Heathrow or Manchester? Driving with a Hire Car
 

We're trying this again, after having had to cancel the trip that was planned for the end of this month.

We don't have any real itinerary yet, and it's likely to be peculiar, although it will definitely involve Harry Potter Studios in Watford. That would suggest Heathrow to me, although we will have about two weeks and a hire car, and we're intending to cover a fair amount of ground. We probably won't visit the exact same things out of Manchester as we would out of London, but I'm not going to have any trouble keeping us amused.

We're tentatively looking at May 29--June 12, probably on Aer Lingus connecting through Dublin from Philadelphia. The main reason I was contemplating Manchester is that I thought it might be somewhat easier to drive out of than London. True? False? True but not enough to be worth the bother?

If we were carless, I'd probably just go for Heathrow, but we do think we need a car, and if we could reduce the amount of traffic mayhem in the first day or two...

Essentially no difference at all. You don't want to drive IN Manchester or IN London, but from either airport is no problem. It would depend more on 1) airfare, and 2) the itinerary you settle on. But since one should not drive on arrival day after an overnight flight(s) it really doesn't matter. Now - of course IF you were going to stop over a night or two in Dublin - driving the first day in the UK would be OK.

We're definitely not driving on arrival day, no matter where we go, but would probably stay at or very near the airport, so we will be driving out of there. I was hoping for slightly smaller and less confusing, and out of an urban area faster, but I have never been to Manchester (although my grandmother lived there in the fifties) and am completely unfamiliar with its airport.

We're probably not stopping over in Dublin for longer than it takes to change airplanes.

Heathrow is quite a bit outside of the urban London area. It's easy to get on the M4 or M25 motorway, especially if you are going west from LHR.
Day and time of arrival make a difference; if it's rush hour on a weekday it could be very busy. Weekends are less busy.
It all depends on where you are going first. Say you want to stay in the centre of Oxford; I would take the bus from LHR and only rent a car when leaving Oxford (for example). So it all depends on your itinerary after arrival.

"I was hoping for slightly smaller and less confusing, and out of an urban area faster, but I have never been to Manchester "

IME/IMO there is next to no difference in driving away from either airport. (Or LGW . . . IF flights into LGW resume by then). It really does depend on where you want to spend the first day or two. Oxford or Windsor or ?? - LHR. Chester, or York, or Manchester itself, or ?? - then MAN.

Well, Oxford is probably not on the itinerary. We are not really planning on London either, and probably not Windsor.

Driving around in circles may be involved. Wales is, but the person who wants to go to Wales doesn't really care where in Wales. Watford is necessary, probably Stonehenge, and possibly the tank museum at Bovington (although I'm seriously hoping I get away with substituting one or more other military museums). My plan of attack will probably involve mapping out the must haves, adding in desired things that don't look too nutty distance wise, and then filling in with anything appealing along the route. We're pretty easily amused, so I'm not anticipating having trouble finding things (and a lot of must haves are types, rather than specifics--zoo, beach town, amusement park, stately home, gardens, random fortifications, etc.,etc.).

Geographically, it looks like either would work, but if we went into Manchester we'd probably hit Blackpool and maybe Alton Towers, and if we went into London, we'd probably do Brighton or Bournemouth (or both). I'm quite sure there are more things that will appeal than we can possibly fit into one trip. Our original itinerary was fairly southwards, but I had to go to Southampton, which isn't necessary this time.

Since it sounds like one airport isn't more intrinsically desirable than the other, I am going to try to get some sense out of my family and try to make a slightly more solid itinerary.

Family is in favor of Manchester.

DH doesn't really care, but he wants to ride the Big One at Blackpool Pleasure Beach and the Wicker Man at Alton Towers. DS thinks everyone passes through Heathrow sooner or later, but this may be the only time he goes to Manchester.

Current thinking is to swing up from Manchester to Blackpool, then Alton Towers, then west to Wales, work our way over to Stonehenge and then Bovington, and then slowly northeast to Watford, hit Audley End House, and then back to Manchester. It's weird, but we should have plenty of time.

If that is the sort of itinerary you are working on - then consider flying in to MAN and out of LHR.

Following that last comment from janisj, why not stay in Manchester for a night or two and take the chance to visit the Imperial War Museum North just outside of the city? I can recommend hotels and restaurants if you'd like if you give me an indication of budget.

