Hey guys! So long story short, some friends and I produced a short film that's been selected to be screened at a festival in Stratford-on-Avon this fall (whaaaaaattt???), and a group of us (who are U.S based) really want to try and fly out to attend the screening. The initial plan is to fly into London (the morning of the festival, I might add), and then (somehow) get to/find a hotel for a night or two in Stratford, then either possibly head back into London or travel around the U.K for a week. Now I've visited London before early last year (still have my Oyster card somewhere), but it didn't involve any particularly extensive planning as far as out-of-city-transportation and accommodations went.

So, I guess, a couple of questions: what's the easiest/cheapest mode of transportation from London into Stratford, keeping in mind that anywhere from 2-4 of us will have enough luggage with us to last a week? Any particularly good/economically friendly hotels or hostels in Stratford or the area you could recommend? Any general advice is more than welcome, too!

I should mention that this is all extremely tentative. There's about a 50% chance it'll all fall through (though the short film will be screened regardless of whether or not we attend, which is awesome!) but I figure I might as well start doing planning/research early, just in case. ^_^ thanks in advance guys!

You can get a National Express coach from London Victoria to Stratford-upon-Avon. The coach station is hell on Earth and you can almost 100% count on there being a delay (and you'll end up penned in with hundreds of other people waiting and hoping you don't miss the whispered announcement that your coach is ready) but it's cheap and they'll take your luggage for no extra charge.

I'm not sure about places to stay in the area, though. I feel like your best bet is probably this place for £20 per night. Stratford's a fancy place so you'll probably not find anything cheaper...

ahh sorry for the delay! Didn't see your response ^_^ Really appreciate the advice! It looks like we're actually flying into Birmingham instead (it was cheaper than London by about $200) and then just taking the train into Stratford once we get in. Though my sister and I will be staying in London for a few extra days by ourselves, so we'll definitely look into a coach to get back up to Stratford/Birmingham. Out of curiosity, do you think it's worth buying tickets for stuff like coach or train this far in advance? Or would we be okay purchasing everything a day or two beforehand, once we get there?

Also, yeah, that was the only place I found within our price range too. From what I can tell it's pretty nice, though it's a couple miles outside the town, which just means we have to figure out bus (err, coach?) routes once we're there. Thank you!!