Dear British Zoochat members (and also those from abroad who might be helpful), as part of a business trip, I might visit Liverpool this July. I haven't decided whether to fly in via Liverpool or Manchester Airport yet (any advice on that greatly appreciated), but since my business will take me to the University of Liverpool, I might as well check out the closeby Herpetarium of the Alistair Reid Venom Unit of the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine. And since I'm already in the neighbourhood, why not visit Chester Zoo? However, having researched a little bit online, it seems to take quite a while to get from Liverpool (Airport) to Chester Zoo, doesn't it? About as long as it takes from Manchester (Airport) to get there? Or are there any other public transport option I'm unaware of that won't take 2h to get me to the zoo and back? Any help in regard to this as well as other recommendations (housing, dining etc) would be of great help. Thanks in advance.
To the best of my knowledge you are unfortunately correct regarding how long the public transport routes to-and-from the two airports to the zoo takes; however I suspect that the best option is still Manchester Airport by some margin as the journey from there comprises a direct train to Chester and then a bus from the train station to the zoo, whilst getting from Liverpool Airport to the zoo would entail several changes of bus and train, which is much more vulnerable to delays causing missed connections. The train between Manchester and Chester is pretty comfortable as British trains go, too
Hi TLD, thanks for the reply. How much does the train ticket from Manchester to Chester cost? And are there no other options (coaches, carpools etc.)? I just don't really see the point of flying to Manchester (even if the flight is a bit cheaper) just to go to Chester Zoo when my main destination is Liverpool...no matter how comfortable the train is. ^^
Well, there are direct and regular (every 15 minutes) trains to the city centre of Liverpool from Chester, so that leads to another point - it might be worthwhile trying to find somewhere to stay in the latter city rather than in the former, both on the grounds of convenience and cost.
One thing to remember is that Manchester Airport is three or four times the size of Liverpool airport, and has far more options for getting there and getting away (Liverpool airport doesn't have a direct rail link, for example, where Manchester does).
Currently it costs £22.80 open return. Naturally this is all speculative, given you haven't mentioned how long you would spend in the UK in total, but you could therefore do something like this: Day 1 - fly into Manchester, train to Chester Day 2 - Chester Zoo Day 3 - train to Liverpool from Chester, business in Liverpool and the herpetarium, train back to Chester. Day 4 - Train from Chester to Manchester Airport. Another point which just occurred to me is that Manchester Airport also has fast and twice-hourly direct trains to Liverpool, so it would be well-suited to your purposes in this regard too. As noted above, I don't know your precise itinerary, but this along with the other factors mentioned means you could do something like the following if you wanted to get back to the airport straight after finishing in Liverpool. Day 1 - fly into Manchester, train to Chester Day 2 - Chester Zoo Day 3 - train to Liverpool from Chester, business in Liverpool and the herpetarium, train to Manchester Airport. Obviously if you were to do this, the train cost would be more expensive as you would require a single ManchesterAirport-Chester (£19.60) and a single Liverpool-ManchesterAirport (£15.40) rather than relying on just the open return I mentioned above. Naturally if you ended up staying in Liverpool itself, it would be more prudent to get an open return between Manchester Airport and Liverpool - which costs £17.60 - and follow an itinerary something like this: Day 1 - fly into Manchester, train to Liverpool Day 2 - train to Chester, Chester Zoo, train back to Liverpool Day 3 - business in Liverpool and the herpetarium, train to Manchester Airport. The other train fare which may be relevant to consider - given I have alluded to this journey a few times above - is the return fare between Chester and Liverpool, which is £7.35 day return No matter what your itinerary comprises, therefore, I would certainly suggest that Manchester Airport is by far the more convenient option for your flights in terms of getting to and from where you wish to visit.
Thanks guys, but I don't intend to stay there very long. Given the available flights: Day 1: Arrival & short trip to Chester Zoo Day 2: Business at the University & Visit of Herpetarium Day 3: Departure & returning home I guess renting a car at Liverpool Airport on the first day and returning it the same day might be the best, most flexible (and at 36€, even the cheapest) option to go to Chester Zoo and back. Or I'll just skip Chester altogether...
But isn't it a waste of time and money to go to Manchester if the main destination is Liverpool? Are your experiences with Liverpool Airport that bad? The flight in question would be via Blue Air, and the online reviews on this flight company have been mixed at best...
I'm not sure if you're possibly imaging the cities to be further apart than they are - you'd have to work out the cost differences but Manchester Airport is a 40min drive from Chester Zoo or from Liverpool Airport and a lot of that time I'd expect you to make up in better connections and faster transport if using public transport. As you say, the very simplest way would be to rent a car from Liverpool Airport for the zoo trip - that's the closer to Liverpool of the airports but still 40min from Chester Zoo because both places are so far from the Mersey crossings.
Like most people on the internet, I used Google Maps for the evaluation of distances. Most connections were like 1+ h travelling time and more. Thanks @both of you for your input!
A short trip to Chester Zoo is likely to be a frustrating experience. The zoo covers over 50 Hectares and the collection is large and varied, so any visit of less than 5 hours duration runs the risk of missing something good. If it is possible, it might be better to wait until day 3, so that you could arrive as soon as the Zoo opens at 10 am and see as much as possible before the Zoo gets busy. If you have not already contacted the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine to find out about visits to the herpetarium, I suggest that you do so, as I expect that visits must be prearranged.
Thanks for the input @gentlelemur. Due to said large collection, I intend to see just the most relevant aspects, if I visit Chester Zoo at all. Furthermore, I'm a pretty fast zoo walker...^^ Unfortunately, my flight schedule won't allow for a whole day spent at the zoo. And indeed, I've already contacted the Herpetarium beforehand for a visit.
I'd be quite interested to learn what portions you would define as the most relevant aspects, if you have already given this matter some thought?
Suspected you might say that rather a lot of the more unusual reptiles and amphibians there are off-display, unfortunately, but to be fair in the last year or so quite a few nice little oddities have been placed on-display; as a result, when I visited on Monday for the first time in four months I managed to get about a half-dozen reptile lifeticks. And naturally, Chester also has the only (legally) breeding tuatara outside of New Zealand
@redstarsmith: as I don't know your individual occupational background nor the motivation for your visit, I can't give you a general answer; for me, it was straightforward. The Herpetarium | LSTM
@Batto thanks for the reply. I'm just a civilian with no conected job to venomous reptiles, I work as a teacher. I have an interest in venomous snakes and there are less opportunities to see them in the UK than there used to be.
