Where to stay in North London...
May 30th, 2004, 07:54 PM
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Where to stay in North London...
We are staying in York, and one day want to come down to London, spend the night and take the early train for a day in Paris. Where is the best place to stay, our criteria being:
relatively inexpensive, on the north end of the city, so we needn't drive, a tube station nearby so we can get to Waterloo station in the morning. Thanks so much.
relatively inexpensive, on the north end of the city, so we needn't drive, a tube station nearby so we can get to Waterloo station in the morning. Thanks so much.
May 30th, 2004, 08:30 PM
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I don't understand what you mean "on the north end of the city, so we needn't drive". You don't need to drive anywhere in London because the public transport is so good.
Do you mean you are driving down from York? If so - I wouldn't. Just take the train to Kings Cross and then the tube or a taxi to a hotel somewhere nearer to Waterloo. Anything across the river like the Royal HorseGuards, or better yet the County Hall Marriott or Travel Inn. Both are a very short walk from Waterloo International.
Do you mean you are driving down from York? If so - I wouldn't. Just take the train to Kings Cross and then the tube or a taxi to a hotel somewhere nearer to Waterloo. Anything across the river like the Royal HorseGuards, or better yet the County Hall Marriott or Travel Inn. Both are a very short walk from Waterloo International.
May 31st, 2004, 12:20 AM
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To emphasise Janis' point. I think you're asking for the impossible.
To do a day trip, you really need to be on a train leaving before 8am local time
I can't think of anywhere 10-15 miles north of Waterloo where there's a hotel that's close to the motorways and within walikng distance of a tube or railway station. Even if there is one,you'd be at least an hour from the centre, unless you stayed in a peripheral town (like St Albans or Welwyn Garden City) with good (ie 30 mins' travel) connections. But even then, you'd have to allow another half hour to change onto the tube and get to Waterloo. Allowing for Eurostar checkin times, there might not actuially be trains or tubes at the time you'd need to leave - which could be as early as 4 am if you were on the first train.
Drive any further into London (eg to the area round Finsbury Park, 5 miles out) and you're doing serious central London drives.
Either accept you're going to drive in London, or take the train from York. Which is always faster and more reliable than driving.
To do a day trip, you really need to be on a train leaving before 8am local time
I can't think of anywhere 10-15 miles north of Waterloo where there's a hotel that's close to the motorways and within walikng distance of a tube or railway station. Even if there is one,you'd be at least an hour from the centre, unless you stayed in a peripheral town (like St Albans or Welwyn Garden City) with good (ie 30 mins' travel) connections. But even then, you'd have to allow another half hour to change onto the tube and get to Waterloo. Allowing for Eurostar checkin times, there might not actuially be trains or tubes at the time you'd need to leave - which could be as early as 4 am if you were on the first train.
Drive any further into London (eg to the area round Finsbury Park, 5 miles out) and you're doing serious central London drives.
Either accept you're going to drive in London, or take the train from York. Which is always faster and more reliable than driving.
May 31st, 2004, 03:42 AM
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PS: why are you doing this?
A day trip from York (200 miles from the nearest Eurostar station) gives you much less time in Paris, and much more time fighting Britain's tranport system, than a local flight.
Leeds, Teeside (I think), Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool all have flights to Paris that let you do a day return. There's trains or metros straight into MCR and NCL terminals from York: Leeds LPL and Teeside are all cheapish cabs from stations with direct trains from York, and all are a gazillion times easier to drive to than anywhere in North London.
Security for intra-European flights is identical to, and no more time-consuming than, security for the Eurostar. And the Eurostar really is a very unglamorous train - while the Tunnel itself is just that: a tunnel. You'll get more out of an extra couple of hours in Paris than cooped up on the Eurostar.
Flight details at www.nonrev.net/timertables
A day trip from York (200 miles from the nearest Eurostar station) gives you much less time in Paris, and much more time fighting Britain's tranport system, than a local flight.
Leeds, Teeside (I think), Newcastle, Manchester and Liverpool all have flights to Paris that let you do a day return. There's trains or metros straight into MCR and NCL terminals from York: Leeds LPL and Teeside are all cheapish cabs from stations with direct trains from York, and all are a gazillion times easier to drive to than anywhere in North London.
Security for intra-European flights is identical to, and no more time-consuming than, security for the Eurostar. And the Eurostar really is a very unglamorous train - while the Tunnel itself is just that: a tunnel. You'll get more out of an extra couple of hours in Paris than cooped up on the Eurostar.
Flight details at www.nonrev.net/timertables
Jun 8th, 2004, 02:53 PM
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Thanks so much for your help. After much research into comings and goings, we've decided to save Paris for another trip(there's always another trip) and spend more time wandering Englands byways.
