Cardiff Travel Forum

Dear all,

i already posted a question in the London Forum about travelling from London Luton to Cardiff. They informed me that the bus is available but apparently its quite a lengthy journey plus a number of stops.

Now i'm considering renting a car - do you know roughly how long does it take to get to cardiff from london luton by car? i'll be travelling on a saturday morning.

Regards
Stefan

I'd allow up to four hours including getting round the M25, which on a Saturday morning shouldn't be too bad. Check with google maps. There are alternative cross-country routes but they won't save you any time (and you'll only end up on the M4 again eventually). There is a toll of £5.30 westbound on each of the Severn Road Bridges. You can get a VAT receipt if you need to claim the cost back from someone is this is a business journey. There is no toll eastbound. You pay to get into Wales but not to get out :)

http://www.theaa.com/route-planner/index.jsp?database=B

is a better bet than google, because it will tell about roadworks, potential traffic blackspots etc.

Put in Luton airport.

Its estimated timing is around 2h 53m, but I would allow at least 3.5 hours. Traffic can be very slow on the MI/M25, even on a Saturday.

Will you be keeping the car? One-way hire will carry a premium, but you may find parking in Cardiff to be difficult/expensive (depending on where you are staying, obviously).

I think that your best option will almost certainly be the train.

Parking in Cardiff will not be a problem (we have several car parks) unless you arrive in the afternoon on a 'match day' but it is expensive unless your hotel provides free parking and as the others said, it will take over 3 hours (4 hours if you stop for a rest, which you should).
One-way hire is very expensive also so the best way to travel is either by coach or by train.

Thanks a lot for your information - i will travelling from London Luton to watch U2 in summer and then travelling back to London Luton the following day - thanks for the info as that way i can plan my trip better

Regards
Stefan

Car hire is the best option as you collect and return from the same office but there may be a problem in that it will be easy to collect the car on the Saturday morning but not so easy returning it on a Sunday as some car hire offices may be shut. Check out the airport car hire firms to see which are open on a Sunday.

If yo do hire a car, make sure that the carpark you use in Cardiff is a 24/7 as we have some that are locked after a certain time (Capitol Shopping Centre for example) and wont re-open until 10.30 or 11.00am on the Sunday.