TRAVEL

General

Some European attendees may have the option of flying to Nottingham East Midlands via a budget airline, but for most international travellers the choice will be whether to fly into Heathrow, or to fly to Birmingham (the UK's second city).  Airports like Heathrow have better links, but it is further away from Nottingham (135 miles) and an extremely busy airport.  Birmingham is much closer to Nottingham (48 miles), and is quieter and more convenient to pass through. It is certainly the best option if you are thinking of hiring a car and driving to Nottingham - it is a 1 hour drive. 

 

On balance, Birmingham is also the best option by train, although there is no direct route.  You have to go from the Birmingham International Station (this is conveniently linked to the airport via a free monorail train), to Birmingham New Street Station in the city centre (10 min journey), and there change trains to cut across country to Nottingham.  These latter trains are slower (1 hour 15 minutes) and less salubrious than the trains that come up from London, for instance.

So our advice, is see if you can fly to Birmingham before considering Heathrow or even worse Gatwick.

Car Travel to Nottingham

The adventurous may choose to hire a car from their airport of arrival.  All the major car hire companies can be found at most airports. 

In every case, the route to Nottingham will involve making ones way to the M1 Motorway.  You can get the best route by visiting the AA website at www.theaa.co.uk.  For instance, from the major London airports (Heathrow and Gatwick), just pop onto the M25 orbital ring road, slip onto the M1 at junction 21, and head off up north!  It's about 135 miles from Heathrow, and should take, traffic permitting, about 2.5 hours.  From Birmingham airport, get onto the M42, which takes you directly to the M1. The journey will take approx 1 hour.

Leave the M1 motorway at Junction 25 to join the A52 to Nottingham. Turn right at The Toby Lodge roundabout (about 4 miles from M1) on to the B6464 Woodside Road and then left at next roundabout (on to Beeston Lane) to enter the University via the West Entrance. Turn right off Beeston Lane on to Cut Through Lane and take the fourth turning on the left into the Car Park behind Hugh Stewart Hall. Alternatively remain on Beeston Lane and follow the road around campus until you reach a cross roads with Lenton Hall Drive, take a right on to Lenton Hall Drive and take then left into the entrance of Hugh Stewart Hall or the adjacent Cripps Hall.

There may be too many cars for the normal Hall Car park, but there is plenty of parallel parking on circulatory road around the campus. Throughout the campus, it is recommended to lock cars, leave nothing tempting in sight, and use a steering wheel bar or immobiliser.

To help you find the venue by car, see the Regional and local Nottingham Map . The AA operate a Travelwatch service as do the RAC, it's worth checking before planning your route. MultiMap.com is also an excellent Map service.

Rail Travel to Nottingham

From London, the start point is St Pancras Station/Kings Cross - regular hourly rail services throughout the day (some require you to change at Leicester). You are strongly advised to buy your tickets on the Web beforehand (a week or two weeks beforehand).  Rail tickets in Britain are ridiculously expensive if you buy them on the day of travel, as much as 3 times as much as if you buy them a week or two in advance. See below for more detail on buying rail tickets.

Rail Timetables: See QJump on the web - this will also tell you of the changes required, if required.

Buying Rail tickets: It's always worth buying the rail tickets in advance - much much cheaper. You can buy them on Midland Mainline or QJump on the web with a credit card, they give you a booking number and email acknowledgement. If you use the same credit card when you are here and remember that booking number, you can get your number from a machine on the main platform, and if the machine malfunctions, the ticket office issue the ticket on the basis of the email printout and the booking number. Rail Tickets from Heathrow can also be purchased in advance from QJump on the web, and picked up from machines or ticket office at the station, as long as you have your booking code and the credit card with which they were firt ordered. This is essential, if you leave it to the day, its twice as costly. For Example, Heathrow to Nottingham 9rd Sept returning 11th, is £ 66 if you buy now and £ 116 if you buy on the day!!!

If the Rail computer says you must change at Farringdon or Luton or Leicester, do what it says. If you buy cheap advance tickets, it's a regulation that you travel as per the dates and places on the ticket.

Arriving at Heathrow or Gatwick, allow at least one hour from touchdown to getting to a train - the walking distances are long there maybe monorails to wait for, and there is luggage to reclaim etc.

Getting to the Campus from the Station

Map: There is a map of the campus here. Cripps and Hugh Stewart Halls are near the North Entrance, at the North Eastern end of the campus.

Taxis:

If you are at the Station or City Centre Taxis are always lurking around, but if you are somewhere else, you may have to phone. 0115-9-701-701 are the black cabs. 0115-9-818181 are in West Bridgeford, but cover all over, including the airport. 0115-9-229-229 are based in Beeston, but are also OK for City and Airport.  Just tell teh taxi driver you wish to go to either Cripps Hall and Hugh Stewart Hall on the University Park Campus.

Buses:

For buses from the city centre, walk either to the Broadmarsh bus station (just north of the railway station), or carry on to the Market Square, and catch a bus from Angel Row, one of the streets leading off the square.  The fare is currently £1.20p

From the Broadmarsh, catch a Rainbow 5 bus to Longeaton via Beeston.  These can travel either along the Derby Road  to the North of the Campus (it should say via Woodside Rd/ Derby Rd on the front of the bus), in which case you should get off at the North Entrance of the campus.  If it says via Dunkirk on the front of the bus, it are will pass the Campus on the South side (University Boulevard) and you will need to get off at the South Entrance (Lakeside). Unlike Corporation buses, Rainbow 5 bus operators will give change.

