The Northern Ireland peace process has brought about a significant rise in the number of tourists visiting Belfast. As with most European cities, the main attractions in Belfast itself are easy to walk to, so what about places to visit beyond the city?

Why hire a car in Belfast?

• Limited lines — look at any major city in England or central Scotland, and you will usually see a network of rail lines fanning out, including local and long-distance services. There are only four railway lines heading out of Belfast, two of which only provide suburban connections to Larne and Bangor respectively. A regional service operates as far as Derry (Londonderry), whereas the enterprise service continues down to Dublin.
• Giants Causeway — this is surely the most impressive natural feature on the Emerald Isle, and is only a short drive from Belfast. However, bus trips are available, so there is no need to get a hire car just to visit Giants Causeway.
• Inland — the railway routes in Northern Ireland generally stay close to the coast, so to go anywhere inland, especially to visit the various points of interest around Lough Neah, you will need a rental car, or you will have to rely on slow bus services.
• Blue Stack mountains — head across into Co Donegal for some superb scenery on Ireland’s Northwest coast, again, well beyond the reach of scheduled services.
• Poor public transport — although Northern Ireland has seen a lot of investment in recent years, little of this has gone on to public transport services, apart from upgrades to the railway fleet (Translink). No new lines have been built, and unlike many cities in northern England, there is no form of tram in Belfast. The city remains car dependent, and it has relatively few good routes to explore by bike.

Why not?

• There are few reasons not to get a hire car in Belfast, unless you just want to stay in Belfast itself, or perhaps take the train to Derry (Londonderry).
• Coastal routes — the train hugs the coast in many areas, offering some good scenic views, especially between Coleraine and Derry (Londonderry), and South of Newry most of the way to Dublin.
• Celtic cousins — instead of just visiting Northern Ireland, why not combine the trip to Belfast with a visit to Glasgow, or even tack on Edinburgh and Dublin at each end? This is an easy rail trip, with plenty of flights available from throughout Europe at either end if you extend to the Scottish and Irish capitals. The train south of Ayr towards Stranraer is particularly scenic, and you also get to include a short ferry crossing on the Irish Sea.

Conclusion — public transport options in and around Belfast are relatively limited, and the best attractions are landscapes rather than cities. This makes our verdict lean heavily towards recommending getting a hire car.

Verdict — yes (strong)

Note — it is easy to pick up a hire car at either Belfast International or Belfast George Best city airport. If you don’t plan on getting a hire car, you’re better off flying into Belfast city airport, which is much closer to central Belfast. You can even take a short walk to nearby Sydenham station to start early rail journeys within Northern Ireland, although for just getting to the city centre, it is quicker to take a taxi or shuttle bus. Belfast city airport is a wider network of domestic flights from the rest of the UK, whereas Belfast International has more flights from mainland Europe.

(Read our advice below before booking Swiss Rail passes)

Why hire a car in Zürich?

• Costly trains — trains in Switzerland, and particularly in and around Zürich might well be superb, but they can also be outrageously expensive. Even though car hire at Zürich airport is not cheap either, sharing a car with a group of people might work out cheaper than going by train.
• Train booking hell – the trains might be great, but finding the best deal is a complete nightmare (see below). You might find it easier just to book a car!
• Scenic drives — the trains may be excellent, but they are, as Jeremy Clarkson might say, a bit pedestrian. Hit the A3 out of Zürich, and you will soon be heading into Switzerland’s finest driving country. For many (but not all, as some of the rail routes are away from any roads) of the train routes listed below, it might be just as (or almost as, ed) secenic to take the car – and you have the usuals of exploring at your own pace and going off the beaten track.
• Stelvio — of all the roads in Europe, the Stelvio pass was rated by Top Gear as the best driving experience. To enjoy this at its fullest, drive to Davos and then continue to Zernez, before going through the Ofen Pass to Sluderno. The Stelvio Pass is actually in neighbouring Italy en route S38 towards Bormio. From here, you can head back through the La Schera tunnel, or through the Bernina Pass, taking a similar route to the Bernina railway line.

Why not?

There are too many outstanding rail routes which can be taken from Zürich to mention them all, so here are a few highlights:

