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BY CAR: Getting around
South Wales, once you have arrived at your holiday cottage in the
Swansea Valley, is easy thanks to the M4 motorway. Elsewhere in
Wales, the roads are good but a bit slower, especially in the mountains
and through Mid Wales. Wales may be just 170 miles from North to
South but it can still take 4 or 5 hours! If you have never driven
in Wales before you will be pleased to know that the UK has the
EU’s
safest roads. As in the rest of the UK, we drive on the left
in Wales. Speed limits are 30-40 mph in built up areas and 70 mph
on the motorways. If you are a foreign national you will need an
international driving permit. Armed with the A-Z Street Atlas and
information folder provided in your self catering cottage, you should
have no problems in finding your way around and having a nice relaxing
holiday. If you have never been to Wales before and feel a
little apprehensive about what to expect - don’t worry! The
area is well blessed with amenities and the road network excellent.
To help you to get familiar with the area around Swansea Valley
Holiday Cottages:
* Cilybebyll is a hamlet (population approx 100) which
is 1 mile from our holiday cottages.
* Rhos is a village (population 5,000) which is 1 mile from our
holiday cottages.
* Pontardawe is a small town (population 30,000) which is 2 miles
from our holiday cottages.
* Neath is a large town (population 60,000) which is 5 miles from
our holiday cottages.
* Swansea is the nearest city (population 223,301) to our holiday
cottages. The city centre is 10 miles down-valley of our cottages.
Lots of useful information may be found on our
local council websites, www.neath-porttalbot.gov.uk
(Neath Port Talbot) and www.swansea.gov.uk
(Swansea). To check out the road regulations in Wales, take
a look at the Highway
Code. And finally, remember the golden rule - take the more
scenic back roads unless you're in a hurry!
BY TRAIN: Train services
in Wales cover all the main cities and a selection of rural towns.
A number of different companies operate a number of different routes
and passengers can only use their tickets on services operated by
the company who issued the ticket. However, travelers can still
buy tickets to any destination from most train stations.
The nearest mainline train station to our
holiday cottages is Neath, which is 5 miles away. Neath is in a
good central location within South Wales to explore to the west
(Pembrokeshire) and to the east (Cardiff and the Valleys). The networks
relevant to guests at Swansea Valley Holiday Cottages are:
* Newport-Swansea (First
Great Western)
Neath is the last stop before Swansea on the main London
Paddington to Swansea route which passes through Newport, Cardiff,
Bridgend and Port Talbot as it crosses South Wales. Swansea is a
ten minute train journey from Neath and Cardiff, the capital of
Wales, is a forty minute journey. It is also possible to do a day
trip to London from your holiday cottage as there is an hourly service
from Neath which takes just under three hours. Buy
train tickets. View
Train Timetable.
* Heart of Wales (Arriva
Trains Wales)
The heart of Wales line runs daily between Shrewsbury and Swansea.
Swansea to Llandrindod Wells takes just over three hours so day
trips by train into the heart of Wales are quite feasible from our
self catering cottages. The Heart of Wales Line is one of Britain’s
favourite rural railways. You’ll travel through spectacular
scenery and bustling market towns on an unforgettable journey.
* Swansea - Fishguard (Arriva
Trains Wales)
There are regular trains heading West from Swansea to country towns
such as Llanelli and Carmarthen as wells as ports such as Pembroke
Dock, Milford Haven and Fishguard.
A great way of getting around Wales is
with a Flexipass.
One ticket gives you unlimited access to all of Wales’ mainline
train services and almost every bus service. In addition, ticket
holders get a range of other benefits, including 'two for one' entry
or discounted admission to many of Wales’ biggest tourist
attractions.
If you fancy something a little quirky, there’s
also the Great
Little Trains of Wales, a narrow-gauge steam railway system
that includes nine separate railways. The nearest line to our holiday
cottages is the
Brecon Mountain Railway.
BY BUS: Buses
will provide a much deeper penetration into the Welsh countryside
than the train service. The main inter-town operator in South Wales
and the rest of the UK is National
Express, whose network covers the whole country. One of its
chief routes is London to Swansea which includes a stop a Neath,
some five miles from our self catering cottages.
For travel within Wales, it will be necessary
to use the local bus services run by a bewildering array of companies.
The nearest bus stop to our holiday cottages is a mile away in the
village of Rhos from which there is an hourly services between Neath
and Swansea via Pontardawe (Mon-Sat). They take about 20 minutes
to get to Neath and an hour to get to Swansea (due to lots of other
stops on its way down the valley). For more information see First
Cymru Buses. From Swansea, buses may be caught to the Gower
beaches and other parts of the country.
If you fancy something a little quirky, there’s always the
postbuses, which as well as delivering post to more rural areas
of Wales will drop passengers off en route. For more information,
visit the Postbus
Site.
For detailed information
on traveling around Wales by public transport, see the Traveline
Cymru site, or call them on 0871 200 22 33. |
