Stansted Express - How Much Does it Really Cost

Stansted Express highlight their £9.90 Advance ticket price - but how much does it really cost for the 49 minute train journey from London Liverpool Street to London's third airport?

Of course the £9.90 fare is available - if you book a full 90 days in advance - and with no refunds or changes allowed, you may not consider that an appropriate purchase.

But if you need to travel in the next 12 days - you'll be paying an eye watering £25 for this short journey to Essex.

So what about everybody in between.

If you manage to book 13 days in advance you save £8 and get a single ticket for £17.

If you book 33 days in advance of travel you save a further £2 with a single costing £15.

If you purchase 48 days before travelling you save an extra £2 with tickets at £13.

A full 75 days in advance you save a paltry £1.50 on a £11.50 ticket.

And the final £1.60 saving is available for 90 day advance purchases.

Most people will probably be fairly confident of their travel arrangements 13 days in advance - but do you really want to book a non refundable ticket three months in advance?

If you're travelling in either direction after 10am or at weekends you should be able to get a Railcard discount (Network RC etc) - bringing the fare down to a slightly more reasonable £16.65

It can also be booked last minute - so you can be confident there aren't any emergency service alterations.  When flying into Stansted (or Luton), I usually wait until we've actually landed, check trains are running, and only then book my train ticket on my phone.

But the Railcard discount can only be applied to the full £25 single fare - even if you're booking more than 12 days in advance, you don't get a discount on the Advance fares.

You also need to check for Engineering Works - especially if you're travelling at weekends.  These are usually planned months in advance - so unless you're taking a punt on a 90 day advance booking, you can be fairly sure that any planned works are listed.

When the train line is disrupted (either planned or emergency), it's often better to take a coach service directly to or from the airport.  

My coach of preference is the National Express A9 service direct to/from Stratford which has good tube connections, and avoids central London traffic.  NEX A9 fares can be as low as £7 if booked well in advance - or as high as £17 for peak on the day bookings.

Conclusions

If you're travelling on a weekday after 10am or at weekends (and own a Railcard) - booking an "Anytime Single" with the Railcard discount gives you some protection if your journey plans change.  And this can be booked through your normal company - giving you any discounts / rewards that they offer.

If you're travelling before 10am on a weekday - try and book at least 13 days in advance on the Stansted Express website to get the £17 fare.

If your travel is absolutely guaranteed - then go for the 90 day cheap ticket.

  

Hoek van Holland to Harwich - Day Ferry

May bank holiday Monday - fares from Netherlands to the UK were a bit silly - even the Transavia flight from Rotterdam to Stansted was £119 and the Ryanair flights from Eindhoven to London had crazy prices.

I even looked into travelling by train to Calais, and then ferry to Dover, and train to London - but journey was totalling up to £134 ... and of course Eurostar from Amsterdam or Brussels was a truly stupid price, as per usual!

So I decided to spend the day on the ferry from Hoek van Holland to Harwich - and then the train from Harwich to London.

As per Seat61's excellent instructions - I booked the "Dutch Flyer" on Stena's Dutch website, avoiding my browser's offer to translate to english which stopped the website working properly.  I paid 85 euro for the combined ticket - which was just 6 euro more than the foot passenger ferry fare.  So about a 15 quid saving over and Advance Single train fare - and a huge saving over a flexible train fare!

Getting to Hoek van Holland

Of course the first task is to actually get to Hoek van Holland Haven station - and the NS website or app will likely route you through Schiedam Centrum.

I couldn't work out whether the mainline and Metro stations were separate - but they are actually both in one building with the rail tracks next to each other.

Arriving into Schiedam Centrum rail station from the north, for the quickest transfer you should be in a carriage near the back of the train … and if travelling west into SC then a carriage near the front of the train … and if you’re really lucky you might even get a cross platform change!

There’s only one platform exit - so go down the stairs / lift (not sure if there’s a down escalator) - turn left (the Metro sign could do with being bigger) - out through the mainline gateline … turn left and almost double back on yourself to go through the Metro gateline.  There’s just two escalators up to the Metro platforms - with a sign above the bottom of each with the next destinations … so you can’t miss your Metro B destination "Hoek van Holland Strand". 