• Value train tickets — Swiss rail tickets can seem outrageously expensive, but there are numerous ways to get a better deal. Firstly, you can book in advance on some of the trunk routes, just like advance purchase tickets on British trains – although the value tickets are only on sale on selected routes, no more than 15 days in advance, and often you can only get fares on direct train services. Unfortunately, although Switzerland may have many Brunel accolites, the fares manual and website have come firmly from the stable of Brittas.
• Travel passes – The best option for travelling around is to get one of the Swiss travel system passes. These provide unlimited travel on a set number of days, and this includes all mainline rail services, together with lake cruises and connecting buses. However, you will still have to pay for some mountain railways and cable cars, although you will at least get a partial discount. Note that due to currency fluctuations, the cost of even these passes has risen sharply – I last bought one in 2007 for around £100, now you will only see £5 change from £200! Note – if you have an unlimited train pass, you may find cheaper flights to Geneva or Basel instead of Zurich.
• Pass discounts. At the time of writing, a 30% discount offer is available for Swiss flexi-passes, although this expires at the end of November 2011. Worth keeping an eye out for future offers (we will try and update when we hear anything).
• Regional Passes – if you don’t fancy travelling around the whole country, you can get a regional pass to cover a smaller area. However, these aren’t cheap either – for example the Bernese Oberland pass comes in at a whopping £170 for 3 days travel in 7 (half price on other days) – and you still only get 50% off the Jungfrau and Schilthorn excursions. This is what happens when there is no other way of getting there – and however costly, these routes are truly priceless!
• Mountain add-ons. Add a mountain railway ticket at the time of booking a Swiss Rail pass, and the cost is just about bearable – £25 for Murren or £27 for Schilthorn. The Jungfrau line doesn’t even get a mention – you will need your own Swiss bank account to pay for that one (£128 day return from Interlaken).
• Jungfraujoch discount – discounts are available with most passes, and you may be able to start your ticket from Kleine Scheidegg, and get an early or late ticket to pay a lot less – potentially as little as £32, if you accept the restrictions. Either way, good luck trying to drive a car to the ‘Top of Europe!’.
• Swiss transfer ticket – Another option if you’re just travelling between the airport and one destination is to get the Swiss transfer ticket, which gives you free train travel anywhere in the country on the day you arrive and on the day of your return journey. This must be bought outside the country, and currently costs £95.
• Relative cost — car hire in Switzerland is more expensive than any other country in Europe, apart from Scandinavia. There are no bargain car hire deals at Zürich airport to be had, just expensive and even more expensive, and you still need to pay for petrol. So, even if you think the Swiss trains are expensive, car hire is unlikely to be much of a cheaper option, unless three or more people are travelling together.
• Famous resorts — the world-famous resort of St Moritz, Davos and Klosters are within easy and stunningly scenic train ride from Zürich. Slightly lesser known is Arosa, home of the Tschuggen Grand spa resort, where stunning modern architecture meets an equally impressive alpine backdrop.
• Glacier Express — Clarkson might be right about this one, it is the slowest intercity train in the world, but why would you want to go fast, when the views are so impressive at every turn? This runs from Zermatt to St Moritz, taking in the world-famous Landwasser viaduct on the way.
• Just incase the Glacier express isn’t enough, you can continue onward from St Moritz on the Bernina line into Italy and along the shores of Lake Como, terminating in either Bergamo or Milan. The flight home from here might even be slightly cheaper — or do it the other way round, so you don’t miss out on your duty-free allowance which is available on flights from Switzerland. This route takes in the amazing Brusio Spiral Viaduct.
• Better connections – Compared to Geneva, Zürich airport has better connections to the Bernese Oberland and Zermatt, although Bern is closer still. Needless to say, the railway routes here are superb too, and there are many places where you can’t even take a car — see our separate Bern page for more details.
• Cento Valli – A personal favourite Swiss rail route is the Cento Valli, it literally 100 valleys line between law Carno Locarno at the top of Lake Maggiore, and the Italian town of Domodossola. This can be done as part of a long circuit from Zürich — the main lines on either side are superb too, although it is actually closer to Milan. See our Milan page for other scenic rail routes in southern Switzerland and Lombardy.
• Southern Germany — Zürich isn’t just Gateway to some of Switzerland’s finest scenery, there are also a whole host of scenic lines to explore in south-west Germany, especially around the Upper Donau nature park. There are also various scenic routes around Lake Constance to the North East of Zürich.
• First-class trams — in Zürich, following abandoned plans to build an underground system, the trams are designed to operate at extremely high frequency, to integrate with other lines, and not to be hindered by traffic. This ‘Zurich model’ has been emulated in other cities that have since developed tram networks, with varying degrees of success. So if you have trams in your city that aren’t as good, blame it on Zurich – or at least attempts to emulate this model. Over 60% of journeys to work in Zurich are made by public transport, compared to less than 20% by car.
• Even the hotels have their own trains — or at least the Dolder Grand, recently redesigned by British architect Norman Foster, has its own private train.
• Lake cruises — take a cruise on Lake Zürich, another part of the integrated Swiss travel system.
• Sunday shopping — Swiss law prevents Sunday trading, except for shops which are inside railway stations. Therefore, Swiss railways developed the ‘Railcity’ concept of turning their major stations into genuine destination shopping centres, featuring high-quality shops and eateries, rather than just having the overpriced convenience food and impulse shopping that most British railway stations have. Both Zürich Hauptbahnhof (Central) and Zürich airport stations are impeccably designed retail centres as well as being major interchange points.
• Superb stations — whereas Zürich airport and Zürich Hauptbahnhof both impressive architectural feats in their own right, the big name station design is in Zürich’s secondary station of Stadelhofen. This is designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, who also designed the new frontage to the main station in Lucerne.
• Europe’s crossrails — from Zürich you take the fast ICN tilting train to Bern, Geneva and other major cities in Switzerland, the ‘train formerly known as Cisalpino’, now just Eurocity to Milan, the German ICE train to Stuttgart, Frankfurt and beyond, and the French TGV to Paris. Express trains are also available to Liechtenstein, and on through Innsbruck towards Vienna in Austria. Few other cities in Europe offer this kind of connectivity.
• Genuine airport rail hub — even if you are not heading on one of Switzerland numerous scenic routes, Zürich airport is a genuine integrated rail hub, with services to numerous other Swiss cities, and not just to the centre of Zürich itself. For example, trains to Geneva start at Zürich airport, and direct services are also available to Basel, St Gallen and Romanshorn on the edge of Lake Constance.
• Outstanding Service – you may not get a repeat of this, but I have never experienced anything quite like it: Arriving at St Moritz station for a train towards Zurich via Chur, I asked in broken German if I was by the right train. The platform attendant shook his head, then took me through the wrong train, on to the tracks, and then up onto the adjacent correct train. Had he directed me through the subway, I would have missed it, as it was literally one minute before departure and these trains always leave on time. I can’t possibly imagine anything like this happening in the UK.