Details of Corporation Buses are at http://www.nctx.co.uk/, and can be caught at Angel Row. You will need the correct change in coins (£1.20) for the onboard machine! Bus 12 is the best as it passes through the campus.  Get off at the Union Shop.  This service only runs Monday to Friday.  Bus 13 and 35 run seven days a week, but the service is much curtailed on a Sunday. Bus 13 will take you past the South entrance of the campus, Bus 35 past the North Entrance.  

We would recommend that you take a taxi, as they are cheap and plentiful.

Getting here from Heathrow: You can buy the ticket in advance from QJump on the web and collect at the station. You can go either on the Heathrow Express (about 15mins, every 15mins or so) to Paddington, and then by Tube, Circle Line to St Pancras. Get the ticket in one, ie Heathrow-Nottingham Return including Tube travel.

Another way, is to take the Tube (Piccadilly Line) which goes directly from all Heathrow Terminals to St Pancras, but as this is a regular line (stopping at all places), and so takes almost an hour.

There are buses to Nottingham a few times a day, some direct, some change in London, see the National Express website, most take 4 hours, about the same as by train.

Getting here from Stansted : This is the main arrival point for RyanAir and Easyjet who cover much of Europe. It's right next to Junction 8 on the M11, which leads south to the M25 and North to the A14, then to the A1_M and by the A52 to Nottingham (or the A14 goes on further to the M1 and you turn north for Nottingham, get off at the A453). Trains go from the airport, north via Peterborough, or south to Liverpool st station in London. There is a variety of car rentals from Stansted including Budget, Alamo and Avis. Should be about £100 rental for the 4 days. On Sunday, its almost impossible to get to Stansted by train earlier than about midday, so its best to rent a car unless you have a later flight. RyanAir have a hostile attitude to wheelchair users, so make sure you book this in days or weeks before if you need one. There are flights from Eastern Europe by Sky Europe to Stansted for example, Bratislava, Dubrovnik, Budapest, Warsaw.  Dont even think about coming Stansted-Nottingham by bus, there are no direct buses, all have to go via somewhere else, and the shortest time is over 4 hours!

Getting here from Gatwick: There are frequent trains to London Victoria, then get the Tube to St Pancras. Alternatively, there are frequent Thameslink trains to Kings Cross, which is in the same walking zone as St Pancras. The Thameslink trains go on to Luton, and there is an option for going on to Luton and picking up the St Pancras or Kings Cross services from there. Check it all out at QJump on the web. There are buses to Nottingham a few times a day, some direct, some change in London, see the National Express website, most take over 5 hours.

Getting here from Luton Airport : there are trains directly from Luton to Nottingham (Look at QJUMP's website). Wizzair a new East European cheap flights airline has cheap flights directly from Budapest to Luton. A free shuttle bus service operates to and from Luton Airport Parkway Station, and you need a Thameslink one stop jump to Luton's main station. There are regular trains from Luton to Nottingham (24mins past every hour during the daytime, and another one at less predictable times) or to London. For Car hirers, Luton is only 90mins easy driving south of Nottingham. There are direct buses to Nottingham a few times a day, see the National Express website.

Getting here from Birmingham Airport: Flybe fly in to Birmingham from European destinations. So do KLM/Air France with regular flights. There is a free monorail bus to the railway station, and regular trains to Birmingham New Street (journey time 10 min), and regular trains to Nottingham from there (journey time 1 hour 15 min). Getting back should be researched carefully, British trains (except in London) run very late on Sunday mornings. Buy your rail tickets on QJump first, if you can. There are buses to Nottingham a few times a day, change in Birmingham city centre, see the National Express website.

Getting here from Manchester Airport: Thereare 6 trains/hour to the City centre during the day and up to 4/hour at night. Trains run to Manchester Piccadilly in about 15-20 mins. From Piccadilly you can connect to services all over the country, including regular departures to Nottingham.

Getting here from Nottingham East Midlands Airport: The EMA is close to Nottingham and the Campus. [Please do not be put off by the Mac hostile website, but if you use a Mac, do not forget to send an email of complaint to the EMA Webmaster.] EMA is used by BMI Baby, Easyjet, RyanAir (but not on Ryanairs websitew) and more.

Skylink buses run half hourly from the Nottingham East Midlands Airport, but they go to Nottingham's Rail station and to Friar Lane in the City centre (not to the campus). From 4 in the morning till 10 at night. Get the taxi from the centre or the station to the Campus.

Trent Barton Rainbow 5 buses from the Airport, once an hour xx.58 through the day directly to the west end of the Campus, 5-10 mins walk from the Halls of residence. Returning, it is once an hour between 40-50 past the hour on Rainbow 5 buses marked "Loughborough". If going from Nottingham City Centre, the departure is the Broadmarsh Bus Station, or you can leave from the Beeston Bus station very much nearer the Campus. If your flight arrives or departs at an unusual time, early or late, you may simply have to get a Taxi. See the Rainbow bus timetable.

The Nottingham East Midlands Airport website only works for PCs - apparently Mac users don't use aeroplanes! But if you can tolerate that, there are flights to East Midlands from Dublin, Cork, Knock and Edinburgh, Glasgow, Brussels, Amsterdam, Prague, Paris, Venice and many more - by either Easyjet or by BMI Baby, or RyanAir.