English Travel Help

[PG13]

We are going on a cruise to Northern Europe, we are flying into Manchester, England to visit with my grandson, then on to London. We intend to spend 2 days in London site seeing before we take the train to port on July 14th.

1. Where to stay in London, it is very confusing? I would like to take a tour bus in London and see to typical sites. Thought I'd stay in a Hilton, but there are like 5-6 of them.

2. How best to get from Manchester to London?

3. Can you catch the vintage double decker bus for a tour in lots of places around London? *********** offer a tour but I'm thinking we could just do that ourselves?

4. Victoria Coach bus station is a point where a tour to Winsor Castle leaves I'd like to take. Is this easy to get to?

5. After cruise I need to get from port back to Manchester, train? There is a direct train to London, but round trip is from Manchester. Maybe best to go back to London and find out if there is a train that goes on the Manchester.

What do you say folks do you have some suggestions?

Pat

[Sauer-kraut]

The best place to post your questions would be on the BRITISH ISLES board, at the top of the EUROPE ports of call. :D

[CruiserBruce]

The British Isles board is here:

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/forumdisplay.php?f=233

[Alaskanb]

We are going on a cruise to Northern Europe, we are flying into Manchester, England to visit with my grandson, then on to London. We intend to spend 2 days in London site seeing before we take the train to port on July 14th.

1. Where to stay in London, it is very confusing? I would like to take a tour bus in London and see to typical sites. Thought I'd stay in a Hilton, but there are like 5-6 of them.

2. How best to get from Manchester to London?

3. Can you catch the vintage double decker bus for a tour in lots of places around London? *********** offer a tour but I'm thinking we could just do that ourselves?

4. Victoria Coach bus station is a point where a tour to Winsor Castle leaves I'd like to take. Is this easy to get to?

5. After cruise I need to get from port back to Manchester, train? There is a direct train to London, but round trip is from Manchester. Maybe best to go back to London and find out if there is a train that goes on the Manchester.

What do you say folks do you have some suggestions?

Pat

I also fly into Manchester to see family. The best way to get from there to London is via train I use this website to book tickets but they will need a UK mailing address. http://www.thetrainline.com. Trains from Manchester get you into London Euston --there is a Hilton nearby. An advanced return ticket will probably be cheaper--remember to book seat reservations or you will have no where to sit!

As to hotels I would look at trip advisor.

London has an extensive underground system that is pretty straightforward to navigate. It looks like Victoria is a straight shot from London Euston on the Victoria line. Expect to walk a lot or use a combo of taxis and underground. Check into day passes.

[Sinppu]

We are going on a cruise to Northern Europe, we are flying into Manchester, England to visit with my grandson, then on to London. We intend to spend 2 days in London site seeing before we take the train to port on July 14th.

1. Where to stay in London, it is very confusing? I would like to take a tour bus in London and see to typical sites. Thought I'd stay in a Hilton, but there are like 5-6 of them.

2. How best to get from Manchester to London?

3. Can you catch the vintage double decker bus for a tour in lots of places around London? *********** offer a tour but I'm thinking we could just do that ourselves?

4. Victoria Coach bus station is a point where a tour to Winsor Castle leaves I'd like to take. Is this easy to get to?

5. After cruise I need to get from port back to Manchester, train? There is a direct train to London, but round trip is from Manchester. Maybe best to go back to London and find out if there is a train that goes on the Manchester.

What do you say folks do you have some suggestions?

Pat

 

1. London is no more confusing than other big cities, like NYC or Chicago. If they confuse you, so will London. Personally I find London easy.

2. Train or bus. Bus is cheaper but not as convenient.

3. Almost ALL buses in London are double deckers so if you only want to experience the bus, no need to do a tour.

4. Victoria is very easy to get to. It has it's own tube line even, the light blue one called "Victoria".

5. Via London is probably the easiest.

 

If you have more questions, you should post them on "British Isles" section. There are more people who can help you there :)

[sddsddean]

To help with transport, can you tell us which port you are using. I suspect its Dover, but could be Southampton or Harwich...none of these are London!!! It will make a big difference regarding transport. As said, we can help you out a lot on the British Isles board.

 

Simon

[PG13]

My daughter lives in NYC and we learned to navigate it easily. And, your right other big cities now seem easy to navigate compared to NY. It just that you look at a map of the city of London and don't know where to start or where what you want to see is. I've just started looking and planning and it is a bit over wheming at first. Thank you all for your help. Pat

1. London is no more confusing than other big cities, like NYC or Chicago. If they confuse you, so will London. Personally I find London easy.

