Where to go from Southend Airport

[Panceltic]

Hello,

touching down at Southend on a Tuesday in August (at 7.25pm) and flying home the next Tuesday (at 8.10pm), so I have a week to travel around! I haven't booked anything else apart from the flights yet.

Could anyone recommend a railway-and-sightseeing itinerary? I was thinking about Essex-Suffolk-Norfolk, or heading straight to Cardiff and explore Wales from there. I don't really care about the place (except London which I'd like to avoid unless necessary for changing trains), more about the price. I'm happy to travel on advance tickets, and will appreciate any suggestions for rovers & rangers.

I'm under 26, if that helps. I don't have a railcard but I can buy one if needed.

Thanks a lot for helping!

 

[ainsworth74]

Have you considered a Britrail Pass? For a youth (16 - 25) you can have eight days travel for €224 and would be valid throughout Great Britain. You can find more information here.

There may be a cheaper option if you can be a bit clearer on what your plan is. For instance do you wish to do as much travelling around as possible in a week or would you rather do some travelling but also spend time in some locations? You mention exploring Wales but also Essex-Suffolk-Norfolk can you be a bit clearer on what you want to do.

 

[Techniquest]

There are just so many places to visit! It does rather depend on what sort of thing you're interested in.

Heading from Southend to Cardiff, or west in general, you've got to get a train into London and head onwards. Indeed, unless you head east you will find it hard to avoid London!

EDIT:

Re-read the first post. There is an All Wales Flexipass, valid for 4 days out of 8, which I believe still costs approximately £90 (not sure what that is in €, maybe around €120?), which as the name suggests covers all of Wales by rail and also selected bus routes too.

There's an absolute ton of day rangers and rovers for many different parts of the country, although Essex is one area which has no rangers or rovers.

 

[306024]

Well for a start there is err...... Southend
At least it has the longest pleasure pier in the world apparently, not a lot else though.

For Essex, and particularly Suffolk and Norfolk, have a look at the abelliogreateranglia website for details of tickets, no rover available (as has been said) for Essex, but some options for Suffolk, Norfolk and Cambridgeshire.

So some ideas:
Manningtree, country walk to Flatford (John Constable land, see picture <----- opposite), and on to Dedham, bus back to Colchester (check times, not frequent, but good pubs in Dedham).
Norwich, a fine city with cathedral and castle.
Woodbridge, pleasant little town.
Saxmundham for connecting bus to Aldeburgh.
Halesworth for connecting bus to Southwold. Southwold is simply lovely.
Sheringham for North Norfolk Railway, and coastal hopper bus along the North Norfolk Coast, Wells and Blakeney are worth a stop off.
Wroxham for Norfolk Broads and Bure Valley Railway to Aylsham.
Wymondham for Mid Norfolk Railway (20 min walk) and station buffet.
Berney Arms, for the experience of getting off in the middle of nowhere, but check train times.
And in Cambridgeshire (but OK with rover ticket)
Ely, the cathedral dominates the landscape.
Cambridge, historical colleges.

Colchester, Bury St Edmunds and Ipswich are large towns but of limited interest in a week. Colchester Castle is of historical interest set in a nice park but closer to Colchester Town station than Colchester main line station. Can't recommend Great Yarmouth or Lowestoft much I'm afraid.

And so much more besides, over to you.

 

[EssexGonzo]

If travel by rail is the only option, As has already been said, I would go north getting out of South Essex to Colchester, Norwich, across to Cambridge.

If hiring a car is an option, the Suffolk / Essex border is lovely, North Essex ditto and rural Norfolk is fantastic.

Plus all of the above!

 

[FQ]

If you mainly want to travel by rail, you can get a Britrail pass (as said above) to travel far from Southend and London. Maybe Southend-London-Inverness and explore the far north for a bit, then into the peak district and things like that. You would have to go via London to change trains though. Lincoln is a nice place to explore if you have the time too.

 

[Panceltic]

Hi again,

thanks for your detailed replies! I really appreciate them. I've had a look on the Britrail website and the passes seem reasonably priced, but they only pay if I'm going to travel a lot, I guess.

By avoiding London, it was not spending days there I had in mind; I don't mind changing trains there (or crossing it for that purpose) - it will be pretty much inevitable as you all say.

Hiring a car is sadly not an option (at least until I'm 25 and don't have to pay the expensive young driver supplement) so I find the Essex, Suffolk & Norfolk (and maybe Cambs) itineraries you've suggested really interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a Britrail pass won't pay for doing just this?

I have to make a decision now - either go for a big rail trip all around Britain (I'd really love to travel on the Far North and Kyle lines as I've done the West Highlands line two months ago and found it spectacular) or keep it local around East Anglia and buying individual tickets.

If I was to buy a railcard, is Southend Airport railway station staffed in the evenings (around 8pm)?

Thanks for your help

 

[Segedunum]

Hi again,

thanks for your detailed replies! I really appreciate them. I've had a look on the Britrail website and the passes seem reasonably priced, but they only pay if I'm going to travel a lot, I guess.