Carrying a small rucksack down the stairs (from the wrong part of the train) and standing on the escalator up to the Metro platform took me 2 minutes 10 seconds - you can probably beat this by following these directions!  This meant that I was able to catch the earlier Metro (every 20 minutes) than NS journey planner expected.

Hoek van Holland Haven station

Just north of Hoek van Holland Haven station is a very decent sized Albert Heijn supermarket - a proper one, not the overpriced “To Go” versions that are found in most Dutch train stations!  Less than a five minute walk from the front of the Metro platform will enable you to stock up for your journey.  And they have a reasonable choice of Stroopwafels - if you're into that sort of thing!

If you want a strong coffee - I got a good one to go from Cafe Prins Hendrik just down the road from AH for a reasonable 3 euro.

From the rear of the Metro platform it’s just a couple of minutes walk to the Stena building - you can’t miss it with the big Stena sign and the flags outside.

The spacious building suggests that it was built with serious passenger numbers in mind - maybe it still gets big numbers in the Summer holidays.  The toilets are reasonable and there’s even a coffee machine if you don’t have time to go get a proper one!

Two members of Stena staff were scanning passports and issuing boarding passes.  They don’t need your reservation number - you just hand over your passport and their system matches it with the details you’ve already submitted, and they print your boarding pass.  You get offered a map of the ferry - and reminded that all passenger facilities are on deck nine.

A few steps further on a couple of Dutch police complete exit formalities - stamping British passports or just scanning EU passports.

Then it’s a decent walk up to board the ferry itself - there’s a few incline travelators to help but only one was working on the day I travelled.  Although there was one man working on the broken ones!  There are good views out both sides to the ferry and into town to take the edge off the hike!  And kudos to Stena for avoiding the use of a bus to board foot passengers - it's great not to have to wait and be squashed into an old wreck of a bus!

To give you some context - you enter the building on the left of this photo (with the white poles on top) ... and you board the ship through the gangway on the right of this photo.  It doesn't feel crazy long - but it does add up!

Hoek of Holland Strand

If you have some spare time before your 45 minutes Stena checkin cut off - then why not stay on the Metro one stop beyond Hoek of Holland Haven station, and go visit the beach!  Just down the line is the lovely Strand station - where you can spend 23 minutes / 43 minutes / 63 minutes before catching the Metro back to the Haven station (all of 0.33 euro for the 3 minute journey).

It's not the most amazing beach in the world, but you get a good view of the ships coming in and out of Rotterdam.  And there's a decent number of cafes and restaurants - but I didn't stop to sample their output, so can't vouch for the quality!

Stena Brittanica / Hollandica

Most of my ferry experience in recent years is on the Irish Ferries Ulysses - which has a great mix of different outdoor areas and indoor spaces.  I found the Stena Brittanica (the Hollandica is identical) a bit of a let down.  The only official outdoor area is at the rear of deck 9 - and once the ferry gets up to full speed the engine noise and vibrations aren’t pleasant.  I realised late in the crossing that if you go up to deck 11 inside the ship and look for the orange staircase - you can then get outside on a nicer deck with a couple of benches.

I found the indoor areas got quite stuffy on my journey - which was a busy daytime May bank holiday Monday - but it wasn’t completely rammed.  The WiFi on the ferry was pretty woeful (as it also usually is on the Ulysses).  One thing that's great about the Stena Brittanica is the outdoor enclosed mini football space - which the kids loved.  Sadly on our crossing once we were out to sea it got too windy for much use.

Weirdly the Truckers Lounge was completely empty - which was such a waste when the rest of the ship was so busy.  Surely Stena should declassify it when there are virtually no truck drivers on board?

The loading of our ferry was late - finishing about 15 minutes after our scheduled departure.  And the waterways around Hoek of Holland are so busy that we waited another 15 minutes to depart our berth.  Amusingly we had barely cast off before Stena announced that the duty free shops were open!

With my AH food in hand I didn’t use the ship's catering outlets - but they mostly seemed to serve the usual burger and chips fare.  I did have a coffee - which was ok and cost 3.50 euro.  But it wasn’t good enough for me to have a second one!