It's in the area known as the Quays, or Salford Quays where there are a number of hotels across the price range, Manchester United's stadium, the Lowry Outlet Mall and a number of reasonable restaurants. While I appreciate your DH's wish to ride the Big One at Blackpool, the town itself is not worth visiting especially on a weekend. The cost of the entry to the Pleasure Beach at Blackpool where the Big One is is eye watering.

After that, head for Chester for a night or two which is a great base for North Wales, Llandudno, Conway, Caernarvon and Snowdonia before you head South.

The Imperial War Museum sounds like a great idea. Hotels should be comfortable, but not super fancy. Independents should run more to "traditional" than "modern boutique". I like to try to keep them to no more that a 100GBP a night. Less is always better. Restaurants should be pretty traditional, unless Italian, since both DS and I find it appealing and it's easy to feed my husband. A recommendation for something a little more interesting than a chain pub/carvery would be welcome though, since I think there is going to be a lot of that on this trip.

Unless I'm missing something, the cost at the gate for an unlimited Pleasure Beach adult ticket is 39.00 GBP, and it's somewhat less online. Pricy, but not as painful as Harry Potter at 47.00 (that's really making me wince). Otherwise is Blackpool not really worth visiting? I thought there was a fair amount going on there, in a honky tonk beach town kind of way.

We might stop in Chester, but we were thinking to work our way south in Wales, although I know that's going to be a slow go. Some previous itineraries included Ulysses, but it's close enough to a cruise ship that we're assuming unnecessary ferry rides are still going to be not a great idea.

We had wondered a little bit about that, although my husband has a preference for flying in and out of the same airport (and returning the hire car to the place he got it from).

I probably won't book the airfare for a couple of days yet, so we're not yet committed to in and out of Manchester. It sounds like I should spend some quality time with google maps.

If you're counting pounds, you might want to do two dummy car reservations to compare quotes for round-trip and one-way rentals.

That's a good idea. I always figure it's more to drop off in a new location, but if it's not a huge difference it might change our thinking a little. We're not on a super tight budget, but a pound saved is another pound for fun stuff and snacks.

You have a choice of staying in the city centre or out near the IWM, but evenings near the IWM are limited in your choice of restaurant. There's far more to do during the day in Manchester's city centre than out in Salford and you have a much larger choice of hotels. For instance, the Piccadilly Hotel run by Mercure, is slap bang in the centre and comes in at less than £100 prpn for your dates. It's an OK hotel and has easy walking distance access to the whole of the city.

As far as Italian restaurants go, you could try:

San Carlo-- a bit pricey but excellent
Rosso--pricey but excellent
Don Giovanni--Less pricey and good

If you want to be a bit a bit more adventurous, try some Indian food at:

East z East
Rajdoot
Akbars

This hotel is a short stroll from Chinatown with lots of choice, eg:

Yang Sing
Little Yang Sing
Woo Sang

Let me know if there's anything else I can help with, such as things to do in the city during the day.

Thank you so much!

I've plotted out a route that does have us more or less in a circle, without insanely complicated deviations. (It helps that while neither Blackpool nor Alton Towers are all that far from Manchester, they seem to be in completely opposite directions). I'm thinking we may do the IMW on the back end, possibly the day before we fly out, rather than on the front. The Italian suggestions are great. DS and I may eat some Indian at some point, but DH will not eat either Indian or Chinese.

I have done some more research on Blackpool, and while we still want to go, our plans seem to have us there on the Monday Bank Holiday. Does this mean that everything will be insane, or just that everything will be open and running? It also looks like I should exercise some caution in the booking of hotels, because while we don't mind older, it looks like some of the seafront hotels we should theoretically like have seen much better days.

Bank holiday will be busy.
Blackpool is a dump. I'd not stay there, find a town along the coast with a proper hotel.

Big Ditto - dash in to ride the Big One then get out of Dodge . . .

You're right, Blackpool and Alton Towers are in opposite directions, but if you must go to Blackpool it's by far the easier to get to, -practically motorway all the way. Alton Towers involves a number of cross country roads and it's a PIA to get to. The Bank Holiday will be manic in Blackpool and if this pandemic is over, the queues will be horrendous on the Pleasure Beach. A fast in to ride the Big One and fast out may not be possible. I don't think I'd bother staying on the coast as it's only an hour or less (traffic on a BH permitting) so I'd do it as a day trip and come back to Manchester for the night. Hotels in Blackpool are generally awful with the possible exception of the Grand, Imperial or Savoy. (In that order). Even then I'd still drive back to Manchester..Leave early to get there early.

