By plane
The city is close to East Midlands Airport situated in the county of Leicestershire and a drive should not take much longer than 30 minutes depending on the traffic situation, a recently introduced bus service "Airbus" from St Margarets bus station has made the bus journey much easier; this service runs regularly during the day, with an infrequent service overnight. Previously journeys by public transport were more complicated, involving a bus to Loughborough and then the train to Leicester.
Birmingham International Airport
is also within a 45 minute to 1 hour drive from Leicester. There are also a limited number of flights available from Coventry Airport about a 45 minute drive away.Stansted
and Luton airports are linked directly to Leicester by regular train services.Manchester airport
can be reached easily by train, changing at Sheffield.Gatwick airport
can be reached easily by train, chainging at Luton or Bedford.There is a small airfield for private planes at Stoughton to the east of the city.
By road
Leicester is adjacent to the M1 Motorway, allowing speedy road access south to London and north to many other major English cities.
The M69 motorway provides good access from the south of the city at M1 junction 21 towards Birmingham, Coventry, Nuneaton and Hinkley.
As noted below, for non-motorised road users, there is good access to the city for cyclists, from all points of the compass.
First-time visitors to the city coming by car may find the inner ring road and associated one-way systems confusing and somewhat daunting. Plan your journey well in advance, be patient, and look for signposts for the many car-parks close to the city centre; or use the Park & Ride services see below under 'Bus'.
The city offers a Park and Ride service Meynells Gorse Park and Ride, see the National Park and Ride Directory (http://www.parkandride.ne...)
By train
Leicester is on the main London to Leeds rail route operated by East Midlands Trains. There are up to four trains to and from the capital every hour. The journey takes about 1:10.
Leicester also offers direct rail access to Stansted Airport (http://www.baa.com/main/a...), Sheffield, Nottingham, Derby, Cambridge and Birmingham.
Cross country services are operated by Cross Country and East Midlands Trains That is to say to Cambridge, Stansted, Nuneaton, Coventry, and Birmingham.
Leicester station is conveniently situated close to the city centre. It is a very busy, compact station. The station staff are consistently friendly and often seem to bend over backwards to help both visitors and regular travellers.
The only suburban services are those operated by East Midlands Trains towards Sileby, Barrow-on-Soar, and Lougborough and the Birmingham services, which call at Wigston and Narborough.
By bus
National Express offer services into St Margarets Bus Station on the edge of the city centre, there are regular services to and from London and Birmingham where connections are available to most of the UK. Many services serve Leicester on a 'once a day' basis to and from many major UK cities.There are also services operated by local companies which serve the Asian communities in West London Southall, Bradford, and other areas - these services are not gererally well advertised, may be short-lived, but can be cheap, and get you to out-of-the-way areas.