Cruising from Southampton...Where do we fly in?

[Zimomiller]

Never been to Europe. Planning to sail from Southampton RT to the Med.

 

What airport(s) is best to fly in and out of? Not familiar with the local choices.

[HeinBloed]

via Paris to Southampton by Air France

 

or

 

direct to Bristol (easy to enter UK but B757 of Continental...)

direct to London-Heathrow or London-Gatwick (lot of options)

 

Regards,

HeinBloed

[scottbee]

Never been to Europe. Planning to sail from Southampton RT to the Med.

 

What airport(s) is best to fly in and out of? Not familiar with the local choices.

 

That depends where you're coming from. In terms of ease;

SOU/Southampton (but only served from European airports like AMS/BRU/CDG, no North American service). 8 miles to port, train station at airport

LGW/London Gatwick. Hourly train (about 2 hours) to Southampton Central (which is 1/2 mile from port)

LHR/London Heathrow. Coach from airport (about 2 hours) to Southapton Coach station (again, about 1/2 mile from port)

BHX/Birmingham Intl. A long way from Southampton, but direct, fast (2 1/4 hr) train service to Southampton Central

BOH/Bournemouth (30 miles) and BRS/Bristol (70 miles) are other options, but have limited north american connections and no easy transport to Southampton (other than a hired car)

 

LTN/London Luton, STN/London Stansted, and LCY/London City are all really the wrong side of London to be handy

 

 

Most of your flights from North America are going to be to LHR and LGW

[bobnatt]

In order to put your mind at ease in case of air delays fly in a couple of days early and spend some time in London. We did that last year and we were able to get over our jet lag before the cruise as well as having a fantastic time in one of the greatest cities in the world.

[kruzseeka]

That depends where you're coming from. In terms of ease;

SOU/Southampton (but only served from European airports like AMS/BRU/CDG, no North American service). 8 miles to port, train station at airport

LGW/London Gatwick. Hourly train (about 2 hours) to Southampton Central (which is 1/2 mile from port)

LHR/London Heathrow. Coach from airport (about 2 hours) to Southapton Coach station (again, about 1/2 mile from port)

BHX/Birmingham Intl. A long way from Southampton, but direct, fast (2 1/4 hr) train service to Southampton Central

BOH/Bournemouth (30 miles) and BRS/Bristol (70 miles) are other options, but have limited north american connections and no easy transport to Southampton (other than a hired car)

 

LTN/London Luton, STN/London Stansted, and LCY/London City are all really the wrong side of London to be handy

 

 

Most of your flights from North America are going to be to LHR and LGW

 

Just for information: Bournemouth has excellent links to Southampton - a very frequent train service taking about half-an-hour. However, I do take the poster's point that it's unlikely you'd use this airport because of lack of suitable flights/connections. (But Bristol is quite a way off though and not so easy by public transport.)

 

I'd say Gatwick or Heathrow were your best bets.

[scottbee]

Just for information: Bournemouth has excellent links to Southampton - a very frequent train service taking about half-an-hour. However, I do take the poster's point that it's unlikely you'd use this airport because of lack of suitable flights/connections. (But Bristol is quite a way off though and not so easy by public transport.)

 

I'd say Gatwick or Heathrow were your best bets.

 

While Bouremouth (city) has excellent rail service to Southampton BOH/Bournemouth Hurn airport is somewhat more of a pain as you'd be taking a cab to Southampton for the 30ish miles, or a cab to Christchurch station to catch the train and then on, adding an extra step. SOU has the advantage of being right on the rail line. Also, BOH has mostly charter services, whereas SOU is at least served by AirFrance and flyBE to major European hub airports.

[kruzseeka]

Hello, scottbee, I really wasn't making a point of the merits of the various airports, and you're quite right about the lack of scheduled flights to Bournemouth which would make this airport a non-starter for this travel plan. But since it was mentioned, I felt some clarification re the transport situation might be helpful to anyone visiting Bournemouth as it certainly doesn't fit into the same category as Bristol in terms of ease of transfer to Southampton and it wouldn't necessarily mean hiring a car.

 

Whilst you are correct that the airport is not on the rail line, there is a shuttle bus service (cost £4 - time 15 minutes) to transfer from the airport to the Interchange in Bournemouth (town) where you can pick up the train. Yes, Christchurch could only reasonably be reached by taxi - although not far from BOH, public transport would not be straightforward for the visitor.

 

The Bournemouth/Christchurch/Poole area is beautiful and with good access from Southampton and perhaps visitors sailing out of Southampton with a little time to spare may enjoy the fabulous scenery and lovely beaches hereabouts. It would be a pity to put travellers off if they thought the transport connections weren't good. If you've never been, I can recommend it! :)

[scottbee]

Hello, scottbee, I really wasn't making a point of the merits of the various airports, and you're quite right about the lack of scheduled flights to Bournemouth which would make this airport a non-starter for this travel plan. But since it was mentioned, I felt some clarification re the transport situation might be helpful to anyone visiting Bournemouth as it certainly doesn't fit into the same category as Bristol in terms of ease of transfer to Southampton and it wouldn't necessarily mean hiring a car.

 

Whilst you are correct that the airport is not on the rail line, there is a shuttle bus service (cost £4 - time 15 minutes) to transfer from the airport to the Interchange in Bournemouth (town) where you can pick up the train. Yes, Christchurch could only reasonably be reached by taxi - although not far from BOH, public transport would not be straightforward for the visitor.

 

The Bournemouth/Christchurch/Poole area is beautiful and with good access from Southampton and perhaps visitors sailing out of Southampton with a little time to spare may enjoy the fabulous scenery and lovely beaches hereabouts. It would be a pity to put travellers off if they thought the transport connections weren't good. If you've never been, I can recommend it! :)

 

I was approaching this from the pure point of view of ease of transport from the airport to the Southampton docks. I'm very familiar with the area, having grown up in the New Forest.

[kruzseeka]

So you're a local! How nice to hear from you and I'm sure you'd agree it's an area worth visiting. So often, posters sailing from Southampton seek advice about exploring areas north, north east and north west of Southampton such as Salisbury, Winchester and Bath (all worth a visit too!) and even discuss going as far east as Kent over-looking what the coast line to the west has to offer.

 

There's never much info on the beautiful New Forest or other areas almost on the doorstep. And a little further west the Jurassic Coast, Lulworth and Lyme Regis are stunning, picturesque and charming. I think it's such a shame they don't figure rather more as potential places to visit from Southampton.

 

Do you ever get back to visit now? The area is, of course, still very beautiful but the traffic gets worse each year. Too small a country and too many cars!! Not a problem I guess you have in the vast expanse of Canada (except in the cities I suppose).