ipswich waterfront

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• By Car

  Ipswich is conveniently located on the intersections of the A12 (London - Great Yarmouth) and A14 (Felixstowe - Birmingham) highways with several exits along both routes. Driving into the city can be slow do to congestion . Parking is available, but can be expensive (in an underground or multi-storey city centre car park expect to pay about GBP6.00 for 3 hours) although some parking areas close to the inner ring-road will charge around GBP2.50 for one day. Alternatively, Park & Ride bus services run from 3 parking sites on the edge of the city close to the A14, costing GBP2.80 per day including free bus travel to the city centre. Look out for the blue Park & Ride signs (displaying a letter 'P' alongside a bus) when approaching Ipswich on the highway.

• By Rail

  Ipswich Rail Station is located on the West Bank of the Orwell River on the intersection between Princes St, Burrell Rd and Ranelagh Rd, about 1 mile from the town centre. There are frequent services towards London Liverpool Street (every 20 mins - 1hr 20min journey time), Norwich (every 30 mins - 40min journey time), Cambridge (every hour - 1hr 15min journey time), as well as infrequent services to Lowestoft and Peterborough, and an hourly railbus shuttle to Felixstowe. Tickets must be purchased from the vending machines (credit cards accepted) or the customer service windows in the entrance hall of the station. Taxis and local buses depart from the station's forecourt.
  There is also a smaller station called Derby Rd. Ipswich, located on Derby Rd in the eastern suburb of Rose Hill. It is unstaffed and has an hourly service between Ipswich and Felixstowe.

• By Coach

  The Old Cattle Market bus station on Falcon Street serves all regional and long-distance bus services. Frequent regional buses run to Stowmarket, Sudbury, Woodbridge, Felixstowe, Colchester, Framlingham etc, while National Express services run to London (3 times per day), Liverpool (1 per day), and Stansted Airport (every 2 hours). Rural bus and minibus services run to surrounding villages, although some are very infrequent. There is no ticket office at the station, so tickets should be bought on board (change is usually available but drivers will be reluctant to change large bills), except for National Express services, which must be prebooked by phone or over the internet. Electronic signboards display the next 20 or so departures and which gate they will depart from. Schedules are displayed at each departure gate.

• By Sea

  Stena Line operate a twice daily service to Harwich (only 32 miles from Ipswich) from the Hook of Holland. Regular services to Harwich, from Esbjerg are operated by DFDS Seaways.

• By Air

  Ipswich has good connections to both London Stansted and Norwich International airports. From Stansted, there is an express bus service (X5) which runs between Ipswich Old Cattle Market Bus Station and Stansted Airport Coach Station every 2 hours, 24 hours a day; taking approx. 90 minutes. Expect to pay around GBP75 for a prebooked minicab and over GBP100 for a metered taxi. Norwich Airport can be reached in approx. 1-1.5 hours. From the airport, take a local bus or a taxi to Norwich Railway Station and from there it's about 40 minutes by train to Ipswich. A taxi will be about GBP50-60.

• By Bicycle

  Ipswich is relatively cycle-friendly - most arterial roads have cycle lanes or shared pavements, there's plenty of places to lock up your bike in the town centre and the town is relatively flat. Cycling into the surrounding countryside is also very pleasant. Most trains entering/leaving Ipswich carry bicycles EXCEPT the peak hour stopping trains between Ipswich and London Liverpool Street. The Ipswich Cycle Route Map is available from Ipswich Tourist Information Centre.