Dublin - Cardiff RWC07 QF

beglee

So, i have tickets for what may be New Zealand vs Ireland quarter final in Cardiff on 6th October.

BUT... it seems like every hotel room & B'n'B within 50miles of Cardiff has already been booked up, so im kinda lost as to what to do.

Getting there, i could get the ferry+train/car, or fly to Bristol or something like that. If i stay in Bristol, i can get bus/train to the match, but the match only kicks off at 9pm (a very awkward time), so the only way back would be a taxi about 40miles, which would be pricy.

Does anyone have any suggestions on somewhere to stay? A campsite not too far from Cardiff? A nice street corner that doesnt get too cold at night??

RuggieBear

france - NZ?

There is a thread in the rugby forum, which might have a few ideas.

beglee

Thought id cracked it when i found a campsite in the middle of Cardiff, but obviously its full already of course

However, i realised that kickoff is actually at 20:00 our time. The last train to Bristol is at 21:58 and the station is directly beside the stadium, but its still cutting it mighty fine, and may have to leave just before the match ends to catch the train, never mind if it went to extra time (highly unlikely tho that is). But at least there are actual rooms available in Bristol.

cailinoBAC

Are you travelling on your own or there's a group of you? If just 1 or 2 and you're not too fussy you might find someone on www.couchsurfing.com or www.hospitalityclub.org. You could be lucky.

Kalashnikov_Kid

Ive an offer for a ticket for Ireland vs France in Paris September 21st but dont want to end up in a similar situation as the OP - anyone have any luck there?

jackbhoy

beglee wrote:

So, i have tickets for what may be New Zealand vs Ireland quarter final in Cardiff on 6th October.

BUT... it seems like every hotel room & B'n'B within 50miles of Cardiff has already been booked up, so im kinda lost as to what to do.

Getting there, i could get the ferry+train/car, or fly to Bristol or something like that. If i stay in Bristol, i can get bus/train to the match, but the match only kicks off at 9pm (a very awkward time), so the only way back would be a taxi about 40miles, which would be pricy.

Does anyone have any suggestions on somewhere to stay? A campsite not too far from Cardiff? A nice street corner that doesnt get too cold at night??

I tried everywhere in Cardiff and surrounding areas 3 months ago and couldn't find anything. I'm staying in Bristol, there will be 1000's of other Irish supporters in your situation so just pitch in with some of them and get taxi back to bristol after the game, it'll only cost £10-15 pp.

Why Cardiff is chosen for events like this is beyond me, sure its got a great stadium but the infrastructure/hotel situation is woeful.....

beglee

Kalashnikov_Kid wrote:

Ive an offer for a ticket for Ireland vs France in Paris September 21st but dont want to end up in a similar situation as the OP - anyone have any luck there?

I'm actually going to the Ireland vs Argentina group match in Paris as well. Booked all flights/trains/accommodation about 3 weeks ago without much trouble, although flights are very expensive at this point, so I'm flying to London to meet the friend I'm going with and we're getting the Eurostar over.

Obviously Paris is a much bigger city than Cardiff, so you shouldn't have much trouble finding a decent/reasonable hotel room, but you may have to be creative with getting to Paris if you don't want to shell out too much for flights.

jackbhoy

Kalashnikov_Kid wrote:

Ive an offer for a ticket for Ireland vs France in Paris September 21st but dont want to end up in a similar situation as the OP - anyone have any luck there?

Hotels will be no problem as Paris is able to cater for events of this size, plus as we are playing the home team most of their supporters will not be using up valuable hotel beds.

Flights might be tougher and you will have to go indirect or get connnecting train to avoid paying huge direct fares....

Munster Magic

I have a twin room booked at the Malt House hotel in Caerleon if anyone wants it, we are staying in Newport instead.

John R

There is a National Express coach from Cardiff at 01.30am to Bristol (02.50), it continues on to Heathrow and Gatwick airports for 5am ansd 6am.

If you were to drive over you would have plenty of time to drive back to Fishguard/Pembroke for the 02.45 sailings.

Miss Fluff

Try looking for accommodation just a little outside Cardiff, i.e. Taff's Well, Radyr or Pontypridd. These are only about 15 minutes from Cardiff by train but not considered to be in Cardiff itself so you may have a better chance of finding something.

shrapnel222

keep trying. i found one by sheer luck as a big group just cancelled in a hotel and i called just after!!!

finbarrk

Its probarbly going to be NZ v France anyway so its a trip to Paris for the QF for us.

beglee

John R wrote:

There is a National Express coach from Cardiff at 01.30am to Bristol (02.50), it continues on to Heathrow and Gatwick airports for 5am ansd 6am.

Cheers for that info, that could come in handy (if there arent 100s of ppl trying to cram onto it after the match) as we've booked a hotel in Bristol.

To get to Bristol:

- Option 1: Could go by ferry and drive down (prob about 7 hour journey), which works out about €150 each altogether, and maybe €60 (very rough guess) for petrol.

- Or Option 2: the CHEAP option is to take a 12-hour Bus Eireann bus journey leaving Friday afternoon that goes to Bristol via a ferry, arriving at 4am on the Saturday (6th), for only €60 each. Very long journey though, and very early arrival time, probably couldn't check in to hotel for a good few hours.

Not sure which would be better, bit pricey long journey or very long cheap journey???

John R

beglee wrote:

Cheers for that info, that could come in handy (if there arent 100s of ppl trying to cram onto it after the match) as we've booked a hotel in Bristol.

You need to book ahead for those coaches, if you haven't got a pre-bought ticket you won't get on.

beglee wrote:

To get to Bristol:

- Option 1: Could go by ferry and drive down (prob about 7 hour journey), which works out about €150 each altogether, and maybe €60 (very rough guess) for petrol.

- Or Option 2: the CHEAP option is to take a 12-hour Bus Eireann bus journey leaving Friday afternoon that goes to Bristol via a ferry, arriving at 4am on the Saturday (6th), for only €60 each. Very long journey though, and very early arrival time, probably couldn't check in to hotel for a good few hours.

Not sure which would be better, bit pricey long journey or very long cheap journey???

You could also drive to Rosslare for the 9am ferry which would get you to Cardiff for 4pm or Bristol for 5.30 ish by train. May be tight for checking in to the hotel and getting back to Cardiff though.

The train back the next day would be at 09.50 from Bristol.

You could also fly to Heathrow and get to Bristol by coach or train.