As with all big ferries, the last mile into port takes a relatively long time as the ship gradually loses speed / energy.  You get to see the port of Felixstowe on the north side of the estuary, which looks a bit feeble after the enormity of Rotterdam.  But we did get to see Evergreen's "Ever Given" - made famous for six days it spent blocking the Suez Canal!  You also pass the town of Harwich on the way into the Stena berth.

Some ferries leave you guessing until the last minute as to which side or even which deck you will disembark - but Stena wins marks for having the Harwich and Hoek exit points clearly marked.  The only trouble is that the queue wasnt very well managed - one of the crew even accidentally facilitated queue jumpers!

Since we were 25 minutes late arriving into Harwich (although the Stena Sailing Updates page didn't update), I wanted to be off quickly to avoid getting stuck in the passport queue, to ensure I didn’t miss the next train.  So I queued up instead of watching the ship dock - which can be a bit of fun - but I didn't want to add an extra hour onto the already long journey!

After a short walk down some gangways … we came to two Border Force agents checking passports, supported by two (presumably Special Branch) plain clothed coppers.  My passport was scanned and I was on my way quickly. I passed some luggage carousels that weren’t being used (maybe they see action in the summer) and immediately you leave the Stena section you are into the train section - it's all one building.  I timed it from the foot passengers being released to arriving onto my platform at five and a half minutes.

I was so fast that I had time to wander around the station before my train.  The station toilets were ok.  There was a coffee vending machine that sadly wasn't working, and a drinks vending machine that charged £2.20 for everything!

I caught a train that just went a few stops to Manningtree station.  In Manningtree the fast London train went from the other side of the same platform.

Both the East Anglia trains were fine - the restricted leg room is a bit shocking after the generous space that you get on NS trains.  But there was power provided on both the East Anglia trains I used, and neither were busy.

The ticket inspector on the train seemed a bit surprised by my Sail Rail ticket - but he did check the date of my ticket.  And arriving into London the gateline guy saw that I had my printout (Stena tell you to print it) and just waved me through.

Final thoughts

Maybe I'm spoiled by the Irish Ferries Ulysses, or maybe the extra journey time was just a bit too much for me - but I wouldn't be rushing back to do a daytime crossing on the Hoek to Harwich route.  I might try doing an overnight crossing - where you should get a decent night's sleep.

Terschelling and Vlieland islands - Daytrips

After extensively investigating the different options for visiting Tershelling and Vlieland islands - I eventually settled on being based in Harlingen and doing daytrips ... which worked out well.

Getting to Harlingen

The extensive rail network in the Netherlands means that it's fairly straightforward to get anywhere in the country by rail.  I flew into Eindhoven Airport from Stansted - which meant taking one of the regular buses to the Central Station (2.83 euro using a Contactless card) ... and then a couple of trains (31.20 euro using Contactless).

The Dutch railway system is so user friendly that you don't have to buy a ticket - you just tap your Contactless payment card at the gateline when you enter, and again when you leave ... and the relevant price is charged to your card.  The NS app is very helpful - and shows the destination of the train that you should board.  Don't make the mistake I did a couple of years ago and board a train for Zwolle just because you know you need to change in Zwolle!

Just be aware that Dutch trains don't have any catering facilities - so you need to buy your coffee in the station before boarding.  And most of the NS trains that I used over the weekend didn't have any power sockets.  Both the Arriva trains did provide power.

To get to Harlingen you must change in Leeuwarden - where you need to tap out of the NS network (yellow), and tap into the Arriva network (turquoise) - with the NS app reminding you to do it.  There are card readers at the end of most platforms in Leeuwarden, and lots of other travellers were doing the same.  I had no problem changing trains and doing the tapping within the scheduled 6 minutes.  And the Harlingen train does wait if your train into Leeuwarden is late.

If you're travelling in the evening you may have a half hour wait at Leeuwarden - but there's an Albert Heijn To Go in the station itself.  You can go through the barriers to wait in the station - worth the small extra charge for splitting your journey!

Arriving into Harlingen you have the choice of getting out at the town station - apart from the Jumbo supermarket there isn't much around the station. The Haven station is right on the western edge of the town and close to the ferry terminal.

