Hello,

it is looking like I may be spending Christmas in Worcester via home exchange. This will be our first visit to the UK. We are trying to look into flights & are unsure of the best airport to fly into. Things to do, near by places to visit. Is it worth a train ride into London?
This is still a new plan so more questions to come.

Thank you for your help.

Fly into Birmingham. Trains to Worcester are easy, into Birmingham New Street and on from there.

London is a short hop on the train but there is so much in this region you may not have much time.

Birmingham is host to a Frankfurt Christmas market, the largest outside Germany. You are going to really enjoy this trip!!

"<i>Fly into Birmingham. Trains to Worcester are easy, into Birmingham New Street and on from there. </i>"

Birmingham may or may not be the best option -- depending on where you are coming from.

Where are you originating? You can fly into London, or even Manchester from more US gateways. I'd go w/ whichever airport gets you the best schedule/fare. Once you are in England you can easily get to Worcester by train.

Plus -- if you fly into London -- consider traveling a few days prior to your house swap. You can spend a couple of days seeing London and then take the train up to Worcester. (Or vice versa - do Worcester first and then spend a few days in London before flying home)

Flying in from LAX in Los Angeles.
I read online that it is about 2+ hours once way to London, correct?

Are trains interconnecting to surrounding towns/villages or would a car rental be wise?

Thank you for the help.

If you just want to do the headline stuff trains are fine but if you would like to make the most of the locality a car will give you more flexibility. I'll put some thought into this and come up with some considered suggestions later

I have no time now, so am just marking this for later on.

I lived in a small village 5 miles from Worcester for 10 years, and still return to the city from time to time. Worcester is lovely.

Train connections are good to towns, I don't know about buses because I never used them. There were no buses to our little place! To see much of the countryside properly you will need a car there are some great places for walking.

I'll come back later with some more about the area.

Christmas carols in Worcester Cathedral!!!!

Rent a car - deffo

Go and take a drive into Snowdonia in Wales - watch out for the weather though!

Coalbrookdale/Ironbridge - cradle of the Industrial Revolution.

A car will be a great help -- but might the home exchange include a car -- they often do.

Also - in the home IN Worcester or is it nearby? That also makes a difference whether a car is absolutely necessary. If it is in town, you can use public transport a lot more including local and long distance trains.

But if it is in the countryside or a small village, public transport may not be a viable option.

Where is the place?

I've been so busy today I've not really had much chance to think about this.

As janis says, WHERE? If you are out in the suburbs of Worcester, you can forget about trains because you will have to walk a couple of miles in, unless you have a car. This is a holiday period to for much of the week between Christmas and New Year the buses will run on Sunday (ie limited) schedules, if at all.

Depends on your dates but yes, Worcester Cathedral for carols, midnight mass on Christmas Eve.

In Worcester, which is a lovely town, there's not really that much to see and do. OK, there's the cathedral, the Commandery Civil War Museum, The Guild Hall - where you might find some concerts going on, there must be another Museum, because Worcester is a Roman town but for the life of me I can't think of it now!. There's the racecourse, but they probably won't be racing over the festive period. The Swan Theatre - a Must-See place for pantomime - book your seats NOW! And the Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce factory. Shame Royal Worcester Porcelain has closed now. And Worcester has some delightful streets with ancient medieval timbered houses.

Around Worcester you have...

Droitwich - Brine Baths and attractive architecture. Also my ex-husband's offices out in the business park LOL!

Kidderminster - nice church, nice town, carpet factories, sugar beet factories.

Stourbridge, Stourport, Dudley, etc, what is know as the Black Country, there's the Victorian Museum which is really most interesing, the glass crystal factories like Stuart, Brierley where you can see the glass being blown and try it yourself.

Birmingham, less said the better IMHO.

Warwick and Stratford-upon-Avon. Plenty been written about them here,I don't need to say any more.

Cotswold towns and villages. Really easy to get to from Worcester with the train to Moreton-in-Marsh. Car is better though.]

Evesham and Pershore, nice towns. Cheltenham - it's where most Worcester people go to shop! I still see a lot of people I used to know lunching in Cheltenham!

Gloucester for the cathedral, Tewkesbury for the Abbey. Hereford for the cathedral and the Mappa Mundi. Ledbury is a charming small town with one fabulous restaurant and some nice pubs.

And Malvern, for the waters, the hills, the views, the theatre - try the panto here if you can't get into the one in Worcester.

I could also go on about the villages like Knightwick, Martley, Holt, Shelsey Beauchamp, Prickley Green, Clifton-onTeme. There's wher I used to live - Monkwood Green (nature reserve here, SSSI (site of Special Scientific Interest). We restored a derelict 17th Century farmhouse on the edge of the woods, we had our very own bat colony in the attic! Nice pub there called the Fox.

Talking of foxes, if you are not anti-hunting then several local packs have their traditional Boxing Day meet on 26th December. The Worcester Hunt meet in Droitwich at a hotel I can't remember the name of right now. But the best sight of all is to drive 30 miles to Ludlow where hounds meet in the courtyard of the Castle ruins and it is the most wonderful place to be. Yes, Ludlow is another super place to visit from Worcester. I lived there for 3 years!

Shrewsbury is not much more than 2 hours drive, neither is Bath, neither is London.

anyway, that's enough rambling for now. When you are definitely decided, have some definite dates and know exactly where you are staying, then post back and I'll try to be more specific.

I don't know where you are flying from. but Continental fly from Newark to Bristol, which is pretty much the same distance to Worcester and Heathrow would be. Birmingham is the closest airport.

Generally train connections to Worcester are good.

<<<Birmingham, less said the better IMHO.>>>

Birmingham is such a cool city these days. How can you say that and mention Dudley in the same breath?

