Visas

For all information on whether you need a visa to enter the UK, and how to get one if you do, please see the following web site: www.ukvisas.gov.uk

Getting to Falmouth

Falmouth is in the extreme South-West of England, close to the historic Camborne-Redruth mining area, the ‘birthplace of modern mining’.

Situated on the south coast of the Cornish peninsular, its remoteness means that journeys are long, but more than compensated for by the beauty of the English countryside and coastal scenery en route.

See also min-eng.blogspot.com/2009/02/travelling-to-falmouth.html

Below are the various options for travel to your hotel:

By Rail

This is our recommended option, as the regular First Great Western service form London to Falmouth is one of the great English rail journeys, passing through the beautiful countryside of Somerset and Devon before crossing the River Tamar at Plymouth, and entering the remote county of Cornwall. For a video view of the most interesting part of the train line, we recommend you watch this YouTube video entitled: "The Dawlish Sea Wall, Nothing is Impossible for an Engineer". Trains run regularly from London Paddington to Truro (where you can change for Falmouth). There is even an overnight 'sleeper' train. From Heathrow Airport, take the Heathrow Express direct to Paddington. This runs every 15 minutes, with an average journey time of 15 minutes.

From Gatwick Airport, take the Gatwick Express to Victoria Station, from where it is a short taxi or tube journey to Paddington. An alternative is to take the train from Gatwick to Reading, where you can connect with the Paddington-Truro train, but be aware that seat availability may be limited at this stage of the journey.

At Truro there is a regular hourly service to Falmouth. Travel to the terminus, Falmouth Docks station, where a representative from MEI will be waiting to transport you to your hotel (if you require this service please contact us with your expected arrival time at Falmouth Docks).

Check the timetables and purchase tickets at www.seat61.com/UKtravel.htm

By Car

MEI has a partnership with Europcar, which is the only rental company with an office in Falmouth, this means preferential car rental rates to MEI Conference delegates. To enquire about preferential rates, and to make a booking, please contact ReservationsUK@mail.europcar.com, quoting contract number 44776144

Available vehicles or their equivalents can be found at www.europcar.co.uk/fleetguide/

You can plan your route using The AA route planner.

We therefore suggest that the train is the best option for travelling to and from Falmouth. If you wish to tour Cornwall after the conference, we then suggest that you rent a car in Falmouth for travelling within the county.

Please contact us if you need any more information.

By Air

This is the quickest option, with daily flights from London Gatwick and London City to Newquay Airport with AirSouthwest and Flybe. If you are arriving at Heathrow, you will need to take the bus link to Gatwick. For this reason, we would recommend that delegates arriving at Heathrow take either the rail or car option above.

Flybe have interline arrangements with several airlines (including BA, Virgin Atlantic, Brussels Airlines and Etihad). This speeds up and smoothes out the travel process through London Gatwick, enabling passengers on certain flights to check-in only once at their origin and catch a connecting Flybe flight through to Newquay Cornwall Airport with only one ticket.

Newquay is a 40 minute drive from Falmouth and taxis are available at the airport. Please note that a return taxi journey from the airport is very expensive, however, if there are a few of you travelling together you can pre-book a minibus.

If you intend to rent a car for your stay in Cornwall, Europcar have an office at Newquay Airport. (See above for details on obtaining a discount with Europcar)

By Coach

The cheapest way to travel to Falmouth is by coach. National Express coach services provide services from the airport to Falmouth centre. At Falmouth, there are taxis available to take you the short journey to your hotel.