Staying near and getting to Alton Towers without a car

[Finallybreathingout]

DD is planning a pre-uni trip to Alton Towers with a friend and neither can drive. They need to stay overnight and are on a tight budget so want somewhere cheaper than the on-site options. In any case of course they’ll need to get there and back! We’ve all had a look at potential options but the buses don’t look great. So I said I’d ask you lot - anyone got ideas for what their best options for places to stay and ways of getting to and from the park are? They’ll be coming from Manchester but then heading on to Leeds (obviously).

It's in the middle of no where , we always stay in uttoxeter but I don't know if there are buses into the theme park .

We always stop on site because the taxi fares are ridiculous and due to the sheer volume of traffic to and from alton towers the price on the taxi clock could end up horrendous due to been stuck in traffic. I don't think the bus times are user friendly and are usually packed.

There’s one bus a day that gets to AT for 10am and leaves at 5.30pm. I assume that’s aligned to the park’s opening hours.

Thanks. Do you reckon the buses would be more bearable as a couple of adults who can squash up?! I can imagine that being hellish with children. I’ve pointed out the taxi fares would erode savings pretty fast but of course they do need to get there and back somehow anyway and there are no other buses I can find.

Could you look on a coach company site and see if any are running a trip there?

That would be tricky as they’re visiting on their way home from a trip abroad, so coming from Manchester airport and then heading onwards. Otherwise I think great idea.

If getting the bus back,allow plenty of time as a lot of walking and queue can be big for the monorail and they could miss the bus

I live very close to AT. There is no where to stay close by unless you have a car. Buses are few and far between. Their only option is to get a taxi to and from AT if they don't want to stay on site, then find somewhere to stay.

The AT website gives you all the information you to be fair, not sure what more could be added.
Maybe look on Trip Advisor?

The website tells me there are buses and where to, we’ve looked them up and seen they are very limited, so wanted to see if people who have experience of doing the trip had any wisdom to share or any other suggestions - not really any different to looking on Trip Advisor except that I’ve asked specific questions and got helpful answers.

Could they stop overnight in the alton towers pods as normally fairly cheap.if getting a taxi I would prebook one and get a fixed price to pay

Thanks - that’s pretty categoric.

As they need to get there and back wherever they stay, and the buses only run at the start and end of the day, it seems more sensible to stay offsite rather than have to find their way there by taxi at the ‘wrong’ time of day, if that makes sense?

I’m quite surprised by how limited the options are really, but we’ll work with them!

There used to be a regular bus from outside stoke station

There used to be buses from Stoke train station....?

Hanley and Newcastle are close by as is Stoke station. I think the bus goes from Hanley station. There is a travel lodge in Hanley I think

I may be reading the timetable wrong, but the Stoke bus seems to go at a totally random time. I’ll look again though as it makes no commercial sense!

Chained oak is a b&b walkable from AT

www.dgbus.co.uk/

Here you go. There's not many, as you say, but it used to work fine for us as students

Thanks. I’ve passed on the info here to them and let them get on with booking somewhere and checking that Stoke bus - Stoke would be better than Uttoxeter for rail links so preferable if the bus is actually sensible.

Thanks. They’re the ones I’d looked at!
Although I had resolved to let them sort it out from here - very much don’t want to helicopter here any more than I have - I did have a quick second look at the Stoke bus and I had indeed read it wrong. (Am knackered.) So I think Stoke is their best option. Over to them.

Stoke is much better than Uttoxeter for rail links. Trains to and from Uttoxeter are only once an hour, so there will be more options from Stoke.