fruitsalad

My daughter and I are going to attend a knitting workshop near Pembroke in October. I'm wondering if usually it's better to fly into Dublin and then make your way to Rosslare and then take a ferry to Pembroke or fly into London and take a train or rent a car and drive to Pembroke. Any other possibilities or considerations besides fares and schedules?

GeoffHamer

The train journey from London must be the simplest option, with just one change. The journey from Dublin would only be worth considering if you want to visit Ireland and spend some time there as well. Driving a car straight after a long flight isn't a good idea.

Kate

When you say it's 'near' Pembroke, do you mean it's in the countryside? Pembrokeshire is STUNNINGLY beautiful and sparsely populated, so it might be best to rent a car while you're there, to both get to your destination and take the chance to do some sightseeing/walking along the fantastic coastal paths.

I've done this trip many times from London (my partner is welsh). You could take a train from London Paddington to somewhere like Swansea and then pick up a hire car for the last leg. Train all the way to Pembroke (changing at Swansea) takes 5h 20 mins.

Of course, if you fly into London Heathrow, you are on the west side of London and right on the M4 (major motorway, what an American would regard as an Intersate) which takes you most of the way there. A pretty easy drive, if rather dull. The M4 can get busy around Bristol, but once you're across the border and past Cardiff, the roads are empty.

Landing in Ireland and taking a ferry seems a bit barmy to me.

caroline_edinburgh

My PILs live there and it is very difficult to get to from Edinburgh with any combination of car/plane/train, but driving from Heathrow is fairly quick and straightforward, on motorway most of the way as Kate said. (It can get busy approaching Cardiff round the rush hour, but not for too long.)

I wouldn't recommend the train all the way - from Swansea there are only about 2 a day and it's a slow journey on a manky old train.

From Edinburgh we did actually once consider flying to Dublin, getting the train to Rosslare and then the ferry ! But that wouldn't be great either and would involve travelling overnight. So we tend to stick with the 10-11 hour drive

flanneruk

A train's the ONLY prudent choice after an overnight flight with (I assume) a five-eight hour time change. The ferry's mad (and boring and unbelievably unscenic except for the last half hour sailing into Pembroke Dock) unless you want to see Ireland - and it'd still be quicker to fly to Cardiff then train.

Railair bus from Heathrow to Reading (or train from Gatwick to Reading): then train to Swansea, changing for Pembroke. At least five trains a day www.nationalrail.co.uk

tahl

I like taking a daytime flight to Heathrow from the east coast of the US, then getting an airport hotel room for the night through Priceline/Hotwire/LateRooms/etc.. You wake up fresh in the morning, and can easily (a) take the nice direct coach from Heathrow Central Bus Station to Swansea (by way of Cardiff)(check www.nationalexpress.com), or (b) rent a car and drive. You will have a much wider choice of cars at Heathrow than in Wales, btw, especially if you prefer an automatic.

fruitsalad

Thanks, everyone! I'll dig in and check out all these options.

dobbo996

Re Tahl's advice on hire cars, you will have no problem hiring a suitable car in either Cardiff or Swansea. There's plenty of choice. After all, Cardiff is the 10th largest city in the UK!

If it was me, I would get a coach to Cardiff from Heathrow, stay overnight in the city (plenty of good hotels), hire a car and drive to Pembrokeshire the next day. Easy trip.