Planning a trip to England in the summer.
Hello fellow travelers!
I am a newbie here in the forum. I would like to ask for suggestions or itinerary trips about places in England. I am visiting a friend of mine in Liverpool and I need suggestions on must see places around Liverpool/Merseyside area. It would be great if public transportation is available.
I have decided on visiting the cities of York, Chester, and Manchester. What are your opinions about those places and any tips for me too? Also, are those places accessible and good for a day trip from Liverpool? Should I also budget to have an overnight stay on those places?
Also, I would definitely go south and visit London. Can anybody post links for hostels or inns for the city? I have a relative (second cousin) that lives in Ashford, Kent and would like to visit her. Any suggestions about Kent and the neighbouring areas too? I doubt she will be accompanying me much on trips, since she has a small child.
For traveling, should I buy a BritRail pass or are their cheaper ways or passes to travel around England? I am also going to get an International Student Card and any suggestions on how to use it effectively? Also, I am only staying for 2 weeks for vacation.
Thank you,
Greetings from San Francisco, CA
Reply to this I also got this from another forum. It's a list of places that are nice to visit. Based on these places which ones are the MUST see. I don't really have the time to visit all museums. Any parks in London where you can do sight seeing or hidden places that only locals seems to know?
Thanks!
British Museum
Victoria & Albert Museum
Natural History Museum
Science Museum
London Transport Museum
Tate Modern
Tate Britain
National Gallery
National Portait Gallery
Westminster Abbey
Houses of Parliament / Big Ben (look but can't go inside)
London Eye
St Paul's Cathedral
The Monument
Greenwich Observatory
Canary Wharf
Tower of London
Covent Garden
London Zoo
Portobello Road Market
Brick Lane Market
Petticoat Lane Market
River trip (you can link up a few attractions... I recommend Westminster to Greenwich)
Parks... Hyde, St James', Regent's
Cafe culture: Old Compton Street, Upper Street (Islington)
Oriental food: Gerrard Street and environs (Chinatown)
Bangladeshi / Indian food: Brick Lane
Street life: Covent Garden
Shopping: Regent St / Bond St / Knightbridge (Pricey), Oxford Street (Cheaper at east end, department stores at west end). Selfridges a must see, John Lewis good value, Harrods lame tourist trap, Harvey Nichols very posh / trendy
Avoid:
London Dungeon, Leicester Square, Madame Tussauds = Crappy tourist traps
Reply to this The portobello road is too expensive. Its a high socialite life anywhere you walk. If you want to hangout and take some picture, try covent garden and knightbridge. Its fine to go to the madame tussauds, you can still enjoy all the manekins.
Reply to this Hello
if u r coming from Bay area then i would recommend you visiting more historic places.
This includes london - tower hill, buckingham palace, westminster abbey, bigben,
visit oxford or cambrige for the old universites.
make trip to scotland - edinburgh and also york.
If you have any queries check my travel blog.
cheer
M
Reply to this York, Chester and Manchester are all within a day trip of Liverpool. The furthest of the 3 is York but even that is doable in a day and is well worth a visit.
To get from Liverpool to London consider www.megabus.com They're really cheap and I've used them a lot myself. In the past the buses were old and unreliable but they have now been upgraded to proper coaches.
Of the galleries you mention the two I would go to are the National Gallery and the Tate Modern. Of the museums I would say the British Museum and the Natural History Museum.
With the other sites it depends on whether you want to just see them or go inside them as to how long they will take. To just see them can be done in a day, to go inside and have a look around will obviously take much longer.
Enjoy your trip.
Reply to this If you want to get around quickly, then I'd recommend taking the train. If you know when you're doing your long trips to, say London, then book ahead. You'll get cheaper prices that way. For short trips to Manchester or York, then just turn up at the station and buy your ticket. A return from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Piccadilly costs as little as £9.20 (for an off-peak fare). If you want to travel before, say, 0900, then it's £12.80. It is more expensive to get to York, though - £38.70 off-peak return, or £45.80 anytime return.
Liverpool to Manchester takes less than an hour. Liverpool to York takes about two and twenty minutes.
Buying a BritRail pass all depends on how much travelling you intend to do. If you intend to travel everyday, and longer distances, then I'd recommend a BritRail pass - just turn up and find a seat. I'll be buying a 15 day BritRail pass, for 2010, but I'll be doing some long distance travelling.
Reply to this I was in England for a month recently and did a couple of the bus tours. I did a one day tour which included Windsor Palace (beautiful place), Stonehenge (rather disappointing really) and Bath. It was a great tour and a relatively affordable way to see so many things and include travel and lunch all in one day. If you like historic towns I definitely recommend Bath. It's all Georgian, very beautiful. The tour didn't give me much time to explore but it was a great way to get a taste of few things.
Reply to this Oh and you've just GOT to go on
The London Eye. It also has some package deals on the website if you're interested in going to see a stage show or other London attraction (like Madam Tussauds which was crowded but still pretty cool). You can get similar deals with certain train ticket purchases too, but you'll have to grab a couple of brochures from the train stations.
Reply to this As someone already mentioned York, Chester and Manchester can probably all be done as day trips out of Liverpool. If you are planning to head over towards London for a day then there's obviously masses you can do. It's very hard to do much in one day but a good thing to do is take yourself on a walking tour and then pick somewhere to visit properly afterwards. It's very easy to walk a circuit around the major sights - Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Houses of Parliament/Big Ben, London Eye, St Paul's etc. The art galleries and museums are generally free entry (or donation) too so you can spend as much or as little time as you like there.
Kent is a wonderful area to explore. Definitely visit Canterbury - the cathedral is amazing and there's lots to see around the town - churches, the castle, a boat tour. Leeds Castle is a fantastic place to visit and close to Ashford. Addmission gets you a ticket that's valid for a year and there is so much to do on site. The castle is beautiful and the surrounding gardens and parklands are worth exploring. There's a hot air balloon ride, avairy, duckery, and birds of prey centre and a maze and underground grotto!
If you do an internet search for 'day trip around Ashford' or something you'll get a good list of ideas. I know there's a miniture railway nearby, a rare breeds farm and butterfly centre and the Biddenden Vineyards have free admission. I hope that's some help for a few ides! Enjoy your trip!
Reply to this So many great ideas for you already Quijano, I'm sure you've got much planning to do. If you're staying in Liverpool then you have to check out Blackpool and Pleasure Beach - it's quite amazing especially if you're there during the 'Blackpool illuminations' (ealry Sep - early Nov) even if you go and just walk the golden mile it's such an experience. You can catch a bus or train to Blackpool, takes about an hour or so.
For accommodation in London try
hostelbookers.com make sure you read the reviews they are a priceless indicator of the kind of hostel/hotel
Liverpool and Manchester are both great cities just to walk around in. Liverpool was voted 'European Capital of Culture in 2008'
They're not big cities which makes it harder to get lost. Manchester has so much history in it, with one of the most interesting recent events being the 1996 IRA terrorist bomb attack which ripped into the city centre. If you like soccer, Old Trafford is worth a tour even if you aren't a Manchester United fan 😊
Those are my thoughts
Reply to this I just looked up 'The Blackpool Illuminations' and it looks fabulous. I'll definitely be going to that!
Reply to this If you want a great city to go to then go to Newcastle, the friendlist people in the UK and one of the best party cities in the world, an amazing party place. Go see the Tyne bridge across the river Tyne - the Sydney harbour bridge was based on the Tyne bridge
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