We were thinking the Imperial. We love the look of the Savoy, but the reviews aren't great. The Grand looked like something odd was up with it. There were a couple of smaller ones that looked not completely terrifying, and we thought Pleasure Beach's own hotels might be okay. We're up to a certain amount of adventure, and shore hotels here can be weird (I stayed in one in the 80's that had literal toadstools in the carpet), but there are limits. I was surprised by how few chains seem to have made incursions into the market there.

We definitely want at least one night, and like the idea of being near the promenade, and absolutely love the look of Pleasure Beach (I watched some videos, and it looks awesome--we love both amusement parks and shore towns--we had not realized what a variety of rides they have) and we'd like to visit the piers and Blackpool Tower as well. My impression is of potentially rowdy, but as long as you stick to tourist areas and don't do anything stupid, probably not dangerous (and please correct me if I'm wrong).

Right now we're thinking that we'll do Alton Towers on the way back into Manchester (we're planning on the Black Country Living History Museum in Dudley, and it looks likely Audley End to that to Alton Towers is reasonably sane), and we'll just have a slowish drive from AT to Manchester.

" I was surprised by how few chains seem to have made incursions into the market there."

There is a reason for that . . . don't say we didn't warn you. And I didn't realize you were headed there on the BH. Oh my . . .

"The Grand looked like something odd was up with it. " Not at all. It's the most modern of the better hotels and was built as a Hilton about thirty to forty years ago. The three hotels mentioned are all close together at the Northern end of the resort and a couple of miles away from the Pleasure Beach and all have good parking. You could catch a tram along the "Promenade" down to the PB and back as parking down there is awful. Forced Into a stay in Blackpool, I'd choose the Grand. The PB has a lot of rides across the age range and if you're (or DH) a roller coaster junkie, then you can't go wrong. Again, the queues for the individual rides will eat up a lot of time.

It's quite nice to walk along the piers and get some fresh air that doesn't smell of burgers or fish and chips, while the Tower is again eye wateringly expensive as are most things in the resort. It's not really a dangerous place at all, with perhaps the odd skirmish around pub closing time, extending to club closing time at the weekends. These altercations don't really affect other visitors, just the drunks and their partners, so I wouldn't worry too much. Just be careful what you step in!

The reason that janisj refers to regarding hotel chains is that they would mostly be too expensive for the type of crowd that frequents Blackpool and those chains wouldn't want the level of customer that the resort attracts. Sorry if that sounds snobbish-it isn't--it's just true.

Thanks, I'll look into the Grand again. The way it came up on Hotwire as first a Hilton and then not, plus there was something else that I'm trying to remember, made me a little wary. We may decide we prefer Victorian red brick, but there's something to be said for modern, and it looks like as an upscale a hotel as we can reasonably manage might be prudent.

As long as visitors aren't regularly mugged on the promenade (by muggers, not high prices) we're not too worried about it. We're not fancy people, we weren't expecting upscale, and we like beach towns with amusments (including some with rowdy or downscale reputations). We'll probably be asleep or asleepish by pub closing, so as long as altercations are not in the corridor directly outside our room it's fine. My father did not particularly care for Blackpool, although as far as I know he only went there once, but my grandmother loved it, and my father alway said I might like it if I ever got the chance to visit. Now the last time any of my relatives went near the place will have been in the Fifties, so I'm sure it's changed, but I've long wanted to go there, and my family is completely onboard with any destination with amusement parks and arcades.

I am wondering if I should shuffle things a little so we're trying for PB on the Tuesday after the Bank Holiday. We're not giant fans of crowds, but I do like visiting places when everything is open.

mugging is unlikely to be an issue, but "chucking out time" can become that.

Fleetwood or Southport are nicer

Southport looks very nice indeed, and probably is to our taste (Fleetwood maybe less so), but I'm thinking maybe in addition to Blackpool, instead of.

We're not intending to spend the entire trip running around seaside towns (although this is because there are many other high priority items on the itinerary, not because we think we wouldn't like that), but there's nothing wrong with a little variety, and since my original thinking had really been two nights in Blackpool, it looks like one there and then one in Southport might be sane, especially since it looks like it's pretty much in the right direction for Chester and Wales.

