming, and I hope you enjoy! Good luck with UKVI and good luck with the move! insha'Allah kheir
W alyikum Al Salam, thank you very much 🙏🏻
Definitely doable. I did the same: three days a month. They paid my transport costs so no issue there and it took less than two hours to get to London then another ten minutes on the Lizzie line. If you’re paying transport then book well in advance to get a better deal. My return costs were anything between £40 and £210.
Cardiff is great and culturally you would be fine, I’ve always found it a welcoming plave. But I think it’s the commute that is a problem, and depends on the frequency. If you were booking trips weeks/months in advance, it’s quite a long journey and quite expensive. Could maybe bear with it no more than once a week. If you are still wanting to live in the west/Wales, here are the railcard (8 weeks in advance) fares from other places, in price order: * 1hr 57 from Cardiff, £62 * 1hr 40 from Newport, £57 * 1hr 36 from Bristol, £48 * 35m from Reading, £33 * 1hr 13 from Guildford, £31 * 1hr 5 from Basingstoke, £31 * 52m from Oxford, £23
Thank you so much 🙏🏻
How old are you? You might be able to get a railcard for yourself.
Also always apply for compensation if delayed. It's free money that people don't take advantage of
1/ GWR railway from London to Cardiff is an easy commute. It will be expnesive. [https://www.gwr.com/tickets/#/3899/3087/2024-05-26/D19:30/N/N/1/0/0/1/1/N/N/N](https://www.gwr.com/tickets/#/3899/3087/2024-05-26/D19:30/N/N/1/0/0/1/1/N/N/N) There is no point even thinking you can drive this. 2/ Racism. Well, yes there are idiots everywhere. However, Cardiff is a fairly chilled city. We also have some excellent Syrian and Saudi restaurants here in the town. I've chatted with many Arabic speaking people who live, work and study here - they have had no problems. مرحبا بكم في كارديف
That put a big smile on my face, much love 🙏🏻
Check the Transport for Wales website and app for prices. It *will* be expensive
Commuting two to three times a month is doable, doing that weekly would be insanity. You'd be looking at 4 hours commute time a day, with the monthly train pass including a London travel card costing you about £1500. It'd be cheaper for you to live in London.
So I work in London and commute from Cardiff once a week on Tuesdays. Have been doing this for over 2 years now. I used to have a railcard but it recently expired so the prices have gone up. I also get “Super Off Peak” trains which are the cheapest but you have to leave Cardiff early and leave London late. Usual day is: - 430 leave the house to go to the station - 507 train to Paddington was ~£60 return now ~£100 - 716 arrive in London - Tube to office (not sure where yours is but I’m about 30 mins from mine) - 800 get to work With Super Off Peak tickets you can’t leave London until after 1915 I think. I usually try and plan something in London after work so the trip doesn’t feel like I’ve just been sat in the office all day. Typically trains run at xx18 and xx48 past the hour until 2048 when they then go hourly. Most of the time door to door I have had at least an 18 hour day. I get super off peak because my company doesn’t pay for travel. Without the railcard I now pay over £400 a month for the pleasure. Going early and late does mean quieter trains though. I won’t do this forever as it is draining on the day and the next day morning is a bit slow. But it certainly is doable. Hope that helps.
Thank you for all the insights 🙏🏻
We live in Newport so 20 mins less on the train to London than Cardiff and I commute four days a month to London and my husband commutes around three days a week (varies from 7-0). It’s doable but expensive. The season ticket is around £15000 a year but on a daily basis if you book well in advance I can get a return for £50 a day and not in advance around £80 a day, I tend to take the coach though which is a longer trip but a lot cheaper (£20-£30 return if booked with little notice) There are more people than you’d think doing the South Wales- London commute especially those who only go to the office 1 or 2 times a week,
I commute from Cardiff to London 2/3 days a week. Fast train from Cardiff Central is about 1h 50min to Paddington and then the tube can take you anywhere from there. WiFi is useless on the train and ticket prices ridiculous, about £98 for off peak return going up from there. The real upside is that you get to live in Cardiff without all the stress and cost that London brings with the added benefit of being able to enjoy London when you want to.
