From London to Glastonbury

[berghaus]

Hey guys,

I hope this isn't a question that was asked many times before, but I couldn't find a topic..

Some friends and me are planning to go to the Glastonbury and as we are from Germany we will fly to London (Stansted) because it is the cheapest for us to fly there. But now we don't know how to get to the festival. Either we go by train or -if possible- by bus (maybe there are some shuttle busses?). What would you recommend, which route will we have to take (as I'm pretty sure there is no direct train to Glastonbury ) and also very important, how much will it cost us?

[Joshuwarr]

I'm pretty certain there will be many coaches going to the festival. My guess is they will cost around £50.

[Mr.Tickle]

The nearest station to Glostonbury is Castle Cary, I've never used it but I believe there's a bus service between there and the site.

I think the train to Castle Cary is from Paddington which is east to get to on the tube.

Dunno how much the fare is but as the journey is over 1.5 hours I guess it's not cheap.

[Radar]

www.nationalrail.co.uk

The route is as Mr Tickle said, advance standard fares will be between £50 & £70 judging from what I just saw.

[mdp963]

I doubt there are any coaches direct from Stansted to the Festival ...for tickets bought in Germany that is ...however you might work out something via National Express Coach Service National Express

Not sure if there is a coach service from near Stansted for tickets bought in the UK ..that you could join

By public transport ... by train ..only 2 changes

From Stansted direct > Liverpool Street main line

Then from Liverpool Street use the Underground (Hammersmith and City Line) direct > Paddington .... betwqeen 30 mins and 40 mins

Then use First Great Western from Paddington direct > Castle Carey

From Castle Carey there will be a frequent bus service to the Festival

More info as follows:

Stansted has its own station which is located underneath the terminal building. This station is served by the Stansted Express. The Stansted Express runs every fifteen minutes to half an hour, depending on the time of day. Journey time to London is 46 mins

As well as the Stansted Express service, Stansted airport is served by a regular stopping service which runs into Liverpool St station, and services to the midlands (which are, in turn, gateways to the North of England and various other airports).

Train times and information can be obtained from Railtrack Railtrack for Times and Prices

Usually First Great Western put on extra special trains for the Festival which can be booked ....but they fill up very quickly.

Quickest time is about 1hr 35 mins but most take 2.00 hrs

As yet you can't book a ticket in advance for June - I believe it is 3 months ....keep an eye on the FGW website or the Glastonbury Official Site

The cheapest ticket is now called an ADVANCE ...but not sure if Castle Carey on the festival dates will qualify

Web site for FGW First Great Western

Hope that helps

Edited January 13, 2009 by mdp963

[berghaus]

Okay thank you very much.

I tried to find a route myself and because I read that there are busses from Bristol I looked up what it what cost from Stasted to Bristol in March on Nationalrail.co.uk and there I found something for 26, but that were advance tickets.

So what are those advance tickets? are they limited? and would my route make sense?

[popcornmaster]

if you can find a cheap way into london from the airport (can't really help there not from the city)

from london you can get the megabus to bristol (it is possible to get £1 ticket if booked early enough) then a national express from bristol to the festival it works out at about £21/2 return + airport shuttle

It's what i did last year due to commitments in london and will probably repeat it just because it works out so cheap

Edit: obviously after the flight its a question of preference if you can be bothered with all that coach traveling and interchanging as opposed to something more direct

Edited January 13, 2009 by popcornmaster

[timespeedsup]

Have you booked the flights to Stansted yet? If not, you may want to weigh up the cheaper cost with the extra travel time/cost as compared to flying to a closer airport such as Bristol.

Just strikes me as a lot of hassle getting from Stansted into London then out again to somewhere near Glastonbury. But then again, it may be a lot cheaper.

[TalkShow Bob]

Have you booked the flights to Stansted yet? If not, you may want to weigh up the cheaper cost with the extra travel time/cost as compared to flying to a closer airport such as Bristol.

Just strikes me as a lot of hassle getting from Stansted into London then out again to somewhere near Glastonbury. But then again, it may be a lot cheaper.

[johnmcga]

Just wanted to give a general thumbs up for the option of taking the train to Castle Cary. It's pretty fast and well-organised and I've used it the last two years without any trouble at all.

If you're heading back into London on the Monday afterwards then expect to have to queue for a couple of hours, but given that you'll often run into some congestion however you leave, it doesn't seem like too much of an issue.

The better value train tickets don't get released till three months before you travel, so there's no point in trying to book them before the end of March. (Though to be honest, there's so much demand that I'm not sure they offer the usual discounted fares anyway.)

[Mr Benn]

Hey guys,

I hope this isn't a question that was asked many times before, but I couldn't find a topic..

Some friends and me are planning to go to the Glastonbury and as we are from Germany we will fly to London (Stansted) because it is the cheapest for us to fly there. But now we don't know how to get to the festival. Either we go by train or -if possible- by bus (maybe there are some shuttle busses?). What would you recommend, which route will we have to take (as I'm pretty sure there is no direct train to Glastonbury ) and also very important, how much will it cost us?

