Lancaster is located in the North of England, about one hour's drive north of Manchester or Liverpool, an overview map can be found here.
Lancaster University is a campus university located south of the city centre (see e.g. here), and well-connected by very frequent buses - many of our students choose to live "downtown" and commute to university every day.
The WLCG/Rucio workshop will take place in the Physics Building, which is located directly next to the university's centre, Alexandra Square, that also accommodates the main bus stop. If you plan to come to campus by car, please be aware that parking is limited to visitor car parks ("B" or "C" are near the Physics building) and is charged. Please contact us in advance for further details! A campus map can be found here (beware that North is pointing to the left on this map...).
Local bus travel
A local bus gide with a map and time tables can be found here. Virtually all bus lines (1, 1A, 100, and 4) connect the campus and the city centre, but 1/1A are usually the fastest connection.
Planes and Trains
By plane, the most convenient airport is Manchester, as there are hourly direct trains between Manchester airport train station (MIA) and Lancaster train station (LAN). However, Liverpool airport is also an option (in particular if you were thinking about getting a rental car anyway, but train links are a short bus ride from the airport), and by train, Lancaster is well-connected to London, Glasgow and Edinburgh, so even flying to those airports might be an option for you.
Accommodation
We have 78 en-suite rooms on campus available for the workshop dates. Lancaster University has won awards for the quality of the rooms on-site. Directly adjacent to the campus is the "Lancaster House Hotel", a 4* venue with higher prices, although we can book a few rooms at preferential rates.
[1 Nov update] Please note there is no longer any availability onsite or at Lancaster House Hotel, and would ask you to book your own accommodation via suggested links below.
You can choose a hotel in the city centre either directly or via one of the usual portals such as booking.com or kayak.com. The Toll House Inn provides boutique rooms at a reasonable price (we typically use it for visiting ‘external’ examiners), and is just across the road from direct buses to the University. (It has very limited parking.) The Royal Hotel or the IBIS budget Hotel are also options slightly further from the bus stop. (The Royal Hotel also has limited car parking.)
If you plan to have a car available, also Thurnham Hall might be worth a look - this (in its core) 12th-century country estate is located in the countryside south of Lancaster and often offers surprisingly cheap deals, but is hard to reach without a car.
Activities in and around Lancaster
Lancaster is located near England's prime holiday location, the Lake District National Park, which you may want to consider visiting either before or after the workshops. There are trains to Oxenholme, Penrith and Windermere. Direct bus connections are available on Saturday and Sundays.
In spite of the traditional conflict between Lancashire and Yorkshire, we don't want to omit to mention the Yorkshire Dales National Park, which are also a magnificent sight and accessible by train from Lancaster. By (rental) car, both areas are less than one hour's drive away.
