Day Trip destinations in the UK

mikedublin

Hi. Would any one recommend any good interesting cities in the UK to visit as day trips from Ireland (flying in and out on same day and getting aound by bus and trains).

Did a few day trips earlier this year to places like Cambridge, York and Brighton, and hoping to do a few more next spring / summer.

Thanks

Mike

towger

Fly to Bristol and get the train to Bath.

18MonthsaSlave

Isle of Man and get around by steam locomotive. Not quite what you asked for.
Lovely place.

miamee

towger wrote: »

Fly to Bristol and get the train to Bath.

Bristol itself is worth a visit too.

athtrasna

I do London as a day trip quite regularly. 8 am flight to Gatwick, museum or expo in the morning, a little shopping, lunch, theatre matinee, dinner and 9.30 flight home. Works really well and flights can work out at as little as €30

zagmund

The Bristol/Bath option is a good one, but the flight times aren't as good as they used to be. A couple of years back you could get an 0800 flight and be in Bath before 1100, then leave Bath at 1900ish and get the late flight from Bristol. I think that early flight has moved to something like 0630, so that makes for a really long day.

You should look at airports with direct train links if you want to maximise your time in the UK. Check here for some airports with train stations - http://www.rail.co.uk/uk-train-travel/rail-connections/airports/

Cardiff has a station at the airport perimiter (10 minute bus journey), but the line only links with Cardiff itself & Bridgend. Southend also has a train station, linking to London.

z

**Timbuk2**

I'm following this thread with interest as I like to do this occasionally also.

My favourite so far has been London, you'll never run out of things to do no matter how often you go. I'd also highly recommend Edinburgh. Bus is very quick from airport to city centre, and lots of the main attractions are very close together.

Where else would people recommend?

grimm2005

Personally I wouldn't be one for a day trip as I feel like I'd be trying to squeeze too much in and constantly thinking about the flight later on. That said, it's perfectly doable.

Has been mentioned already but London would be very easy. You could do the 6:30am flight to Stansted with Ryanair, and get the 10:10pm flight back home, can easily be got for €40. If you get Stansted Express tickets more then 30 days in advance they are £16 return and you could probably be in the city centre before 9am and grab one back to the airport around 8pm. A couple of museums, a west end matinee show and maybe a morning walking tour would all be pretty easily fit in as well as a meal before you head back to the airport.

Not exactly what the OP asked for but Barcelona could also be very doable. You could get the 6:15am ryanair flight out, arrive in Barcelona 9:45am and get the 9:10pm (9:30pm in summer) flight home. As little as €40 return in winter or €60 return in summer (for example, a day trip on Wednesday 13th May is currently €68). The airport bus is about €9 return and gets you into the city in about 20/25mins so all going well you could be in the city by 10:30am and have a comfortable 8 hours easily before heading back to airport. You could go to the Sagrada Familia church (so long as you buy tickets online in advance to avoid the queues), take a trip up to the Montjuic castle, have a "tapas crawl" in the cheap tapas bars, take an afternoon walking tour and have a meal before heading back to the airport, or if you went in summer, spend an hour or so on the beach. Metro connects the city and is reliable.

ProudDUB

Edinburgh.

There is lots to see and do in a fairly small and manageable area, especially at this time of year....the Royal Mile, with Edinburgh Castle at one end and the Palace of Hollyrood House at the other, with some great pubs and the Whiskey experience in the middle. The Xmas Market, the museum and gallery are just a short stroll away. The Xmas market is really good imo.

The airport is fairly small and manageable, so you won't waste time having to trek down miles of corridors, or wait for buses to take you to the terminal building. It is close to the city too. A regular bus service can get you to the heart of the city centre in under 30 minutes, for about a fiver.

I love, love, love, London, but if I was going there for just a day, the amount of time it takes to navigate its various airports, and then travel into the herat of the city, is a black mark against it. London City Airport would be the lone exception to that imo.