Conclusion — clearly, this is a long list of superlatively scenic train journeys (with a price to match) which can be taken from Zürich, a list which is expanded further still on our Bern page for central Switzerland, and our Milan page for southern Switzerland. This list might be written by a rail enthusiast, but this is undoubtedly a part of the world where anyone will appreciate these are unmissable train rides. However, petrol heads will also believe that mountain scenery that makes a great train ride makes it even better drive, and there might well be some truth in that – as long as you are driving in areas that have through roads! So even though our recommendation is still to make the best possible use of the ruthlessly efficient Swiss travel system, the driving is amazing too, especially as drivers won’t experience quite the same level of mountain restrictions as there are around Bern (see Bern page).

Verdict – no (strong)

Prices quoted correct as of November 2011, subject to changes and currency volatility.

Note about booking Swiss Trains

Unfortunately, the Swiss Travel system website is notoriously complex to use. If you can find a reasonable deal using one of the passes above, then that might be your best bet. but if you just want a transfer to a resort, or between the main cities, an advance purchase ticket may be better value. These are only available upto 15 days before travel, and you may have to book two separate tickets to get the best deal.

For example, to travel between Zurich and St Moritz, you will change trains at Chur. It may be cheaper to book separate Zurich-Chur and Chur-St Moritz legs. In the case of Zermatt, you will change at Brig.

Here are a few sample journeys, based on the cheapest advance ticket(s) we could find:

You cannot book these supersaver tickets through the Swiss Travel System, you will have to go direct to Swiss Railways (same organisation, different booking options). Then select  home > tickets Switzerland (right hand side) > Offers Tickets Switzerland > Travel for less in Switzerland > Supersaver ticket – and be prepared for lots of frustration re-entering details. Remember that dates are like 20.11.2011, no slashes, and you will need to keep un-checking the half-fare box, otherwise be ready for an unpleasant surcharge once you get on board. It took me several attempts to get it to accept St Moritz, sometimes it doesn’t like ‘Zurich’, so you have to paste in ‘Zürich’ – basically, everything they can do to make the site user unfriendly, they have done – which is totally at odds with the system itself!

Happy hunting – and either way, however much you pay, it will be worth it!

