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MHD
Citizen
Username: Mayhewdrive
Post Number: 1942
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 8:16 pm: |     |
I will be in London on business over a weekend next month on my own & was thinking of venturing out to other cities in Europe on a cheap plane or train ticket. (I have been to London numerous times and have already been to Paris, so I would like to explore other cities)
Where would you go for a day-trip? Amsterdam? Brugge? Dublin? Glasgow? Edinburgh? Other? |
Spare_o
Citizen
Username: Spare_o
Post Number: 203
Registered: 9-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 9:27 pm: | |
I enjoyed York north of London when I went about 10 years ago. Took a train from London. Easy trip, about 3 or 4 hours, I think. No car required once there. Saw York Minster which is the largest Gothic cathedral in Northern Europe, according to their web site.
All I can say was I was a wreck when I was there (broken finger, badly sprained ankle, getting over a very bad cold) and I still managed to have a good time.
http://www.yorkminster.org/index4.html
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Miss L Toe
Citizen
Username: Miss_l_toe
Post Number: 181
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 11:07 pm: | |
You can get amazingly cheap air tickets from budget airlines such as Ryanair, Mytravelite and Easyjet (but a tiny baggage allowance). They have flights out of the 'outer' London airports eg. Stansted and Luton (25-30 miles away from central London) but of course some of the airports they serve are also quite some distance from the city centres so you would need to research carefully:
http://www.ryanair.com (You could go to Rome for just USD$4 plus a max of $28 in airport taxes for example!)
http://www.easyjet.co.uk
On the other hand you could just go to a lovely city like the Roman spa city of Bath or perhaps Oxford, Stratford Upon Avon, Cambridge or Chester...you can take a bus (no, they're not like the Greyhound buses - it's a popular way to travel in the UK) and maybe spend a night there, returning to London on the Sunday:
http://www.nationalexpress.com
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Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 541
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Monday, February 28, 2005 - 11:27 pm: | |
Take a bus to Bath. Drive out to Oxford or Cambridge. Drive out to the Cotswolds for a day or two, and make sure you stop at Cirencester (nice market town, and military encampment in Roman times). Go a little further to Gloucester Cathedral. If you choose to go to the Cotswolds, take an extra day. Find a good pub where (at this time of year) you can have a meal and a few drinks and listen to the conversations. Sit back and enjoy it.
Take a train to Manchester and enjoy the city. It's come a long way in the past 15 years.
Day trips abroad are a bit long. Why not take a few days to Bruges or Amsterdam, or stay in the isles for a trip to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Just remember that for any flight, you'll be wasting at least 2 hours at the airport before you go. And if you leave from Heathrow, prepare for organized chaos and delays. |
Mummite
Citizen
Username: Mummite
Post Number: 97
Registered: 6-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - 9:13 am: | |
Or take Eurostar train from London Waterloo station - to Brussels or Bruges...... |
tulip
Citizen
Username: Braveheart
Post Number: 2058
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - 9:55 am: | |
Lygon Arms in Cotswolds, I stayed there 30 years ago with my family. I still remember it.
Also went to Brugge on that trip. Nice town, very Middle Ages, art, food, but a town, not a city, from my recollection. Amsterdam was more exciting. I'm sorry, I would never go to Europe without a stay in Paris. My bias.
PS: We rented a car in Oxford to drive to the Costwolds. It's fun, driving on the opposite side of the road!! |
gemini
Citizen
Username: Gemini
Post Number: 382
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - 3:35 pm: | |
We took a boat to Bath, beautiful scenery and beautiful destination |
Miss L Toe
Citizen
Username: Miss_l_toe
Post Number: 185
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - 4:47 pm: | |
Gemini: how did you manage to get there by boat? Bath is only about 15 miles from the port city of Bristol, located in the South West of England.
Are you sure you didn't go by bus?
To the O/P; if you do rent a car, check with the rental company if they have any cars with automatic transmission....virtally everyone in Europe prefers to drive a stick-shift and rates for and availability of automatic cars tends to be poor.
To be honest, I wouldn't bother with renting a car if you're heading for a city destination, public transportation to cities in the UK is pretty good. |
Miss L Toe
Citizen
Username: Miss_l_toe
Post Number: 186
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 1, 2005 - 4:57 pm: | |
PS. There are loads of ideas for weekend (inc. city) breaks in Britain here:
http://www.visitbritain.com/VB3-en-US/ |
JazzMe
Citizen
Username: Jazzme
Post Number: 20
Registered: 1-2005
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 6:55 am: | |
If it were me I'd either stay in England (pretty good suggestions in posts above - I personally love Brighton, but nothing spectacular there though!). If you absolutely want to see something else outside of England, then your best solution is still to go to Paris.
