CALCO 2005: Travel Information
Swansea is 300km West of London on the South Wales coast.
It is served by good rail and road links with easy access from:
Buying Train Tickets
It is generally cheaper to buy tickets in advance. However, be warned that the very cheapest tickets require you to commit yourself to a specific train. This may well be unwise for obvious reasons. Tickets can be bought online at, among others, First Great Western.
Getting from the Train Station to the University or Hotels
The easiest way by far is a taxi (about £7). It is possible to walk, but it will take about 45 minutes. Buses, unfortunately, will require you to change at the bus station since there are no direct services.
Cardiff Wales International Airport
The current scheduled airline timetable for Cardiff Wales International Airport (CWL) can be
found on this page. A reasonably wide range of destinations is served, but close inspection shows that most rely on the KLM Cityhopper service to Amsterdam Schipol - and hence for many travellers, flying into Cardiff will require a transfer.
The most practical route by public transport is to take the bus (no X91) from the airport to Cardiff, then the train from Cardiff Central station to Swansea, and a taxi from Swansea train station to the University or you hotel.You can find the timetable for the X91 service
here (this site
behaves a bit strangely in some browsers, unfortunately).The train timetable for trains from Cardiff Central Station to Swansea can be found
here and
for the return journey
here.
The main bus station is next to the Central Railway Station.
Cardiff Wales - Alternative 1
If you are arriving in a group, consider sharing a taxi to Swansea. The cost should be about £60 to £70, as compared to about £20 for the alternative above. Given it is much quicker and more convenient, you may want to consider this for groups of two or more.
Cardiff Wales - Alternative 2
It seems a new train service from Rhoose station to Swansea has just started - thanks to Michal Walicki for finding this. Rhoose station is advertised as "Cardiff International Airport" though this is a bit misleading as you will need to get a taxi from the airport to the station. However, there are train services from Rhoose to Swansea - some direct, most requiring a change at Bridgend.We have not tried this route, so we cannot comment on any difficulties. There is a timetable here (thanks again Michal). go to the "find a train" page and enter "rhoose" in "from" and "swansea" in "to".
Bristol Airport
The easiest way to reach Swansea from Bristol Airport is by train. There is a dedicated bus service (Bristol International Flyer) from the airport to Bristol Temple Meads station, from where there are relatively frequent services to and from Swansea. Please note though that you will generally need to change trains at the other main Bristol station (Bristol Parkway). This is because the main London Wales line passes North of the city. Unfortunately, the timetables (below) do not make this clear. Entries in bold type indicate direct services, and in light type connecting services. So for example a casual reading of the timetable would imply that there is a train that leaves Parkway at 08.22, then Temple Meads at 08.42, and then continues to Wales. This is not the case: the service goes directly from Parkway to Wales so it is necessary to first get a local service from Temple Meads to Parkway.
The aiport bus service takes about 30 minutes, and operates every 20 minutes from 05.00 to 22.40. Train timetables from Bristol to Swansea can be found here,
and from Swansea to Bristol
here.
Heathrow Airport
It is possible to travel by bus direct from Heathrow to Swansea, or by bus to Reading and then
train to Swansea. Although it requires a change, in practice the train from Reading is often more
convenient. General information on travel from Heathrow to Swansea can be found
here.
The train timetable for trains from Reading to Swansea can be found
here and
for the return journey
here.
It is of course possible to travel from Heathrow into central London, and then travel by train (from Paddington) or bus (from Victoria), but unless you need or want to visit London, this will
take substantially longer.
