Edinburgh Day trips
 

Hi,

So between Sunday 23rd October and Sunday 30th October I will be visiting Edinburgh. Now I was planning of doing some day trips from Edinburgh, and found Rabbies Tours. Now as my days I have sort of 6 full days in Edinburgh as the other 2 days are travelling. I was thinking of making 4 days completely for Edinburgh and 2 days for Tours. From Rabbies I found the Stirling and the Scottish Borders tours that are interesting. Now..are 4 days a lot for Edinburgh? With regards to Stirling..shall I go alone or with Rabbies, alone I have to remove Loch Lomond. Are the Scottish Borders worthed to visit? Any idea of a good place to visit for a day trip? I will be using mainly trains or public transport. Please note that I will be visiting Glasgow, highlands and Skye, before Edinburgh, so don't mention them.

Thanks.

I've also used Timberbush Tours and they were very good. We did the Oban tour.

4 days isn't too much for Edinburgh if you want to do it justice. I'm going back in June for my 3rd visit.

St.Andrews would be another interesting destination.

Hi,

I've done two tours with Rabbies (a one-day and a multi-day) and enjoy them, though like Jennnywren58's experience I've heard people who enjoyed the other available companies, too. It's great to have so many options to try.

A tour through the Kingdom of Fife to St. Andrews is beautiful country, so are the Scottish Borders. I want to do more of the Borders my next trip.

If you like planes, National Museum of Flight, http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/museum_of_flight.aspx, was a great day trip, and I did it using public transportation.

I don't think 4 days is too many. My first trip had 3 days and I rushed so much I wore myself down, got sick, and had a miserable trip home. Go slow and enjoy your time. Plan to return, because I've been back twice and still have more to see!

My trips are posted in reports. Quite a few other trip reports to Scotland on the Europe board, you can find to read.

The Borders tour would be great. It is pretty difficult to get around w/o having a car and the day trip hits lots of the highlights.

Stirling-- it is really up to you. Stirling is an easy/fast train ride from Edinburgh so if the castle and a bit of the city is your main interest -- I'd probably do it on my own by train. But the guided tours also get you outside of Stirling and into a bit of the countryside. So it just depends on what you want.

Fife -- again, if you just want to see St Andrews, it is easy by public transport. But to see St Andrews plus some of the fishing villages, etc-- then a tour would be better.

The good thing is you can really wait until you are in Edinburgh to decide how many day trips you want to take. Between the 2 or 3 good tour companies there are a lot of options and if you are loving Edinburgh too much to leave -- maybe just take one out-of-town jaunt. If you are itching to see more outside the city -- take another day trip or two.

We are using Timberbush because they have a shorter day tour to Sterling Castle, Wm Wallace and Rob Roy points of interest. We are going in Sept and will have daylight till around 7:30. You will have less in Oct so would opt for a shorter day tour imo. W

I actually disagree just a bit. The day trips are fast enough as they are. Trying to cram Stirling Castle, the Wallace Memorial and Balquhidder in less than a full day is awfully rushed.

The Timberbush was 8 hours long but the Rabbies was 12 that we looked at doing. The Rabbies included more of the Highlands but was 12 hours. We only have three nights so will have to do a longer trip the next time. We want to do some things in the city at night so getting back at 1800 sounded good to us. Both guides and reviews sounded great though.

What day trips do you recommend to take for 1 day from Edinburgh on my own. Don't mention Glasgow, Stirling, St. Andrews/Fife or Borders. We want to visit something nice and interesting and not toooo far away, no problem if it is 1hr train.

Linlithgow is about an hour by train from Edinburgh. The Palace is the birthplace of Mary Queen of Scots and is very interesting. It is a ruin but lots of it remain and it is sited beside the loch and very picturesque. The town itself has some great architecture and is worth a look.

Rosemary

Linlithgow is very nice and easy to reach. I think trains run from Waverly station every half hour. The "Four Marys" pub serves excellent food. In addition to the splendedly sited palace, the Union Canal runs near the railroad track. The canal boats are colorful and the canal is pretty.

If you care about bird watching, North Berwick is worth visiting. You can take a boat to Bass Rock to see the gannet colony.

Also, you can walk from Cramond to Queensferry along the Forth. The walk passes through the estate of the Marquis of Queensberry (I think that's the guy). You cross the Almond River on a ferry that you summon from the Cramond side. Then you follow the path until you come out under the Forth rail bridge. An Edinburgh city bus will bring you back to the city center.

rbezzina, it depends what you want to do. Nice is all we recommend, but one person's nice is another person's boring.

Lots of good ideas already here. A few more slightly further away, but still easily doable.

Is it sight seeing, nature, a walk, history, dinner? What would be the focus.

History and sight seeing.

Well, the Linlithgow one would be good. That hour from Edinburgh thing is difficult.

North Berwick would be lovely, with more sightseeing than history. Dunfermilne is another option for the Abbey and the Robert the Bruce connections.

With the hour limitation that's about it.

If you go a bit further you can add Perth, and even Dunkeld for a bit of both.

Hope this helps

Linlithgow is about an hour by train from Edinburgh.

Actually it takes 20-25 minutes

I think trains run from Waverly station every half hour.

Every 15 mins week days during the day.

The "Four Marys" pub serves excellent food.

Indeed it does, but sometimes you need to book

Hi all,

What do you think of these 2 day trips:

1 day I go to Perth and Dunkeld
1 day I go to Linlithgow and afternoon I go to Rosslyn Chapel.

Can these be done by trains/public transport? I will be based in Edinburgh. Any other ideas let me know. Note, that I will be visiting Glasgow and St. Andrews on other days.

You can do all of that by public transport. There's not a lot of "history" to see in Perth. It's a very historic town, but not visibly so.

I changed the plan a bit.

I will go to Linlithgow in the morning and afternoon I go to North Berwick.

Now I need to know where I can go for another day. I want to see a nice may be village, no need to have museums, but walking around it will be fine, and may be some good sceneray. Important not too far away from Edinburgh by Train. Where do you suggest?

Take the Borders tour for "nice" villages.

Rosslyn Chapel is a great destination for a half day and easy to get to via the 15A bus from the city center.