fables

Solo Traveler-First trip to Europe. For part of my trip I am considering flying into Edinburgh from London the night of September 13th, staying in the Old Town section, and then flying back to London the night of September 16th. This would give me 2.5 days on the ground I guess.

I know I would like to see Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood Park, Princes Street Garden and mill about a bit on the Royal Mile. I would also like to see St. Andrews and maybe some of the West Highlands Area as well.

It seems too much for 2.5 days logistically speaking.

So the questions are...

Should I do the " Rabbies " West Highlands Lochs & Castles tour or the " Rabbies " St. Andrews & Fife Fishing Villages tour?

Or hire a car and do a combo, (if so, should I drive to St. Andrews or to West Highlands )

Scrap the tours altogether and just do public transit to St. Andrews for one day?

Or just stay in Edinburgh for the full 2.5 days?

I am fine with leaving the hotel at 7am and not coming back to the hotel til 9pm on the two full days I would be there. Thanks for your help.

janisj

OK first question . . . Are you going to be IN London? If so, taking the train makes more sense than flying. City centre to city centre is only a bit over 4 hours. W/ the time/expense of getting to/from the airports, the train is faster and a lot easier.

But if you are only flying in to LHR and want to immediately travel up to Edinburgh, then flying dose make sense.

Any chance you could take the sleeper back to London and arrive the morning of Sept 17th? If so you'd have 3 full days in Edinburgh, and could do it all.

• First day - Edinburgh.

• Second day take one of Rabbies one day tours tours into the Highlands. You'd be back in the early evening so more time to explore the city.

• Third day take the train to Leuchars and then local bus to St Andrews. Spend a few hours there and back to Edinburgh. A few more hours to walk around Edinburgh, collect you bags from your hotel and head to Waverly station for the sleeper train late in the evening.

janisj

meant to add - Just an FYI, I saw your other thread. Next time if you make a mistake, instead of starting a new thread you can ask the moderators to re-tag your thread for the correct country(s)

fables

Hi janisj. Thank you. I'm sure it won't be my last mistake.

I will be in central London so I could take the train to Edinburgh. But, I need/want to fly to Rome on the morning of the 17th and only nonstop from Edinburgh was Ryanair about which I have heard not so nice things. If I fly from Edinburgh with a London layover on the 17th I won't get to Rome until after 6pm instead of 12:30pm like I hoped.

The sleeper would get me back in time for a 9am flight I think. Can you sleep in a reclining seat or do you really need to get a sleeper to get any sleep?

I like your plan enabling to get in everything.

Thank you.

janisj

Yes - flights out of Edinburgh will get you in to FCO just before 6PM on the 17th. Is having 5 extra hours in Rome more important than seeing more stuff in Scotland?

Or -- if you simply must get to Rome earlier, I'd fly RyanAir (and hold my nose just a <i>little</i> )