rose3is

I'm spending a few days in Cardiff, then need to make my way to Hanover. I'm not sure what would be the most economical and quickest way to get there. I've found a few flights on cheapoair.com, but those that simply got from Cardiff to Hannover are at least $600 with a layover in Amsterdam, which is way out of my price range. My current plan is to somehow get to London (here's where I need your help), spend a couple days there and fly to Hanover.

I have not be able to find prices or timetables for trains or coaches from Cardiff to London, so if you can tell me how to find out, I'd be grateful! I don't want to eat up too much time on transport, so I don't mind paying a little extra. Also, does anyone have experience with airberlin? They're by far the most economical flight between London and Hannover and are also the only direct flight. Are there any hidden fees or other things I need to know?

Thanks!

tellyman

Hi Rose, Cardiff to London Paddington takes just over 2 hours and can cost as little as £11.50 depending on when you wish to travel. You can check times and book tickets at http://www.thetrainline.com/buytickets/?
Hope this helps.

Echnaton

Air Berlin is a large, reliable Airline. I fly them often. No hidden fees.

flanneruk

You're doing this completely wrong and asking the wrong questions. You're not starting in London, so why are you starting off on the assumption that you need to fly from there?

1. Start with at on the whichbudget site and see which cheapo airlines fly to Britain from Hanover.

Birmingham (BHX), Manchester (MCR) and Southampton all have cheapo flights AND airports with railway stations connected to Cardiff (railway details at www.nationalrail.co.uk). The only London airport listed - Stansted - is to all intents and purposes inaccessible from Cardiff

2. Now double check on the BA, Lufthansa and bmi sites for flights from Britain to Hanover that the semi-useless whichbudget site doesn't include. You'll probably find flights from Heathrow, and maybe from BHX and MCR. You might find flights from Gatwick. Depending how far ahead you book, one of those airlines might be cheaper than the alleged "lowcosts"

To get to Heathrow from Cardiff,check buses at www.nationalexpress.co.uk. Then compare timing and costs with a train to Reading, with a connecting bus. Or a train to Paddington, connecting onto the Heathrow Connect train.

To get to Gatwick, train to Reading, then train to Gatwick.

Then decide which flight suits you.

Alternatively:
3. Go to the Hanover airport site and see which flights from airports accessible from Cardiff (Exeter and Liverpool are also far easier to get to than Stansted) also work for you.

hsv

Air Berlin (from Stansted) is NOT the only nonstop service - BMI has a couple of nonstop flights between LHR and HAJ daily.
http://www.flybmi.com

janisj

Stansted is a horrible slog from Cardiff. Just a quick peek at the Hannover airport website showed service to/from Southampton, Birmingham and Heathrow and there could be others - I just took a couple of seconds . . . . .

Gordon_R

Agree with the good advice to avoid London for this journey. You can get a train from Cardiff to Southampton Airport Parkway with just 1 chnage en route, then walk across the road into the airport and take a direct Flybe flight to Hannover from there (1 or 2 flights per day)
www.flybe.com

crellston

Get the train from Cardiff to Birmingham International - approx 2.5 hours - a reasonably good service with 2 changes at Bristol and Birmingham New Street.(www.thetrainline.com). On arrival there is a monorail from the rail station which takes you directly into the airport terminal. Budget airline Flybe www.flybe.com ,operate direct flights from Birmingahm to Hanover approx 1 hour 50 mins.

altamiro

To complete Flanners description, do the same for Germany. The fact that you need to get to Hannover doesn't need that you have to fly into Hannover. Hannover is 2 h by train from Berlin, 2 1/2 h from Frankfurt or 1 h from Hamburg. Add to that the minor airports in Northwestern Germany (Muenster, Paderborn etc.) Then see where you can get a flight to from Cardiff.

It's not like the German (or British) airports are isolated from the rest of the respective country.