aussie_nomads

My husband & I will be coming to London in April for the London marathon. We plan to spend a week in London and then pick up a rental car and drive across to Wales. I would like some suggestions for an itinerary. We spent a week in the Cotswolds last year and have been to Bath previously, but have not spent much time in Wales, but have been to Caernarfon & Betws-y-coed a long time ago. I would like to visit Conwy but don't want to fall into the trap of trying to do too much in the short time we have. We need to be in Cardiff for 2 days and then we plan to return the car and catch the ferry to Ireland. Is it better to catch the Ferry from Pembroke or Fishguard? So here's our plan which I need help with:

Day 1 - Collect rental car from London & drive to ?
Day 2 - ?
Day 3 - ?
Day 4 - ?
Day 5 - Cardiff
Day 6 - Cardiff
Day 7 - Ferry to Ireland - Pembroke or Fishguard?

alanRow

The obvious things to point out are

a) taking a hire car abroad is going to cost more - a lot more
b) if you are not coming back to Great Britain then you will get a massive one way charge
c) ferry with a car isn't cheap.

You'll find it substantially cheaper to fly from either Cardiff or Bristol to Ireland or if you want the ferry experience then do it as a foot passenger via sailrail.co.uk

As to where to go with a car, I'd suggest dropping to the south coast starting with the Dockyards at Portsmouth, going through the New Forest & Winchester then heading through Stonehenge / Salisbury / Avebury then to Wells finally ending up at Bristol.

alihutch

Really recommend this hotel and location in the New Forest http://www.themasterbuilders.co.uk/

Frances

You would maximise your available time by travelling from London to Cardiff and then after your two days there, travelling to Conwy and all the other places well worthy of a visit. Sail from Anglesey to Ireland- either Dun Laoghaire or Dublin returning your hire car in Holyhead (the port for Ireland.)

Gordon_R

AlanRow - the OP actually said "<i>...We need to be in Cardiff for 2 days and then we plan to return the car and catch the ferry to Ireland...</i>" so (sensibly) I don't think they are planning to take the hire car with them to Ireland....

I'd also recommend the New Forest.

janisj

Do you need to be in Cardiff those two days specifically -- or just any two days?

because if you just need to be in Cardiff sometime, I'd take the train to Cardiff -- do whatever business you need and see the city for 2 days, hire a car and explore the west and southwest coast of Wales. Then take the ferry over.

But if you must be in Cardiff just prior to moving on to Ireland -- Then the New Forest and south coast would be a great place to explore

annhig

what alanrow and janisj said.

Get the train to Cardiff, spend your two days there, then pick up the car and tour south wales [where I am spending an increasing amount of time, due to DS being at uni there].

you could do a lovely trip heading from Cardiff north through the Brecon beacons, up to Llandridnod-Wells, across to Aberystwith, and down to Fishguard [where the ferry to Ireland goes from]. we drove along the road from Llandovery to Abergaveny in January and it was spectacular - i was even having 2nd thoughts about our trip to Paris!

4 nights should do that nicely and you would have no trouble getting places to stay in B&Bs as you went along.

aussie_nomads

Thank you to all for your replies. Just to clarify, we need to be in Cardiff on the last 2 days for a pre-arranged engagement so we will pick-up the rental car in London. We will be returning the car in Wales before boarding the ferry to Ireland and will hire another car once there. I know that the ferry goes from Holyhead to Dublin, but thought because we will already be in Cardiff that it would make more sense to catch it from either Pembroke or Fishguard. Is one port better than the other? So, setting out from London we have 4 nights before we need to be in Cardiff. I welcome any suggested itineraries and suggestions for overnight stays.

Megdorset

I would also suggest the south coast - in particular the Jurassic coast. Its approx 120 miles from London & pretty much the same distance to Cardiff.

www.jurassiccoast.com

www.dorsetphotos.co.uk (the browse photos section here gives some good ideas). Try Durdle Door, Milton Abbas, Tyneham, Burton Bradstock, Golden Cap....

April/May is a good time to visit the Swannery at Abbotsbury as you can watch the cygnets hatch quite literally at your feet.