By avoiding London, it was not spending days there I had in mind; I don't mind changing trains there (or crossing it for that purpose) - it will be pretty much inevitable as you all say.

Hiring a car is sadly not an option (at least until I'm 25 and don't have to pay the expensive young driver supplement) so I find the Essex, Suffolk & Norfolk (and maybe Cambs) itineraries you've suggested really interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a Britrail pass won't pay for doing just this?

I have to make a decision now - either go for a big rail trip all around Britain (I'd really love to travel on the Far North and Kyle lines as I've done the West Highlands line two months ago and found it spectacular) or keep it local around East Anglia and buying individual tickets.

If I was to buy a railcard, is Southend Airport railway station staffed in the evenings (around 8pm)?

Thanks for your help

National Rail Enquiries shows it as open until 11pm

 

[Panceltic]

National Rail Enquiries shows it as open until 11pm

Can this be trusted? Or is it better to order online (I have a friend in the UK and I can order it to her address)?

 

[FQ]

Hi again,

thanks for your detailed replies! I really appreciate them. I've had a look on the Britrail website and the passes seem reasonably priced, but they only pay if I'm going to travel a lot, I guess.

By avoiding London, it was not spending days there I had in mind; I don't mind changing trains there (or crossing it for that purpose) - it will be pretty much inevitable as you all say.

Hiring a car is sadly not an option (at least until I'm 25 and don't have to pay the expensive young driver supplement) so I find the Essex, Suffolk & Norfolk (and maybe Cambs) itineraries you've suggested really interesting. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think a Britrail pass won't pay for doing just this?

I have to make a decision now - either go for a big rail trip all around Britain (I'd really love to travel on the Far North and Kyle lines as I've done the West Highlands line two months ago and found it spectacular) or keep it local around East Anglia and buying individual tickets.

If I was to buy a railcard, is Southend Airport railway station staffed in the evenings (around 8pm)?

Thanks for your help

If I were you I would definitely go for the trip all around Britain instead of sticking to Anglia. Take a look at this thread for the most scenic train journeys in the UK.

 

[MCR247]

Definitely take a trip around Britain and don't just stick to Anglia - its not that interesting

 

[306024]

Can this be trusted? Or is it better to order online (I have a friend in the UK and I can order it to her address)?

Southend Airport is staffed by Stobbart staff, not Greater Anglia, so while it is more likely to be open, their ticket selling experience may not be so wide. Take any risk out of the equation and order in advance if possible.

Definitely take a trip around Britain and don't just stick to Anglia - its not that interesting

Falling asleep while trying to travel excessive mileages in just a week, and end up seeing nothing doesn't sound too much fun either. Each to their own I guess, depends how much stamina you've got.

 

[MCR247]

True, but I wasn't necessarily suggesting spending the whole week on trains. I was more suggesting that it'd be better to visit places around the UK rather than just East Anglia. As interesting as I'm sure Manningtree and Norwich are, for example, would they really be worth visiting over places like Edinburgh?

 

[Techniquest]

I would definitely go for a bit of a tour of the UK, we've got some lines that are really nice to travel along and there's a lot of places worth seeing.

Edinburgh's worth a visit for certain, plenty of tourist-y things to do and the sightseeing bus tour is quite good too. When I did the price was fairly reasonable.

Depends what the OP is after doing. If they're interested solely on trains then there's plenty to recommend! For seeing some of the best of the country, there's several routes to recommend. Wales alone could take a few days to do. Must-do lines in my eyes would include:

Heart of Wales
North Wales Coast
Highland Main Line
Kyle of Lochalsh line
WCML north of Lancaster especially
Settle and Carlisle
Stranraer line
Calder Valley

 

[306024]

Edinburgh is indeed a fine place, as are so many places in the UK, (even Nottingham ) just that if I wanted to visit Edinburgh I wouldn't fly to Southend in the first place.

Further suggest forget trains completely and spend the week on Canvey Island instead

 

[30907]

I suppose it depends if this is a one off visit to the UK, or if the OP is able to visit again. If the latter, then I'd leave the "all points of the compass" approach to party leaders seeking votes, and focus on a couple of smaller areas. East Anglia and S Wales would be a nice contrast.

 

[Panceltic]

Thanks again for all your comments.

It was the low airfare (new route promotion) that lured me into buying the ticket in the first place, I didn't choose Southend

I am able to visit the UK again (and again), so I'm absolutely not trying to see everything now, I can save some places for the next time(s).

 

[W-on-Sea]

The railway journey from Southend Central towards London (Fenchurch Street) is *considerably* more scenic and interesting (along the very coastline, past castle ruins and marshlands) than that from Southend Victoria/Airport to Liverpool Street, if you will be travelling that stretch in the daytime. (it's a 5-10 minute walk from Southend Victoria to Southend Central stations - although you really should go and see the pier, and have some good local Rossi's ice cream, as well.) Southend occupies a very special place in the heart of many a Londoner - almost certainly the first place many of them (including me) saw the sea....