Visiting family in Lakenheath
 

I plan to visit family in Lakenheath, and would like to find the best way coming from the US to get there. Apparently, fly into Gatwick would be the start. Trains, busses? What is the easiest way without a car.

"<i>Apparently, fly into Gatwick would be the start</i>"

Not necessarily. Check where you get the best fare -- Heathrow or Gatwick.

Does the family live AT RAF Lakenheath, or just in the general area?

From LGW - you can take the train (w/ a few transfers depending on where exactly you are going) to Cambridge, Ely, Bury St. Edmunds or Lakenheath stations

From LHR - you'd go into London by tube (or possibly car service) and then take a train from Central London.

Thanks, Janis. He will be working at Lakenheath, they haven't bought the house yet, but it will be very near the base. (Same way I got to visit Venice, Italy. :-D)
The trains from Gatwick- what train company? I have seen several mentioned, and don't know which go to the Cambridge area.

You really need to ask your relatives this question.

Lakenheath wasn't designed for easy access by civilians by public transport, and there are all sorts of ways the RAF and the USAF have devised for carless military and their relatives to get to it.

Lakenheath station (several miles from the base) has about two trains a WEEK!! They stop - if you give advance notice - as a service to birdwatchers. Other nearish stations (like Brandon and Thetford) require a change of trains from London, and then an onward taxi. If Gatwick really IS your most convenient airport (and I'm struggling to think of a US city that has connections only to Gatwick), you get the First Capital Connect train to St Pancras, cross to Kings Cross next door, get a train to Ely then change again.

It really doesn't matter what the railway companies are. Go to www.nationalrail.co.uk and plug in journeys from Gatwick to Thetford or Brandon.

YOU may well find getting a bus (from either Gatwick or Heathrow) to Mildenhall, then an onward taxi, is better (go to the National Express site)

But your relatives will know far more about all this than most of us will.

You can train into the city of your choice as mentioned above (Ely has a beautiful cathedral) and have your family pick you up at the station. Ely is the most central train station and possibly the largest close to Lakenheath.

I visited in 2004 for 10 days and had a lovely time. There are a lot of lovely places to visit in the area I really loved Bury St Edmunds and Ely. Brandon has a lovely Country Park that's worth a visit. Do a search on East Anglia and you can get all kinds of info on things to see and do.

Enjoy your trip.
Pam

You've already been given a lot of good advice but another consideration might be to have one of your family members check with the travel office on base to see what they recommend--we found them to be quite helpful when we were there. There was a time when Continental flew to Stansted, which is the closest airport to Lakenheath, but I believe no U.S. carriers fly there now. :-(

Here is the base's own info sheet on transportation, which should be useful even though not all the same options will be available to you.
http://www.lakenheath.af.mil/library...et.asp?id=4269

You may want to check into whether there's a bus from, say, Heathrow to Mildenhall (town about 5 miles away with another big US/UK air base). It's been awhile, but I remember that it was for sure simpler to go by bus from Heathrow to Cambridge than to go by train.
Try www.nationalexpress.co.uk.

Many thanks to all here. This is just what I needed!