The Black country living museum and the castle are great but other than that Dudley is the pits. The pie factory in Tipton is fun, but its a bit of a dump other than that.

Birmingham, on the other hand, is such a fantastic city these days, the custard factory, the jewellery quarter, Brindley place, the mailbox - the top floor of Selfredges (god I love the top floor of Selfridges). The Staffordshire hoard is on display at the mo in the gallery and an international food thing for the next 10 days. The Frankfurt Christmas fair...

You are quite right Fashionista, and I bow to your superior knowledge of Birmingham in the 2000s.

I worked in Birmingham for several years back in the mid-80s and it was quite grim then. I was working for a property company and spent a lot of time in industrial parks around Gravelly Hill, Chelmsley Wood, Fort Dunlop when it was still a ruin sitting in a wasteland, so I didn't go shopping in the centre much! I've been back a couple of times since but only for theatre visits so have not seen much of the city itself. I liked Chinatown though.

When I mentioned Dudley I was kind of thinking quickly 'what's in a 30mile radius around Worcester, towns and places to visit' - and after Stourbridge, Dudley was next in line - I meant the Black Country Museum of course was worth a visit.

Gosh J You have got to come back for a visit! I see the rough side od Dudley due to my job so probably have a bit of a jaundiced view! Ike your list though

if your into pop music there are loads of famous bands and musicians from the West Midlands.

You might if in the area check out Leamington Spa.

Birmingham was the home of several Arts and Crafts people .
as well as Cadbury's Chocolate.
there's also a jewelry sector

WOW, thank you all for sucj amazing feedback. I will be posting more questions as I read through each post more thoroughly. I need to discuss with the other members of my party to be able to know exactly where in Worcester we will be staying. As I understand it we will be there (or some in our group will be there this entire time) from Dec. 5 to Jan 8th.

Are there some restaurant & pub recomendations or rather 'not to miss'?

I have been living in Worcester for the last 5 years or so, so will hopefully be able to answer most of your questions. Its classed as a city but it reality is more like a medium size town. The most famous landmark we have in Worcester is the Cathedral which is a thousnad years old and has stacks of history. King John (The guy running England during the time of Robin Hood) is buried in the Cathedral so it is well worth visiting. As others have stated go to the carol concert (which is free) if you get the chance. It is truely amazing!

Should you wish to visit London during your stay which I would recommend you do there is a a direct train from Worcester Foregate street station into London Paddington. The ticket will cost £40.00 for an open return and the journey takes approx 2 hours. You could always pick up a cheap £30.00 room in a Travel lodge (A budget chain hotel) in London giving you two days to explore.

There are plenty of things to do in the area around Worcester. Birmingham which is Englands 2nd largest city is a 45 minute train journey away. There isn't a huge amount to do there but is worth a day trip to wander around the shopping district. I would reccomend that you hired a car for at least part of your visit which would give you access to many of the sites in the area. Warwick with its magnificant castle is a 45 minute drive from Worcester as is Stratford with its links to Shakespeare. The beutiful Cotswolds village of Broadway is also 45 minutes drive or so away. Going slighty further afield you could drive to Bath in not much more than 1 1/2 hours or so and also Oxford.

In terms of Worcester itself as I've a;ready stated the Catherdral is its main point of interest. There is also a museam called the Commandary which which is worth popping into. The high street is pleasant and the river severn runs through the city which is nice to walk down. There are stacks of restaurant's my fave's include Browns (Very pricey but considered the best we have in Worcester) The Kings Head (posh pub food very contemporary and reasonably priced if you go for the set menu) loads of decent Indian restaurants (Cafe Mela and the MAsala Lounge). We also have a number of the chain restaurants such as Cafe Rouge, Pizza Express, ASK. There are also stacks of pubs in the city my personal fave's are The Old Rectifying House which overlooks the river, The Cardinals Hat and The Swan with two Nicks.

While you are in Worcester why don't you go and watch our rugby team in action? The Worcester Warriors rugby team is at the heart of many of us Worcster residents you will see many people wearing a replica Warriors rugby shirt while you are over there. Rugby season will be in full swing during the month you are here and the rugby ground is a short 10 minute journey on the bus. The big game of the season always takes place on boxing day, as everything else will be closed head down to Sixways (the name of the stadium). I am sure you will have a great time soaking up the atmosphere whilst drinking a few beers.

Hope the above helps, post if you need any more specific info

Patrick1980: thank you. I willbe sharing this great info with my family. I am still trying to figure out the best option to fly in from LAX (Los Angeles) what is the nearest airport to Worcester?
Rugby sounds perfect! I assume we can get seats on the day of the game?
again, thank you for your help!

Do you sit down to watch Rugby these days????


BTW 0 you could always take a day trip to Rugby the town

Birmingham airport is the closest to Worcester and is only a 45 minute drive away. However both London Gatwick and London Heathow which I would imagine would be your most likely options are a 2 hour drive away. One of the best things about Worcester is its location which is almost in the centre of England. This means it is never to far from anywhere and the transport links are pretty good as we have 2 train stations and the motorway network is on our doorstep. When you find some likely flighs post again letting me know the airport you are comming into and Ill tell you your options.
It would be best to pre book your tickets for the worcester warriors rugby match as the stadium only holds 12 thousand and is is bound to be a sell out. If you are arriving in the UK in December there should still be some tickets availabe week or so before the game. Tickets can be purchased from the Warriors ticket office by phone or by logging onto their website. The Worcster Warriros websote can be found at www.wrfc.co.uk
Khunwilko rugby stadiums tend to be all seater now days, at Worcester we have a 12,000 capacity stadium with only a tiny section holding abour 200 for standing
Hope the above helps, post again should you have any other questions.