Thank you!

The day after a BH s usually much more sane, so it's a consideration. Also If you do prefer a red brick hotel, then the Imperial is the one to go for, much better than the Savoy. I've just done a bit of research on the Grand and find that it is now owned by the Britannia Hotels group. If the Britannia in Manchester is anything to go by, then stick with the Imperial..

Blackpool has certainly changed since the 50's and it used to be an OKish sort of place. Lots of people on the beach (called the sands) wearing suits and shirts and ties and lots of small cafes on the "front" selling "Jugs of tea for the Sands". You left a deposit for the tray and crockery and got it back when you returned the empties.

We were in Fleetwood last week for an evening walk along the coastal path and there is nothing of a resort about it. Boring and to be avoided aside from the walk. Southport has a small amusement park with no big rides, but has a pier that is a kilometre long, the second longest in the UK and is a pleasant walk, or you can catch a little train that runs along it. Lord Street used to be the upmarket shopping street of the town, but is perhaps a little faded now. I can recommend the Westminster Cafe near the centre of the street for excellent breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea.

Attachment 4881

That's a wonderful picture.

We are definitely thinking the Imperial. I took a look at the Grand again and I'm just not feeling it.

Fleetwood did look too quiet. We're still trying to figure out if Southport is likely to be worth the time investment. We do have a thing for piers, and we're really amusment park enthusiasts, not specifically coaster ones, although DH and DS do like big coasters.

Pleasure Beach appears to have, in addition to the big coasters, a well curated and maintained collection of older rides, including a bunch of dark rides, and we really want to visit. One night is definite, because we'll feel cheated if we don't, and the salty, sticky people who've spent all day in an amusement park next to the sea are not going to want to get back in the car and drive an hour. I know there's a lot of light at that time of year, but we don't really want to drive late either. We're not committing to hotels for a while anyway, but I'm trying to decide if two nights are better, or if we will have had enough Blackpool after one night.

Just for info: the pier at Southport doesn't have any rides on it or stalls. There's a get off point half way that allows you to access some newly built places, a bowling alley, cinema, chain restaurants etc. but otherwise has only a small arcade right at the end. Also here's a photo of the Westminster tea rooms.

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...vm-dg&usqp=CAUhttps://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/i...2Pn1w&usqp=CAU

Sorry for all the code. It was meant to be a picture of the westminster Tea Rooms but it seems to have taken a fit.

I think there may be a little bit of an issue with posts coming up properly.

Rubicund, I had a lot of trouble even seeing your last two posts, with attendant code, until I tried clicking "go advanced".

The little railway looks wonderful though.

Rubicund . . How are you attaching the images . . the string of text is pointing to somewhere other than the site image folders

moderator8, I used a simple cut and paste for all three images.

Somehow the code is getting garbled. The first two are links to a website, but the third is to a drive somewhere . . perhaps on your PC?

Try using this method:

https://www.fodors.com/community/fod...orums-1680819/

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...551fbbf431.jpg
Here';s the Westminster Tea Rooms in Southport.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.fod...2fdb04ea73.jpg

Seems to have worked this time!

And ooh, that looks wonderful!

I'll check out their menu.

Menu does look wonderful as well. It also appears to be possible to feed my husband, which it isn't always in places that serve tea. Best of all, it looks like they will serve you Babycham with your tea! (DS and I love Babycham, but it's very hard to find in the US).

For north Wales (and do take a look at Chester on the way, even if you don't stay there) I based in Conwy (Bodnant Gardens, castles and Llandudno, without a car) but sounds like you would prefer Llandudno. Don't miss the tram up the Great Orme: Great Orme Tramway

See also: https://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com...he-great-orme/

Thanks!

We are booked! After all that, we ended up with Heathrow, and we're going for July (we're hoping things will be normalish by then). BA was having a heck of a sale, and I wanted to take advantage of it.

Now I just need to buckle down to some serious itinerary planning. Blackpool may be on the chopping block. We've discovered that DH is kind of past roller coasters for the most part. DS is not, but he's not that heavily invested in them either. Also, a lot of restaurant food is seriously not good for DH (he had bleeding ulcers, and while his doctor was quite sure he would have had an issue eventually, a lot of rich vacation food seems to have been the trigger for their becoming an issue) so I'm leaning towards more time planted in self catering with local forays and less road tripping.