In July next year I need to get from Marseille airport to Durham in the north of England within 24 hours. I've been assuming I'd need to fly to LHR, have a night in London and on to Durham by train the next morning. But a new search has revealed that there is a flight connection on KLM via Amsterdam that would take me to Tees-side Airport, supposed to be the nearest to Durham but in fact nearer to Darlington than Durham. This far ahead it's hard to see the options for getting from the airport into Durham itself; the airport website has various links to bus & train companies but I can't search for that distant date. Is anyone familiar with that airport and can give me an idea of the possibilities? I would be arriving quite late (close to 10 pm) so might have to resort to a taxi, but it's a 40 mile journey.
Posted by
Basel, Switzerland
8889 posts
I think the answer is that Durham Tees Valley Airport is a small and obscure airport with minimal ground transport, catering mainly for holidaymakers trying to get away.
But I wouldn't stay overnight in London. Durham has very good train connections, one train every hour from King's Cross, taking 3 hours. With that sort of timetable, unless you have a late arrival at Heathrow you can continue to Durham the same day. The full timetable is here (in booklet form), or you can search for trains here.
The nearest good airport to Durham is Newcastle, you would still have to change planes somewhere, but Newcastle airport has a rail connection which would get you to Durham.
Also consider London Stansted airport. That has rail connections to the North (change at Peterborough for Durham) which would avoid having to go into London.
Finally it is possible to go by train from Marseille to Durham. It takes about 11 hours, changing in Paris or (better choice) Lille and in London. In London, St Pancras and King's Cross stations are literally across a street from each other, you would not need to use the Underground.
P.S. The "Durham" in the airport name refers to County Durham, in which the airport is located, not the city. County Durham is the only county in England with the same name as its county town.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5326 posts
Teesside Airport Railway station has a notional rail service of two trains stopping a week one in each direction on Sunday. This is only to prevent having to formally close it. The statistics claim only 8 people used it last year, although at such small numbers this may be questionable. It is 15 minutes walk from the airport anyway.
A pre-booked private hire car from a Durham firm would probably be the most convenient if you decide to travel this way at that time,
Posted by
OP
English but living in Melbourne, Australia
420 posts
Many thanks for your very helpful reply, Chris. I've spent much of today looking at possibilities and have given up on the idea of the Tees-side airport, and will aim instead for Newcastle. It would have been good to do it all by train but the connections the tour company arrange at the end of the holiday (already a complicated taxi-rail-bus journey) gave me the options of
1) a train connection that involved crossing Paris and not arriving in London until 20.40 (and so not to Durham until after midnight, and I'd still have to locate my hotel there) or
2) BA flight Marseille to Heathrow (I have already booked that ticket) but now instead of staying a night in London I'll use the fact that I'm already at Heathrow to fly on to Newcastle. As I'll arrive rather late, I may then spend the night there instead and have a quick train-ride to Durham the next morning. It actually works out cheaper and altogether less complicated.
Thanks also to Marco: you posted while I was still writing this.
Posted by
2404 posts
Go to the www.skyscanner.net and put FROM Marseilles TO UK in July & tick whole month.
Now, I suspect that not all flights are yet on the system, so try again about 1 Feb. Anyway, you will find that British Airways do have direct flights from Marseilles to Newcastle. However, if you can find Easyjet or Ryan Air operating from Marseilles to a northern UK city such as Manchester or Leeds/Bradford (or any other), you will get lower prices than BA but they might charge to put baggage in hold - so beware!
Then, having found a flight to a northern city, you can find out how to get by train from that place to Durham at www.nationalrail.co.uk
Posted by
OP
English but living in Melbourne, Australia
420 posts
Thanks, James. I'd already booked with BA from Marseille so it was simplest to re-book with them right through to Newcastle (though I'll still have to change terminals at LHR). I'll still be arriving late but I'll spend the night in Newcastle and go on to Durham in the morning. Much simpler than anything via Tees-side.