Arriving in the UK

When you are organising travel, make sure you consider the time difference, so that on arrival it is not the middle of the night and more difficult to find transport. Arriving on a weekday (Monday - Friday), rather than at the weekend (Saturday and Sunday), is the best option, and arriving in the morning allows more time to reach the required destination.

There are over 40 airports in the UK, many of which fly to and from international destinations as well as providing internal flights within the UK. The most common access point is London, which is served by five airports; Heathrow (the world's busiest international airport), Gatwick, London City, Stansted and Luton. All are situated on the outskirts of the city (except London City ) but are easily linked to central London by train and bus. Many other major cities have international airports, including Manchester and Birmingham in England, Cardiff in Wales, Edinburgh and Glasgow in Scotland, and Belfast and Londonderry in Northern Ireland.

Most UK airports are served by their own rail station and coaches will travel from them to many local towns and other destinations. You should therefore be able to organize travel relatively near to where your child will be based - if not by plane, then by rail or coach. National Express coaches connect the seven largest UK airports (Heathrow, Gatwick, Luton and Stansted in London, plus Birmingham, East Midlands and Manchester) with all major cities. For information on public transport in the UK, click here. 

Eurostar provides a direct link between Paris, Lille, Brussels and London (Waterloo) or Ashford (Kent) on Eurostar trains. This service is for foot passengers only and runs every hour (between 05:00 and 20:00) and takes approximately 3 hours. For more details, visit the Eurostar website.

Eurotunnel carries passengers and their vehicles and operates between Calais and Folkestone (Kent). Trains run 24-7. Between 06:00-midnight there are three trains per hour; between midnight-06:00 a service operates every two hours. For more information, visit the Eurotunnel website.