2. Train or bus. Bus is cheaper but not as convenient.

3. Almost ALL buses in London are double deckers so if you only want to experience the bus, no need to do a tour.

4. Victoria is very easy to get to. It has it's own tube line even, the light blue one called "Victoria".

5. Via London is probably the easiest.

 

If you have more questions, you should post them on "British Isles" section. There are more people who can help you there :)

[kat1007]

If you are looking at trains from Manchester to London book the tickets two weeks or morein advance and go off peak and you can usually get 1st class for a similar price to standard..;) If you travel in peak hours they know how to charge and there is no competing providor so you have to pay their silly fares.

[chumley28540]

The train info from Dover shows prices to Canterbury East and West. West is more expensive. Which would I want to go to the town?

[sddsddean]

The train info from Dover shows prices to Canterbury East and West. West is more expensive. Which would I want to go to the town?

 

You want C'bury East (from Dover Priory station). Its then about a 1/2 mile walk to the cathedral (which I assume is where you want to go!).

 

Simon

[chumley28540]

Thank you Simon!

[Alaskanb]

If you are looking at trains from Manchester to London book the tickets two weeks or morein advance and go off peak and you can usually get 1st class for a similar price to standard..;) If you travel in peak hours they know how to charge and there is no competing providor so you have to pay their silly fares.

Good advice that I forgot to include! The last time we went to London from the north was when the bombings occurred --our off-peak travel prevented us from being in the middle of it all --DH was originally scheduled for a meeting where one of the bombs went off and DD and I were to be at the location of the other. We are thankful for our blessings.

[RJHNorthyorks]

Rail tickets in the uk go on sail about 12 weeks before travel date and it is possible for uk residents to set up alerts but don't know if that works for non uk citizens. Best to purchase as soon as possible as significant savings to be had bt doing this.

[Alaskanb]

We are going on a cruise to Northern Europe, we are flying into Manchester, England to visit with my grandson, then on to London. We intend to spend 2 days in London site seeing before we take the train to port on July 14th.

 

Pat

Pat --I grew up in a city about 60 miles south of Manchester and my brother lives in a lovely village about 20 minutes drive from Manchester Airport. I visit often. I wonder if your flights could be changed so that you fly into MAN and out of London Heathrow. Have you considered seeing London post cruise? or not even visiting London at all? Cheshire, Lancashire and Yorkshire have so much to offer visitors and are much less expensive than London.

My mum used to take bus day trips to places like Windsor castle --another option if you stay based in the north.

[Alaskanb]

Rail tickets in the uk go on sail about 12 weeks before travel date and it is possible for uk residents to set up alerts but don't know if that works for non uk citizens. Best to purchase as soon as possible as significant savings to be had bt doing this.

Perhaps grandson can help in this case -- I have my train tickets sent to my brother in the UK.

[Giantfan13]

We are going on a cruise to Northern Europe, we are flying into Manchester, England to visit with my grandson, then on to London. We intend to spend 2 days in London site seeing before we take the train to port on July 14th.

1. Where to stay in London, it is very confusing? I would like to take a tour bus in London and see to typical sites. Thought I'd stay in a Hilton, but there are like 5-6 of them.

2. How best to get from Manchester to London?

3. Can you catch the vintage double decker bus for a tour in lots of places around London? *********** offer a tour but I'm thinking we could just do that ourselves?

4. Victoria Coach bus station is a point where a tour to Winsor Castle leaves I'd like to take. Is this easy to get to?

5. After cruise I need to get from port back to Manchester, train? There is a direct train to London, but round trip is from Manchester. Maybe best to go back to London and find out if there is a train that goes on the Manchester.

What do you say folks do you have some suggestions?

Pat

 

 

as has been said several times, your questions will be better answered on the British Isles Board.

 

 

but to answer a few for you real quickly

 

Most of the Hilton's are in very good locations. As long as you are near a Tube station, most of the hotels are good and you can get to most of London in a short time. We stayed at the Hilton Tower Bridge on our Pre Cruise stay. It was very near the Tower of London and the Tower Bridge. We walked along the Thames to Big Ben and Parliament and then took a River Cruise Boat back to Tower Bridge and then back to the hotel.

 

 

 

There are two HoHo bus services in London, The Big Bus and the Original Bus Company. Both are Double Decker type buses that take you on a 2 1/2 loop thru most of London. You can get on and off as many times as you like and they run about every 25 minutes or so. Just a great way to get to know London.

 

From Victoria Coach Station you can definitely get a bus that goes to Windsor Castle and it is very easy to do. You can also take any of a number of tours that include Windsor, Bath, Stonehenge etc, etc which also leave from Victoria Coach Station.

 

Hope this helps

 

Cheers

 

Len