By Claire Owen
Suffolk is blessed with excellent transport links, so getting here and travelling around the country should be a piece of cake. Here, we’ve used Ipswich and Bury St Edmunds as the bases for your Suffolk stay.
Getting here
By train
Ipswich is easily reached from London Liverpool Street, with regular direct journeys taking as little as 1 hour and 7 minutes. Alternatively, change lines at Ipswich to get to Bury St Edmunds in just under two hours in total. Trains also stop at Ipswich from Norwich and Cambridge, while direct trains run to Bury St Edmunds from Peterborough.
By air
The nearest major airport to Suffolk is Stansted, which welcomes arrivals from countless locations including Barcelona, Prague, Edinburgh and Oslo. From the airport, you can be in Bury St Edmunds in around 50 minutes by car, or Ipswich in an hour. National Express coaches from the airport to Ipswich take 90 minutes.
Ipswich train Station
By road
If you’re travelling east via Cambridgeshire, the A14 will take you directly into Bury St Edmunds then further on to Ipswich. Meanwhile, you will need the A12 and A120 to access Ipswich if you’re coming from an easterly direction via Essex. Or, if you are visiting Suffolk from Norfolk, the A140 will take you to Ipswich, or branch off that road onto the A143 to get to Bury St Edmunds.
By coach
Regular coaches arrive at Ipswich from Heathrow Airport, calling at Stansted, Braintree, Marks Tey and Colchester. Meanwhile, coaches arrive at Bury from Clacton-on-Sea, Runcorn, Great Yarmouth, Diss and London amongst others.
Ipswich is easily reached from London Liverpool Street, with regular direct journeys taking as little as 1 hour and 7 minutes
Getting around
Take advantage of Traveline East Anglia to plan your routes around Suffolk using public transport; simply visit travelineeastanglia.org.uk and input your current location and planned destination. You will then receive options using trains, buses, coaches and even ferries where applicable. For example, if you were planning to visit Framlingham from Ipswich, you would be advised to take a 119 bus from Great Colman Street to Bridge Street, a journey of just under 45 minutes.
Bus travel is easy in Suffolk
Using trains around Suffolk is a breeze thanks to the various stations dotted around the county. These include Elmswell, Woodbridge, Saxmundham, Halesworth and Brampton – so there will usually be a train station close to where you’re staying and near your next destination.
However, if you have a car during your stay, all the tourist hotspots are accessible via the A14 and the A12. Journeys from Ipswich to Aldeburgh, for example, take around 45 minutes via the A12, or you could choose to take the scenic route through pretty villages in the Suffolk Coast and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. This would add on around 20 minutes to your journey.
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