Staying in Harlingen

I started looking for two nights accommodation a couple of months before arriving, and didn't find a lot of choice.  Eventually a few weeks before arrival the only reasonably priced good options were an AirBnB place in the centre of town and the B&B Zeehoeve just to the south of town. We went for the "tiny house" in the centre of town - which turned out to be a good choice.

Harlingen itself is a lovely town, full of canals and old houses, with plenty of food and drinking opportunities.  It was relatively quiet in May, but I'm sure it gets busier in the Summer - especially in the school holidays.  Many of the restaurants shut surprisingly early starting from around 9pm - and many were fully booked when we tried to get a table.

Eetcafe Noottgedagt is the number one rated restaurant on Tripadvisor, and looks great both outside and inside - but they were fully booked when we tried.  We ended up eating Cafe Restaurant t'Noorderke - which was a lovely place, with friendly staff and great food.

There's also a good size Albert Heijn supermarket near the Haven train station.  It stocks a decent range of goods and is open until 10pm Monday-Saturday and until 6pm on Sundays.

Ferries to the Islands

Our AirBnB host reminded me that booking daytrips to the islands online in the advance gives a better price as well as giving the option of a "package" including bicycle hire for just 5 euro extra.  We did this both days, although we misunderstood the 10% voucher that came with the "package" - and failed to get reductions on the coffee and beverages we bought on the ferry!  And the fast ferry doesn't have a cafe!

Some of the ferries back to Harlingen do get fully booked - especially on a Sunday evening, so keep an eye out on how many spaces are left, and try and book once you've seen the weather forecast and decided what you're doing.

The ferry terminal is close to town and is an excellent facility.  The staff at the ticket desk were pretty helpful (although they could have better explained the 10% voucher) when printing our tickets.  There's a handy little shop in the building, which even includes mobile phone cables in case you (also) forgot yours!  The ferry company operates a nice looking cafe restaurant in the building where the 10% voucher is also valid.

Downstairs in the basement (lift available) the toilets are clean - although they did get very busy when a boat load of people arrived into port.  And there are 12 huge left luggage lockers down next to the toilets - which never got full over the weekend.

The ticket desk staff happily exchanged my two 1 euro coins for the 2 euro coin I needed to pay for the locker for the day.

Vlieland

Doing a daytrip to Vlieland is very simple - there's a ferry departing Harlingen at 9.10am and the last ferry back to Harlingen departs at 4.50pm (with a later fast ferry on a Sunday that gets into Harlingen at 8pm).  The six hours on Vlieland is a decent amount of time to cycle around most of the island, stopping off to see the main sights.

Whilst the ferry website tells you to be at the terminal 30 minutes before departure - you really only need to be there about 15 or 20 minutes ahead of time.  There were still people boarding around 10 minutes before we pushed off.

The tourist information office "VVV Vlieland" is just as you come off the ferry - but we forgot to hand over our "package" voucher to receive our freebies!  The most useful thing in the VVV office was this big island map on the wall showing the bicycle routes in red.

The bicycle hire voucher from the ferry company can be used in any hire shop on the island.  We just went to the nearest one to the ferry building - Jan van Vlieland.  Their bicycles weren't great - a bit uncomfortable after a couple of hours, with rather stiff gears, and not enough suspension.  I would definitely try one of the other nearby hire shops if going again.

The voucher can alternatively be used for a day long bus pass.

The main street through the village (there is really only one village on the island) is a bit Disney esque - even in the rain it was charming!  There are plenty of places to eat, caffeinate, buy tourist stuff and even a small supermarket.  Just be aware that some shops (including the bakery) shut for an hour or so over lunchtime.

One of the main sights on Vlieland is the Lighthouse - which officially closes at 12.30pm at weekends, whilst some days it's only open in the afternoon.  Luckily the day we were on the island there was a big group visiting, so the lighthouse stayed open late, and we managed to get in.  It's well worth the 3 euro fee to climb up the inside, get some great views across the island, and descend the vertiginous stairs on the outside of the building.

From the lighthouse we cycled along the "main road" right the way to the most westerly point on the island we were allowed.  The western third of the island is a military zone - Kamp Vliehors.

The most westerly human habitation is the Posthuys - a cafe restaurant.  We stopped for a coffee and to use their facilities!  There were plenty of people eating full meals here.  This is also the most westerly point served by the Vlieland public bus.  And it's also the point where day trippers from Texel island are deposited.

