Getting to London-Stansted
Oct 17th, 2004, 03:30 PM
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Getting to London-Stansted
Regarding our summer trip to England and Ireland:
Hubby and I will need to fly to Shannon after our 8 days in England. We are planning 4 days in London, 1 day in Oxford, and 3 days in the countryside, probably the Cotswolds. Ryanair flies from London Stansted to Shannon. My question is: how far is this airport from the Cotswolds and/or Oxford? We are definitely doing London first, but how should we spend the last 4 days if we want to make the flight at Stansted in the early morning to Shannon?
I know it might make the most sense to do London last, but since this is my first trip to England, I would very much like to see the city first. So, any advice?
TIA!
Hubby and I will need to fly to Shannon after our 8 days in England. We are planning 4 days in London, 1 day in Oxford, and 3 days in the countryside, probably the Cotswolds. Ryanair flies from London Stansted to Shannon. My question is: how far is this airport from the Cotswolds and/or Oxford? We are definitely doing London first, but how should we spend the last 4 days if we want to make the flight at Stansted in the early morning to Shannon?
I know it might make the most sense to do London last, but since this is my first trip to England, I would very much like to see the city first. So, any advice?
TIA!
Oct 17th, 2004, 04:24 PM
#2
Stansted is not particularly convenient from the west by car - not impossible, but the main M25 motorway that serves STN is the most heavily traveled highway in Europe.
Thus with a (typical) early morning flight, the best thing is to stay the night before somewhere near STN. There are a couple of hotels close to the airport, most notably a Hilton, but other pickings are slim. Bishop's Stortford is a nearby market town with a few small hotels and B&Bs. I would probably look there (return the car the night before and use a taxi in the morning.)
Are you firm on Shannon? Reason being, you could easily fly Ryanair to Dublin from Bristol, which, if you're visiting the Cotswolds, would be much easier to get to than fighting London traffic. It would give you most of an extra day in the countryside rather than the London suburbs.
Thus with a (typical) early morning flight, the best thing is to stay the night before somewhere near STN. There are a couple of hotels close to the airport, most notably a Hilton, but other pickings are slim. Bishop's Stortford is a nearby market town with a few small hotels and B&Bs. I would probably look there (return the car the night before and use a taxi in the morning.)
Are you firm on Shannon? Reason being, you could easily fly Ryanair to Dublin from Bristol, which, if you're visiting the Cotswolds, would be much easier to get to than fighting London traffic. It would give you most of an extra day in the countryside rather than the London suburbs.
Oct 17th, 2004, 05:09 PM
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Well, we have a wedding in the Killarney area on July 8th, and we were planning on doing some touring in the area beforehand. We planned on attending the wedding (which is on a Friday) and then making our way back to the Dublin area early Sunday to stay overnight near the airport b/c we are leaving on Monday. We are flying out of Dublin on the way home. Does it seem silly to fly to Dublin from Bristol, make our way to the west, and then come back to Dublin to fly home? I am not sure how long a drive it is from the west to Dublin.
Originally we wanted to fly out of Shannon on the way home, but we saved money flying out of Dublin.
Any advice would be most helpful.
Originally we wanted to fly out of Shannon on the way home, but we saved money flying out of Dublin.
Any advice would be most helpful.
Oct 17th, 2004, 07:01 PM
#4
Doing a round trip from Dublin presents no problem with scheduling. Hurry up in one direction if you want, come back slowly. Three or four hours from Dublin ought to be sufficient to get to Killarney; otherwise make a loop of it.
Oct 17th, 2004, 09:56 PM
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The most convenient airport for most of the Cotswolds is Heathrow. Don't assume that, because Ryanair and Easyjet don't use it, flights will be expensive: the low-cost airlines have brought down virtually ALL fares on European flights, especially on flights within the British Isles. From the Cotswolds, Stansted is almost as diffcult to get to as Manchester, as gardyloo says.
Slightly less convenient to get to, but much more user-friendly and the airport of choice for most of us most of the time is Birmingham (BHX), which is pretty well served by low-costs (including FlyBE to Shannon). Its airport is on the motorway system, unlike Bristol's, which is on the wrong side of Bristol for most people, and needs a dull drive through the trafficked urban bit.
Getting to BHX from the Cotswolds proper is either a fast motorway drive or a pleasant rural motor through the redstone belt north of the Cotswolds that includes Stratford and Warwick.
Incidentally, Dublin and Shannon aren't the only airports in the Irish Republic. You might find Kerry (usually served only from Stansted, but new Britain-Ireland routes spring up all the time) or Cork (served from virtually every airport in England) handier.
Slightly less convenient to get to, but much more user-friendly and the airport of choice for most of us most of the time is Birmingham (BHX), which is pretty well served by low-costs (including FlyBE to Shannon). Its airport is on the motorway system, unlike Bristol's, which is on the wrong side of Bristol for most people, and needs a dull drive through the trafficked urban bit.
Getting to BHX from the Cotswolds proper is either a fast motorway drive or a pleasant rural motor through the redstone belt north of the Cotswolds that includes Stratford and Warwick.
Incidentally, Dublin and Shannon aren't the only airports in the Irish Republic. You might find Kerry (usually served only from Stansted, but new Britain-Ireland routes spring up all the time) or Cork (served from virtually every airport in England) handier.