Eurotunnel brings you there by train in a flash and that leaves you plenty of time to visit. Other European cities will require taking a plane and I think a week-end is way to short to be spending hours waiting in Airports.
If you've done and re-done Paris already, then just check neighboring Normandy. Plenty of beautiful, interesting, and historical places to see there: castles, historical towns, beaches, D-Day places, countryside. etc.
http://www.normandy-tourism.org/gb/index.asp |
harpo
Citizen
Username: Harpo
Post Number: 2011
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 10:50 am: | |
Mayhewdrive,
Depending on how early you get up in the morning, you could probably get a taste of both Glasgow and Edinburgh by flying into Glasgow, taking in a sight or two, having lunch then catching the train to Edinburgh. It's only 45 minutes away. It's a very lovely city. If you can, spend the night in Edinburgh and fly back in the morning.
You might find Amsterdam frustating with only a day to spend -- and bear in mind the Rijkmuseum is closed with only a fraction of its holdings on display in an annex. On the other hand, it is a very easy trip into Central Amsterdam from the airport and Amsterdam is such a treat. You can step outside the train station and step onto a boat that gives you a tour of all the canals, and that is just wonderful - even if the weather isn't. There are a number of other easy-to-get-to-sights for the afternoon, and then you could head back to London for dinner, since food in Amsterdam is equally bad!
If you like food, go to Antwerp and eat. Brugge is really a tourist Disneyland, preserved in amber. Very picturesque, but Antwerp is a happening place with a spectacular old world core.
Never been to Dublin. Have you considered Lisbon? (Never been there, but the sunshine might be nice.)
Final tip: Make sure you fly out of an airport other than Heathrow for a day trip.
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gemini
Citizen
Username: Gemini
Post Number: 385
Registered: 6-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 11:48 am: | |
Miss L toe
If memory serves me (i was pregnant) it was a long "touristy" thing that we didin't mind, and one of the stops was Bath. am I hallucinating? |
AlleyGater
Citizen
Username: Alleygater
Post Number: 127
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 12:21 pm: | |
First off, a day trip out of England is a bit of a stretch. There are tons of things to do in London and just out of London that you haven't yet done. It's an international city, this isn't debatable.
If you have a weekend (1 overnight stay) then maybe getting out of England is more feasible. Someone mentioned Dublin, which would be a good overnight stay. Same with Amsterdam. I've been to both and enjoyed them thoroughly. The people in Ireland are their best asset, so walking the city and stopping in a bunch of bars to bum around would be a perfect day or two. Amsterdam, is a gorgeous walking city (looks more like a village to be honest) with good shopping and museums and nightlife. |
mem
Citizen
Username: Mem
Post Number: 4716
Registered: 5-2001
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 10:40 pm: | |
Edinburgh is amazing. My favorite city besides NYC. |
longfellow
Citizen
Username: Longfellow
Post Number: 22
Registered: 10-2004
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 10:57 pm: | |
Some great suggestions, but with all due respects I differ emphatically re: BATH. Was there less than 2 years ago and the town has been eaten away by the forces of globalization -- loads of chain stores, just like London and NY, and less and less of the antiquity stuff. The Roman baths are half modern museum, half ruins, and a trudge through 90% of it before it gets 'real.'
Sure, cobblestone streets, but if they lead to The Gap and Starbucks, do ya care? |
Miss L Toe
Citizen
Username: Miss_l_toe
Post Number: 187
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 2, 2005 - 11:50 pm: | |
For discounted last minute hotel breaks in Britain and major European cities, check out this website:
http://www.laterooms.com
Another idea is to go to Warwick...it has one of the finest medieaval castles in the country and lots of antique shops & pubs...you could combine it with a trip to nearby Stratford-Upon-Avon (15 mins from Warwick - pronounced as Warrick) and visit Shakespeare's birthplace or go to an RSC production. I go to Stratford every year and love to rent a boat (rowboat or motorboat) and go upstream...bliss! (You can also rent boats opposite the castle in Warwick at St. Nicholas Park). |
Innisowen
Citizen
Username: Innisowen
Post Number: 549
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, March 3, 2005 - 8:42 am: | |
Back to the Cotswolds again--- Cirencester---we've stayed at the King's Head, a small hotel in this market town (don't worry--- the head is nowhere to be seen) and at Winston Glebe just outside Cirencester and located by the edge of a sheep meadow and a mile's morning's run from a cool, shallow stream in the woods. From Cirencester it is an easy drive to see other towns of the Cotwolds: Burford, Burton on the Water, Moreton sur Marsh--- wonderful, intimate villages, especially at this time of year. |
tulip
Citizen
Username: Braveheart
Post Number: 2062
Registered: 3-2004
| | Posted on Thursday, March 3, 2005 - 10:25 am: | |
I think any way you can get to the Cotswolds, given the peacefulness of the region, it would be worth it. |
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