Gytha

Hi, I am trying to organise a holiday to the Scilly isles and all I get from everyone is "ooh, its difficult to get there, its a long way" and "that's expensive"! <BR>So can anyone tell me what is the best way of getting there? Plane, helicopter or ferry?Are visitors able to take their cars (I know they are small islands and probably don't need a car but I will have two oap's with me)? I will be bringing my dog so I guess the ferry is probably the only one that would take pets, am I right? Once there, is St Mary's the best island to stay on (for a 1st visit, anyway)? We usually go self catering, any recommendations anyone? Any other advice will be gratefully received - I'm getting more determined to go on this holiday each time I see the photos of the islands, just beautiful!!<BR>Thanks

Ruth

I'm not an expert, but I have visited the Scilly Isles once, and they were fantastic! We were on holiday in north Cornwall, and flew from Newquay. It was not cheap (80 pounds or so, 5 years ago) but for us, very convenient. I notice that one can now fly RyanAir from Stanstead to Newquay, so that might work.<BR><BR>We stayed on Bryher, one of the smallest inhabited islands, which was beautiful! We stayed in a B&B (I forget the name) - very friendly and comfortable. Ferries were easy to use to get from island to island - at low tide they took us a long route round Bryher past islands with puffins and seals! Tresco gardens were beautiful (15 min on the ferry from Bryher).<BR><BR>No idea about cars, but I would have thought that taxis would be more practical to get around St Mary's than go to the expense of taking your car (if that is possible). You would not be able to take a car from island to island - at least, not in a reasonable timescale. The owners of our B&B came to meet us off the ferry with their landrover for our luggage (and us, if we didn't want to walk the 100 yards or so to the cottage).<BR><BR>We didn't have time to explore St Mary's, so I can't comment on which island would be best to stay on, but we really enjoyed Bryher!

julie

Believe it or not there was just an article in the travel section of my local US paper in the past week or two. Get on the web site for the Minneapolis StarTribune and do a search in the travel section. It was quite an intersting article.

Gytha

Many thanks<BR>I can't wait to go! I have just received a brochure from the Scilly isles tourist info and it is just fantastic!!!! Thanks for the advice.

Gytha

Thanks Julie, just been on the site now and read the article. Am about to show it to all the family and they are now starting to go "oooh! sounds great!"