• The area around Billund is great fishing territory, and this is best accessed by car.
• Billund has no railway station, so if you don’t rent a car, you will have to take a bus to get anywhere.
• Buses from Billund are generally slow and irregular.
• Legoland might be Billund’s most famous attraction, but that will probably only keep you occupied for a day. Even though there are other summer attractions in Billund, a rental car is going to make it much easier to explore the rest of the Jutland peninsular.
• Rent a car in Billund and drive to other cities in Western Denmark, such as Aalborg, Arhus, Esbjerg and Odense.
• Visit nearby Vejle, and enjoy its stunning modern architecture and shopping facilities, which include a great mix of old and new.
• Rent a car to access the many golf courses which are available around Billund.
• A car is ideal to explore the coastal areas in the West of Jutland, including Ringkobing Fjord and Nissum Fjord – although these fjords are shallow, and nothing like as spectacular as the fjords in Norway.
• Enjoy the white sandy beaches on Denmark’s west coast.
• Visit the Jelling Stones, and learn about the legend of Harald Bluetooth. Bluetooth is strongly identified with the creation of Denmark as a nation state and making warring tribes speak to each other, hence the origin of the Bluetooth mobile networking system.
• Flights to Billund are often much cheaper than flights to Copenhagen, as Billund is a major Ryanair base, and Copenhagen airport has traditionally been associated with high cost airlines, especially as Ryanair no longer operate flights into nearby Malmö, Sweden.
• Billund might not be much of an alternative to Copenhagen for a short weekend break, but flying into Billund as an alternative to Copenhagen and picking up a rental car at Billund airport will certainly give you many more options for exploring Denmark as a whole, rather than just the capital city.
• The drive from Billund to Copenhagen is 261 km, and should take just under three hours. This will include a trip across the fantastic great Belt link. If you are visiting Billund to appreciate Danish toy design, you might aswell appreciate Danish bridge design at the same time.
• Driving in Denmark is generally trouble-free — the roads are well engineered, spotlessly maintained, and traffic jams are rare.
• Hiring a car in Billund and driving to Copenhagen will probably be cheaper than taking a bus (to Vejle) and train, and you won’t have the hassle of changing.
• If you are arriving from outside Europe, and visiting the West of Denmark, save time by avoiding Copenhagen airport and flying to Billund via Amsterdam with KLM.
• English is widely spoken, so you should not have a problem with road signs or getting directions.

Why not?

• You are in Denmark. Public transport is well integrated, walking and cycling is a pleasure!
• There is no need at all to hire a car just to visit Legoland — Billund airport was primarily built to serve the Lego company, and is just a short bus or taxi ride from Legoland.
• Easy bus connections are available to nearby Vejle from both Billund town centre and Billund airport, taking around 45 minutes. Cost (as of November 2009) 65 Danish kroner (approximately £9).
• From Vejle, regular trains are available to Odense and Copenhagen, and also up to Arhus and Aalborg.
• Why not spend a little bit of time in Billund itself, and see how a toy has influenced the real life town. Billund is easily walkable.
• As is the case throughout Scandinavia, there are plenty of cycle paths to explore radiating out from Billund.
• If you are interested in city environments, take the bus & train to Odense, and explore the famous system of linked parks that the city offers. This is naturally best done on foot or better still on a bike – so leave the hire car at the airport!

Useful facts:

• Population: 6,000
• Station: no
• High Speed Rail: no
• Metro: no
• Tram: no
• Cycle scheme: no
• Ferry / water trips: no
• Useful info: Visit Billund
• Legoland: http://www.legoland.dk
• Billund airport: http://www.billund-airport.com/
• Danish Railways (and bus info from Billund to Vejle)
• See our partner website, Flightmapping.com for advice on finding flights to Billund and the rest of Denmark from the UK.

VERDICT YES

Simply because hiring a car at Billund airport is going to give you the widest flexibility to see different destinations, unless you really are just here to visit Legoland.

1. A hire car will give you access to visit many more places in South West England. If you are flying in for a slightly longer break, then Bristol’s network of flight routes makes it the best arrival point for exploring Devon and Cornwall, as well as nearby Avon and Somerset.
2. Public transport to and from Bristol airport really isn’t that great — apart from the half hourly express bus service to Bristol city centre, and a link with Weston-super-Mare, very few other public transport options are available. To get anywhere else, you will need to connect via Bristol Temple Meads station, or Bristol bus station first. There is no direct coach link from Bristol airport to Bath.
3. Getting from Bristol airport to Cardiff by public transport is a nuisance, and there is no view to appreciate if you take the train through the Severn Tunnel. You can enjoy a much more dramatic view from either of the Severn Road Bridges. Note — if you are doing a driving tour into South Wales from Bristol, you can avoid paying the toll by driving out through Ross on Wye, and back over the Severn Bridges, as it is free to travel from Wales back into England — of course, we don’t recommend this diversion just to avoid the toll fee, but if you are heading in this direction anyway, this is the best way to go.
4. A car will make it much easier to enjoy nearby Cheddar Caves and Gorge and Wookey Hole Caves.

Why use public transport in Bristol?

1. Bristol was rated by Dorling Kindersley as one of the world’s top 10 city to visit in 2009 — so there is plenty to see in the city itself, without needing to venture out much further.
2. Bristol is a superb city to walk around, there is no need to even use buses to enjoy most of what the city has to offer.
3. Our top recommendation would be to walk out to Brunel’s Clifton suspension Bridge, and enjoy the stunning views this affords. Although you can drive across the bridge, you can appreciate it much more (and avoid the toll of course) by walking across.
4. Don’t forget to visit the Clifton Observatory and caves when visiting the Clifton Suspension Bridge.
5. Beautiful Bath is just a short hop from Bristol, and this is an easy and enjoyable train ride.
6. Better still, why not cycle between Bristol and Bath, and enjoy the first cycle route set up by Sustrans.

Further information:

• Bristol airport
• Visit Bristol