UNITED-KINGDOMLondon Heathrow Airport is the world's busiest international airport. Situated 15 miles west of Central London, Heathrow offers a large choice of international destinations, with direct flights to most countries in the world. British Airways has its hub at Heathrow and offers a wide range of international flights to Europe, North America, Asia, Africa and Australia. There are fewer direct flights to South America, although many South American airlines connect to London via Spain.
Other large airlines operating at Heathrow include bmi (formerly British Midland) Virgin Atlantic and the main national airlines of most countries.
London Gatwick Airport, 30 miles south of London in Sussex, is the second largest airport, and also offers a wide range of international flights.
London Stansted Airport in Essex, and London Luton Airport are hubs for the budget airlines Ryanair and easyJet who offer direct flights to a wide range of European destinations.
London City Airport is the most central airport in London, situated 7 miles east of Central London, but mainly serves business passengers to the main financial centres in Europe. Outside London, many of the regional airports offer a wide range of direct links to European and some long haul destinations.
Manchester International Airport in the North of England, is the UK's third largest airport serving many European and long haul destinations.
Liverpool John Lennon Airport is the UK's fastest growing airport which is taking on more and more flights - located in North West England. Jet2.com is based at Leeds Bradford with many cheap flights to Europe and beyond.
Cardiff International is the main international airport in Wales, it is a major hub of bmibaby. Meanwhile easyjet, FlyBe, Ryanair and bmibaby maintain hubs at other regional airports.
Other large airports in the regions include: Birmingham International, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen, Bristol, Southampton, East Midlands, Doncaster-Sheffield, Newcastle and Teesside/Durham Tees Valley.
In Northern Ireland, Belfast International Airport is the major airport with international flights, although some transfer flights may take you to Belfast City Airport. City of Derry Airport also offers a limited number of international and domestic flights.
From Belgium and France : Eurostar services run between London's Waterloo Station and Ashford in Kent and Paris (Gare du Nord), Lille and Brussels through the Channel Tunnel. Journey times average two hours forty minutes from Paris. There are a limited number of direct services from other destinations in France also.
From Wednesday 14 November 2007 the London terminus of the Eurostar service will be moved to the newly reconstructed St Pancras Station. This will reduce travel times for London-Paris to just 2h 15m and London-Brussels to 1h 51m.
The main benefit of using the Eurostar is that it runs between the central zones of its destination cities, removing the necessity of accessing the relevant airports on the outskirts of cities (potentially very time-consuming!), and of undergoing several uncomfortable modal changes.
From The Netherlands : Stena Line (Hook of Holland to Harwich) Combined train and ferry tickets are available to travellers from stations in the Netherlands to Train Stations in East Anglia, Essex and East London. This service may be more useful alternative to Eurostar for travellers from Northern Europe, or for those wishing to travel to East Anglia. The interchange between the ferry terminal and the train station at both ports is very simple and user friendly. Express Trains from Harwich International, are timed to meet the ferry and allows a simple transfer to London Liverpool Street. The Dutch Flyer website only gives prices for tickets purchased in Great Britain, it does however give timetable information. Stena's Dutch language website allows booking of tickets for journies starting from the Netherlands.
From Dublin in Ireland, the Enterprisetakes just over 2 hours to Belfast.
by CAR : The Channel Tunnel has provided a rail/road connection since 1994. Shuttle trains carry cars from Calais, France to Folkestone, the journey taking around 40 minutes. Fares start at £49 one way and can be booked on the Eurotunnel website. On arrival at Folkestone, you can drive on to the M20 motorway which heads towards London. Car ferries also operate to many parts of the UK, see 'by boat' section. drivers entering Northern Ireland from the Republic of Ireland will usually find they have done so without noticing. There are no border controls and only the major roads will display signs stating that you are leaving one country and entering the other. It should be noted that road signs in the Republic of Ireland are in Kilometres while those in Northern Ireland are in miles so it is advisable to take note of the differences in signs and road markings when driving in border areas.
by BUS : Coaches are the cheapest way to travel to the UK from France and the Benelux. Eurolines offer daily services from Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels to London Victoria coach station. Daily overnight coaches and limited day coaches travel between the UK and Ireland. Connections are available to most parts of the UK via the domestic National Express coach system, for most destinations it is cheaper to purchase this when purchasing your Eurolines tickets as discounts are available. Journeys take about 8-14 hours.
Eurolines will also take you to/from other major European cities. Taking a budget flight is normally cheaper (but with a greater environmental impact), and spares you from a 24h+ bus journey. Various other operators compete with Eurolines, mostly between Poland and the UK; these come and go.
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