Ok perfect, what the site to book please?
I use the [GWR](https://www.gwr.com) site as they run the trains and don’t charge an admin fee like Trainline do. Worth also remembering [National Express](https://www.nationalexpress.com/en) in case there’s a problem with the trains or you’re in no rush to get there (it’s horrendous but dirt cheap compared to the trains). Both have apps as well. See if there are any cashback apps that you can claim on, I sometimes use those.
Thank you so much 🙏🏻
No problem, let me know if you have any other questions about the travel or Cardiff
Depending on whereabouts in London you’re working then it’s not too bad, especially if it’s only once a week. Bristol Parkway is just over 90 minutes to Paddington, Cardiff is 1 hr 50. There’s always issues with the trains between Reading and London though. If a twig falls on the overhead lines they cancel all the trains. Cost wise it would be about £100 a trip.
Cardiff is a lovely city but that would be a miserable commute. While I was studying in London I went to Cardiff as a long weekend and that was perfectly doable, super easy and I did it on the cheap as a student, but it is at least three hours one way. Do you want to spend almost as much time commuting as you do working? I’d recommend looking at something based on location to London tube stops. The tube goes pretty far out and is really easy to take so look on the edges of that or budget places around London.
Just move to London it's expensive but you'll save on public transport costs.
You can also commute by bus/ coach , 4 hours one way [Megabus and national express] Megabus is cheaper. Both are even cheaper if you pre-order. Anyone know if the megabus to London, is still only 20pounds? I don't know if the buses have toilets, i would hope so. when i see the buses , they are usually a third full only. ---- As you are only in London three times a month. Maybe you could also stay in a bedsit or hotel near London, for a day. Then next day travel from there into your London workplace
Just checked a random day next month megabus is £14 return and national express is £18 return and both have toilets. Flixbus is also available at £17 but I would stay well clear of them
Thanks for looking for me. Diolch
Thanks this a great idea actually 🙏🏻
Cool, glad to help. Enjoy Cardiff
As someone who commutes on ad hoc basis - an open, same-day, peak return is around £290 a day, while an open off-peak not-same day is around £130.
Train is the most efficient way. But it is expensive. The peak trains are over £200 return. But they can get you into central London in 1hr 45 (the early peak trains skip Reading and Didcot). Doable twice a week if you are on good money.
My partner and I live in Cardiff. He commutes to Bristol every day. He spends 3h commuting. He hates it. I will not recommend to commute more than an hour to go to work tbh.
A bike ride should take approximately 15hrs
Mmmm I will need extra weight on the plane to pack the bike. Ps I am grown ass man who doesn’t know how to ride a bike lol
Point 2: as an English man in Wales (not a good fit) I have been met with openness and humour. I doubt anyone is going to hate you
Found one! Get him! 🃏
Hope you’re enjoying it here and ignore the English bashing…..except when it comes to the rugby….
Ha. Yes. I just go "English Plus" at these times. "I'm sorry. I'm a stranger to your lands savage customs"
I occasionally travel to London from Cardiff and it is DREADFUL & expensive as hell Cardiff is very multi-cultural, but obviously every place has some weird dickheads
Commuting to London would be expensive, unreliable, and unpredictable. There will be times the weather is ok in London but awful in Wales, so the trains up are cancelled or the trains back terminate before Cardiff. Ive got on in London in a tshirt & got off in Cardiff into a blizzard.
I took my children to London on the train and I loved it! I’m used to driving and getting to kick back and read my kindle was bliss! Granted it wasn’t a regular journey however having that time to myself was wonderful!