I am happy to put a few more ideas forward - or do a rough itinerary but what sort of things are you interested in?

Frances

Have any replies been deleted here or have I just misunderstood?
aussie_nomads wants to travel from London to Conwy and then back to Cardiff in 4 days. Where does the reference to the south coast (of England ) come from ?

janisj

Frances: I think you've misread the OP just a bit. They would like to visit Conwy, yes, but think that might be too much and they have already visited much of North Wales. They want to know what might be a good area to visit in the 4 days between London and Cardiff. Thus the south coast suggestion since they have also visited Bath and the Cotswolds previously.

aussie_nomads

Thank you Megdorset for your suggestions and I agree this part of the country is stunning. We did it several years ago en route to Cornwall. Frances, is correct, it's Wales that we would like to explore with maybe the first night a few hours out of London. I like your suggestions, Annhig. Do you think it would work if we were to drive to Ross-on-Wye for the first night and then we would have another 3 nights before we have to be in Cardiff for the next 2 nights. Where would you suggest for overnight stays? Is Conwy out of the question with the time we have? and also should we catch the ferry from Pembroke or Fishguard?

annhig

hi again, aussie,

it would certainly work if you were to overnight in Ross on Wye, then tour southern Wales for 3 nights, and end up in Cardiff.

It's up to you of course, but Conway [or Conwy!] is a heck of a way to go and you'd barely have got there before it was time to get back. There is so much else to explore in the south that you would be missing.

from Ross, you could follow the road I suggested above, or keeping slightly further south, head for Aberaeron, [a stunning seaside town] then down the coast, ending up back in Cardiff.

ref the ferry, where do you want to go, exactly?

Frances

As far as I can see the London Marathon is on Easter Sunday. Does this mean that you will hit the road on Easter Monday because this will impact on what I was going to suggest.
As for Conwy being too far -no its not. You will easily get there the day you leave London(4 hours with a fair wind)and then have all the rest of your time to stay there, meander back to Cardiff or strike out west and down the Cardigan coast before cutting back inland to the south -east (of Wales).

annhig

Frances puts her finger on it when she says "4 hours with a fair wind" - the quickest route takes you up round Birmingham and even on the M6 Toll, you could face delays. it's also a very boring route - at the best of times.

so that's one day potentially done for, and the day you'll need to get back to Cardiff, leaving you two in North Wales. Sorry, I just don't get it. you could have 4 very leisurely days in mid-south Wales, or knock yourselves up going to Conwy. if you had a week, that might be different.

aussie_nomads

You had me worried for a moment, Frances, but I've just checked and Easter Sunday is the 24th April the week after the marathon. Thanks, annhig, I think we might take your suggestion and stick to Southern Wales. If we aim to spend the 1st night in Ross on Wye, where would you suggest the next 3 nights? After that, we will spend 2 nights in Cardiff. As for the ferry to Ireland, we were planning to go to Rosslare in Co. Wexford where will we pick up a rental car - this part of our trip is the subject of another forum.

annhig

Hi aussie,

I've set out a few ideas above - it rather depends whether you want to stay in the country or in little towns [which we tend to prefer] as to where exactly you rest your head.

travelling that time of year with only two of you, you should be able to find B&Bs easily enough if you turn up on spec. one place that i would definitely head for for a night is Aberaeron on the western coast of Wales below Aberystwyth - we have yet to stay there but we visited for an afternoon and it was lovely. a long stretch of [shingle] beach, a pretty harbour, nice restaurants, and honey ice-cream to die for would make it a good spot for overnighting.

before that a couple of nights in the Brecon beacons would be nice - if you stayed in the same place for 2 nights you could do some walking perhaps or visiting the beacons and the NationalGarden of Wales, or Aberglasney [a renovated garden].

Alternatively, 1 night at say, Llandovery, the next at Aberaeron, and the last at Tenby [on the south Wales coast] might suit you. it depends what you want to do and/or see!

aussie_nomads

Thanks Ann for all your suggestions. Like you, we also prefer small towns. Definitely enough here to plan a good trip.