Getting Around England

England has a one the largest railway network in the world which includes a couple of beautiful lines through sparsely populated country. England is well serviced by roads, ports, and airports. However the public transport would be pretty expensive. The cheapest way to get around England is using buses or coaches that are numerous and operate on all over the country, but they are slower than trains.

Taxis are plentiful in main cities. 'Black Cabs' are also common and can be hailed from the side of the road. Also another option would be Car hire considering to explore the countryside and villages.

England has many hundreds of miles of Public Footpaths which allow free and unrestricted access into every county. British law protects the rights of pedestrians and these established footpaths. Many of these paths traverse private lands, and by statute, landowners may not impede the travel of a pedestrian or alter the paths course.

By Train
England's train network has usually a good rail service between main tows, but there are broken down lines into different regions.

Most trains are quite comfortable, but become overcrowded in the rush hour, so plan to leave after 9am. Also with train companies suffering from bad punctuality, you may find connecting with another train run by a different company has already departed

Ticket prices varying throughout the country, but there are many discount passes available to overseas travellers offering unlimited travel on the network. One of the best is the BritRail Pass that offers many different options, for your requirements.

Car

England actually has roads in very good quality, an excellent motorway system and the surfaces are well maintained in most areas. British roads are actually the safest in the EU even though they can be very busy at peak times. You have to be careful parking in England is almost impossible to find.

To drive in England, you can use your own driving license or an international driving permit maybe used. For EU Drivers, the car must have registration papers and a nationality plate, and the driver must have insurance. Also is permitted the U.S. driver license but driver must be 23 years old and have had the license for more than a year.

Driving in England you must drive on the left side of the road and overtake on the right. All traffic signs are of the international standards, for any doubts get a copy of the Highway Code that contains road regulations.

Driving drunk has several penalties in England, the maximum blood alcohol limit is 80mg to 100ml of blood even if have had several hours sleep.

Having insurance is highly recommended if you're going to drive yourself.

By Air
It is not usually to transport by air in England, but to reach fast any city in the country there a huge range of destinations reached by the airlines that operates around England, most of them departure from London and covers all the main cities.

British Airways (tel. 800/AIRWAYS) flies to more than 20 cities outside London, including Manchester.

For passengers planning on visiting widely scattered destinations within the United Kingdom, perhaps with a side trip to a city on Europe's mainland, British Airways' Europe Airpass allows discounted travel in a continuous loop to between 3 and 12 cities anywhere on BA's European and domestic air routes.

BA's Europe Airpass must be booked and paid for at least 7 days before a passenger's departure from North America. All sectors of the itinerary, including transatlantic passage from North America, must be booked simultaneously. Some changes are permitted in flight dates (but not in destinations) after the ticket is issued. Check with British Airways for full details and restrictions.

Bus and Coach
England has an excellent road network providing wide coverage of the country, and to travel around England by bus there are two options, the Coach for long-distance journeys and the buses for city or local transport.

The main bus services are run by National Express and other independent operators. National Express links most of Britain's towns and cities. Destinations off the main route can be easily reached by transferring to a local bus at a stop on the route. Tickets are relatively cheap, often half the price of rail fare.

Victoria Coach Station, on Buckingham Palace Road (tel. 020/7730-3466), is the departure point for most large coach operators. The coach station is located just 2 blocks from Victoria Station. For information, call tel. 020/7222-1234 24 hours a day. For cash purchases, get there at least 30 minutes before the coach departs.