[TalkShow Bob]

If there's a few of you, you could hire a car. Better then queuing for shuttle buses to get you to any stations.

[Mr Benn]

No way, the train and bus is all part of the experience!

[Al the CAT]

As others have said, National Express East Anglia / Stansted Express service from the station at Stansted Airport (underneath the terminal building) to London Liverpool Street, then Circle or Hammersmith & City Underground service to London Paddington, then First Great Western services to Castle Cary. On arrival at Castle Cary, buses will take you directly to the festival site.

One warning with Advance tickets, is that you will need to travel on specific trains. These are no good for Glastonbury, as you have no way of telling what time you will be able to travel back on Monday, and give any train company an opportunity to charge you more, and they'll take it. It's also a problem if you get delayed at Stansted.

Better bet would be an Off-Peak ticket, and as long as you're not travelling through London at the busy commuting times (before 9.30am or between 4pm-7pm) you should pay about £69, and you don't have to specify any times. You can buy these tickets on arrival at Stansted and get on the train.

National Rail Enquiries )

[paulo999]

I was about to sugest that. When I was looking at flying to Germany a while ago it was cheeper to fly from Bristol than any of the London airports. Infact it was cheeper for me to travle from Reading (just round the corner from Heathrow) to Bristol then fly than it was to fly from Heathrow. Never went in the end though but hopefully will this year.

[venuss]

is it possible for you to fly into Heathrow

the national express bus station is right there £44 return takes 2hrs 30min each way

you book your seat so no queueing - except for the complete debacle of 2007 .... that will not happen again

[austrian_zeppelin]

Hey guys,

I hope this isn't a question that was asked many times before, but I couldn't find a topic..

Some friends and me are planning to go to the Glastonbury and as we are from Germany we will fly to London (Stansted) because it is the cheapest for us to fly there. But now we don't know how to get to the festival. Either we go by train or -if possible- by bus (maybe there are some shuttle busses?). What would you recommend, which route will we have to take (as I'm pretty sure there is no direct train to Glastonbury ) and also very important, how much will it cost us?

[paulo999]

is it possible for you to fly into Heathrow

the national express bus station is right there £44 return takes 2hrs 30min each way

you book your seat so no queueing - except for the complete debacle of 2007 .... that will not happen again

Edited January 16, 2009 by paulo999

[Dark Star]

www.nationalrail.co.uk

The route is as Mr Tickle said, advance standard fares will be between £50 & £70 judging from what I just saw.

[LusciousLucy]

I would go with the hire car option and fly in to Heathrow so you are on the right side of the M25 for a short, straight trip to the festy site.

Trying to fathom the British Rail websites, not to mention the long waits and queues you will have to face on the Monday morning (a miserable experience if its a wet year!) is no fun.

With a car you have a lot more freedom, luggage and beer carrying capability and you can choose when to leave the site.

And to finish...I wouldnt wish First Great Western onto you at all. You will be mentally scarred at how utterly shocking that train company is, especially coming from Germany! There is NOTHING Great about First Great Western...AND...that particular trainline (London to the West Country) is very prone to delays, problems and shutdowns.

Yes it is fun and part of the experience to travel from Paddington to the fest but then so is doing the trip by road!

[Sam Crawley]

Hi there Berghaus, I also think flying to Bristol (or Southampton or even Newquay, how about it Cornish peeps?) would be ideal if you can do it, but assuming you're flying Germanwings or something and have to go into Stansted, then my recommended least-hassle option would be the regular airport bus (Terravision - 13 quid return) from Stansted direct to Victoria Station in London then the official National Express coach to Glasto (erm, about 45 quid I think). Obviously you'd have to look at whether the timing makes sense, but this is a low hassle option, no changing or tubes in London etc.

I wouldn't recommend train because of all this ridiculous "cheapest tickets only on specific times trains" rubbish (I do love trains in general, don't get me wrong, especially DB!), the Stansted Express is expensive, then tube transfer to Paddington cost, the horrible unreliability of "Worst" Great Western and a trainload of people trying to get on the free transfer shuttle buses from Castle Cary station to the site, which is a particular issue on the return journey when you have to hit the right train with your restrictive ticket! Compare with coaches which take you from London and drop you right at the festival gate, direct from Victoria.

The only other option depending on flight timing might be to take a bus from Stansted to a town nearby that would have regular Glasto coaches. Oxford via 757 maybe? Then latch on to the National Express Glasto coach. Could be complex timing, but if you're flying a German airline instead of a British (or Irish) one, at least your flights will arrive on time, hehe!

Good luck! In fact last year I considered cycling down from London. Might be quicker! Also with the exchange rates as they are now you may want to rent a limo with chauffeur

[dvjj]

If you haven't already got your flights go via Bristol I wouldn't dream of coming into London then taking train/coach out to Glastonbury, you'll be knackered on Monday and it's a long enough journey home for us to London (we live in London) you have a flight to consider too.