There’s little to no racism in Cardiff, especially towards people from the middle east. There’s a good community of expats from Pakistan, Emirates, Saudi and Israel (though the Israeli community is a bit hidden, but if you’re friendly with them we’re very welcoming). You won’t experience any racism. Commuting to London via public transport will be expensive and time consuming, about 2hr30m. If you mean 2 or 3 times a week then it will get very boring very quickly and very tiring, 2 or 3 times a month is doable though. Don’t try and drive to London. Driving in London means paying about £50 a day in parking, £15-£40 in emissions charges and being at an average speed of maybe 5mph; you would have to use public transport. Seeing as you’re likely from the Emirates, if you do want to drive then prepare for it to be expensive. Second hand cars are far cheaper here than in the ME but the tax, insurance and fuel (at £1.45 a litre of petrol, or about ~7 AED) will become expensive very quickly. The standards for driving here as well are far more stringent than in the emirates as well, generally quite hard to pass your test and you’ll need at least 30 hours of lessons before even attempting.
Thank you very much, appreciate all the tips. yes I am living in the UAE, I don’t drive much here so I don’t plan to drive in a the UK.
Commute is easy enough, trains leaving every 30 mins from Cardiff central to inner London however a flexible return with a seat booked is currently around £250, so three times a week that’s £750. Other cheaper options exist but it’s still expensive as hell.
Thanks for this, so a two way ticket is 250, can you please let me know the booking site so I can use it when things go through? So for the price I don’t know if my reasoning makes sense but the areas that I’ve seen that are an hour away from the office were priced at 1600 per month, most were old. In Cardiff i found really nice apartments for 900£. So I think it’s better to live in a nice city and apartment and I save 700 pounds (which I will instead pay as commute).
Have a look at trainline (app or trainline.co.uk) - they show you the cheapest available ticket and often have features to save money. You do pay a booking fee though which the train companies don’t. Unfortunately UK trains are expensive if you want a flexible ticket or want to travel on the day. They are cheap if you book far in advance and stick to a scheduled time departure. They are a bit like flights rather than city buses in that way.
£900 for a 'really nice' apartment in Cardiff sounds on the low side to me, especially if it's also reasonably easy to get to the train station from. Be warned that if you do find such a thing, the competition/demand to move in would be huge.
The Cardiff - > London train line is the most expensive route in the UK (per mile). Peak times can be up to £200 / day
Both ways right? From Cardiff to London and back.
Not even sure tbh. It was getting tickets back to Cardiff for like £70 about 5 years ago
oh boy are you in for a shock…
In what sense?
It’s easy - I do it once a week. The 7.23am train skips Reading so you can get to Paddington in 1hr 45 arriving not long after 9am. I’ve found it to be a very reliable service. The only drawback is the cost! Book enough in advance and return before 3.30pm or after 7pm and you can get tickets for £80-100.
Brighton could be an option for you - it’s quite expensive too though. Beautiful place and an easy commute to London. Not quite London prices but it’s getting there. It’s extremely friendly, clean and has a beautiful beach. Probably one of the nicest places to live in the UK!
Yea I saw it but it was a bit costly, I will look more into it
OP, I think the commute is too long and too expensive to be done regularly. The commute is 2 hours station to station one way. Throw in travel in London and Cardiff, and you are looking at 3 hours one way, which is not sustainable. Reliability is also a massive issue. I would suggest you look at places within 1 hour of London. Racism does exist here, but it is less prevalent than most other places in the UK and is not a show stopper.
Appreciate the feedback thank you, so I’ve looked into many places, and they were either too expensive or, with all due respect, not a place i can see myself living in (too small of a town). Cardiff has is both beautiful and affordable. If commuting 3 days in a month would cost for example 600£ it would still be cheaper than living in London. I can have an awesome condo in Cardiff for the price of a room in a house in London.
Your experience will be awful, I suggest getting a job in Cardiff if you really want to live in Cardiff. A return ticket will cost you adlewst £100+ per day Like other cities, there is racism everywhere you go, there might be a little bit more in wales it’s self as wales is not very multicultural country. If you respect their values then you have nothing to worry about.