Hello,
my father, my brother, and I are from Slovenia, and we are traveling to Birmingham for the Aston Villa match. We will land at London Stansted Airport, and I am wondering what the easiest way to get to Birmingham is. I assume the best option is by train. Would it be best to travel to Birmingham New Street station and then continue from there (our accommodation is near Villa Park)? I would also like to know where it’s best to buy train tickets to keep the cost reasonable.
Thank you for your help!
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
34328 posts
Welcome, and thanks for visiting from Slovenia.
I know from nothing about football (I follow other sport) but I do know trains.
The good news is that you can get to Birmingham New Street from Stansted airport without a change, in fact it was a line I used to work on. The bad news is that at 3H11 it takes longer than your journey from Slovenia. Sorry.
You could lop a few minutes off by taking a Stansted Express towards London and changing onto the London Underground to London Euston station, and then a fast train to Birmingham New Street... but I wouldn't, if the Cross Country service via Cambridge (no change) is running I'd prefer to get on and not change.
Use https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ for train planning in the UK.
I don't know of any bus or coach alternatives, but if there are Stuart will know.
Once you get to Birmingham New Street you change to the very frequent service on the Cross City North line, just two stops or one (the other is called Duddeston and many trains do not stop there). Get off at Aston, and you will often have many new friends on Match Day. Be prepared for a busy train and a busy Aston Station. About a 15 minute walk from the station to Villa Park, but I can't say where your hotel is. Follow the crowd to Villa Park.
Will you be arriving on match day?
Do you have tickets for the fixture?
Villa are sometimes on TV and TV schedules can change the time of the match.
Ticket prices for the train are given on the link I gave you, then you are passed through to the train company running the actual train.
Good luck!
Posted by
Lake District, England
8468 posts
Knowing there is the train I wasn't going to offer a bus alternative as train is so obvious.
But yes National Express bus run every two hours from Stansted to Birmingham Digbeth.
You can then book a go anywhere add on for all West Midlands local buses for £3 on either or both of arrival and departure day.
The bus is about £37 each way. Taking a quick look at full price train prices I don't think there is any real difference.
Thus to me this is a clear cut win for team train.
Nor do I see any real point, cost or time wise to routing via London, as opposed to the direct train.
As this is a short haul flight so is pretty likely to be on time I might even make an exception to the rule and book an Advance train specific ticket.
Looking for tomorrow there are some very, very good Advance Fares. I assume they are even better for weeks into the future.
Posted by
Preston UK
1295 posts
Is this tonight's game against Celtic?
The nearest station to Villa Park is Witton on the line to Walsall, but Aston is not too much further away. In any case it really depends on where your accommodation is.
Posted by
Lake District, England
8468 posts
By the way it turns out that Cross Country have on the spot Advance Fares.
It is now 0915, and there are still Advance Fares of £36.90 on the 1027 train and similar such on all succeeding direct trains. Only the 0927 is a full priced train.
If buying Advance Fares it is cheapest to buy Stansted to Birmingham then Birmingham to whichever local station separately locally.
If you use the Scotrail website or app they will always give you the cheapest fare even if it is a "split ticket"
By the way the easiest and fastest route from Stansted to Euston is the Stansted Express to Tottenham Hale, then the Victoria Line tube to Euston.