After our mediocre coffee, we took the wonderfully deserted cycle track along the northern side of the island back towards the east.  Along the way we stopped at the Bunker Museum Wn12H.  This is a seriously impressive establishment - with a mix of excavated original concrete structures, and reconstructed wooden huts.  Apart from a handout map in english with brief descriptions, all the displays in the different huts and buildings are exclusively in Dutch.

The displays inside and outside the buildings are a rather eclectic mix of wartime items - including this wonderfully displayed propellor.  The standard entrance fee is 8 euro - so it's worth spending the best part of an hour to take in the extensive site.

With the rain starting in earnest, we donned our waterproof trousers and continued cycling to the eastern end of the island in search of the Fortuna brewery.  I had hoped to source some local beer, but they didn't have a shop, and the upstairs bar was quite busy.  With limited time until our ferry, we left empty handed!

We had actually started our day with a visit to the Commonwealth War Graves in the grounds of Nicolaaskerk.  The church itself is worth a visit - I've never seen so many model ships inside a place of worship!  And the helpful member staff hands out a leaflet in english explaining the different items in the church.  The cemetery is also worth a visit.

Overall I'd highly recommend Vlieland for a day out if you like this sort of thing!

Terschelling

The choice of ferry to Terschelling is a bit more complicated than Vlieland - you have to choose between the 8.15am fast ferry or the slow one which only gets to the island at midday.

We got up early and arrived at the ferry terminal at 7.50am to put our bags in the locker - having collected our tickets and vouchers the evening before.  The Sunday morning fast ferry wasn't busy, but be aware that you're supposed to stay seated for the 50 minute journey - and there's no cafe!

We were a bit more organised this time (monkey learns) and went straight to the tourist office on arrival in Terschelling and presented our "VVV voucher".  This meant we each received a handy drawstring backpack bag, as well as some brochures.  Again the most useful thing was the huge map of the island on the wall of the VVV office.

The helpful staff member suggested that with the strong wind, we'd be better cycling against it on the inland cycle path rather the more exposed main road or polder dyke - which is what we did.

The bicycle voucher can be used in any hire shop - we just went to the Tijs Knop shop near the VVV office.  Their bicycles were definitely a cut above the ones we used on Vlieland, with more comfortable saddles and better suspension.  Just like on Vlieland, the voucher can alternatively be used for a day long bus pass. 

Cycling east (with the wind on our backs) we did a mix of dyke cycling (great fun) and used the bike path beside the main road to see some of the villages.  I didn't find the villages as interesting as the ones on Ameland or the main village on Vlieland - but maybe a Sunday morning with everything closed isn't the best time to visit!

The village of Formerum does have a good size Jumbo supermarket - but only "smart" shoppers are welcome!

Before long we were at the eastern navigable limit of the island - the last quarter of the island is a nature reserve for hiking only.  We'd cycled 20km by now - so probably enough with the wind against us on the way back.

With the village of Oosterend being the end of the main road, it was probably the busiest place on the island with people stopping for lunch in the sunshine.  We skipped the crowds and cycled back along the excellent cycle track with a parallel horse track.

Along the way we stopped to caffeinate (strangely no toilets at the Patatelier Prell cafe) and we also stopped at the Bunker Museum / Tiger Stelling complex.  You can visit the outdoor section (including this German "Rettungsboje" rescue buoy) without entering the Museum.  After visiting to the Bunker Museum on Vlieland the previous day we opted not to visit this one.

Before long we were back in the main town of West Terschelling and we stopped at the Commonwealth War Graveyard on the way into the centre.

The main point of reference in West Terschelling is the lighthouse at the top of the town - you can see it from the far end of the island.  It's not a bad looking structure, but probably won't win any design awards!

Then it was time to hand back the bicycles, and grab a quick drink at the beautiful Raads Cafe before getting the Tiger fast ferry back to Harlingen.  We needed the quicker option because we had to catch a couple of trains to get to Amsterdam.  If you can take the extra 70 minutes, then worth getting the slow ferry - and using your 10% discount voucher on food and drink!

Another great island daytrip - with the added bonus of lots of sunshine.