jomowy

My husband and I will be traveling to London this June and are adding on a couple of sidetrips, one to Edinburgh for 3 nights, and one to Paris for 3 nights. We are taking an Easyjet flight to Edinburgh in the late afternoon from London and will fly out about 11:30 am the third day as we have to catch the Eurostar to Paris that afternoon. We want to see the typical Edinburgh tourist places and Rosslyn chapel. My husband would like to do a whiskey tour. We were tentatively planning on renting a car at the Edinburgh airport. My questions:
1) Do we need to rent a car?
2) Any lodging recommendations around $100-$130/night? I've been looking online at:
A-Haven Townhouse, 9 Sheriff Apartment, Castle View Guesthouse, Craigmoss Guesthouse, Hunter Holiday Cottages. Has anyone stayed at these? My husband is 6'-6" so this can be an issue when traveling. We don't have a ton of money to spend, but we are on vacation and want to be able to rest well at night.
3) Would we have time to drive to Glasgow? We both love the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh. Is there much to see that he has done that is worth a quick trip to Glasgow?
4) Any whiskey tour recommendations?
5) We will be spending our 19th anniversary in Edinburgh -- any ideas for a memorable celebration?
6) We fly back to London into Gatwick -- what is the quickest way to the Eurostar terminal which I think is at Victoria Station?


Then we go to Paris which is a bit more intimidating for us. I've been there once in college, but my husband has never been out of the US. I'd prefer to avoid taxis as we have no experience with them and I'm worried about the language, figuring tip, etc. I would like to take public transportation, mostly the metro. The Eurostar arrives at Gare du Nord. I'm thinking we should stay near there, where we can walk to our lodging from the train station and then take the metro from there for our sightseeing.
1) Does anyone have suggestions on where to stay? Is the Gare du Nord a good area? Would we hear trains all night? My husband has bad knees and can't walk long distances. I need to make the walking easy and efficient.
2) Would a bus tour be a good way to get our berrings and then we could go back and spend more time in some places or should we head out on our own, map in hand?
3) My husband is a very gregarious fellow and not into a rushed, see-everthing approach. In London, Edinburgh and Paris, he would be very happy sitting in a pub drinking a pint or a whiskey or sitting in a cafe with a cafe au lait and talking to the locals. Any suggestions?

Thanks for your help. This is a huge opportunity and dream come true for a couple of country hicks.

janisj

just a couple of very quick comments - that don't nearly answer all of your questions. I'll add more in the morning - but it will take a while because you want to know a LOT.

First of all I'd think it is fairly goofy to fly from Scotland to Gatwick, take the train in to London, transfer from Victoria Station (or London Bridge if you take a different train) to Waterloo International Station, and then catch the Eurostar -- when you could just step on a plane in Edinburgh (or Glasgow) and land at CDG.

A flight directly from Scotland to Paris will save you about 5 or6 hours and a fair amount of money.

And if it is just Edinburgh and Glasgow you want to see there is no reason to rent a car. They are a very quick train ride apart.

There are several Mackintosh sites in Glasgow as well as the amazing Hill House a bit NW in Helensburgh.

And I personally would not stay near gare du Nord. There are sooooo many beter areas.

tod

Congratulations on your forthcoming anniversary! Your planning ahead as you are doing will pay dividends. If possible get a guide book on Paris with street maps etc. like EyeWitness Guide.
Nice to refer to even if you are there only three days.
Do find a nice hotel off Blvd.St.Germain ( not near Gare de Nord).
The difference is that if your husband has a walking problem he would not have to venture far to be able to sit at a sidewalk cafe or see the Seine & Islands if you're near the Blvd. The whole Parisien atmosphere is better in the 5th/6th for a short stay.
Don't be afraid to take a taxi to your hotel from Gare de Nord - it's so easy and if you think the language barrier will be a problem, just write down the address on a piece of paper and present it to the driver. They are usually very polite and helpful.

caroline_edinburgh

Janis has given you good advice : you *don't* want a car in Edinburgh & Glasgow, you can fly direct from Edinburgh to Paris (try the BA & Air France websites) & you can easily get a train from Edinburgh to Glasgow. During the daytime, trains are every 15 minutes, take 50 minutes & a cheap day return (not usable in the rush hour) is c.£8.

You can get a taxi from Edinburgh airport into the centre for c.£15-20, depending on time of day, or there is a very quick, frequent bus service for £3 each.

For a memorable evening out, if you like good food, you can't do better than Martin Wishart. This is one of Edinburgh 2 Michelin 1 star restaurants - the other is No. 1 at the Balmoral which I don't rate. Have the 6 course surprise tasting menu & the man himself will cook it all.

If this isn't your scene, give us more of a clue & we can offer other suggestions.

sheila

1) Do we need to rent a car?

No, no no.

2) Any lodging recommendations around $100-$130/night?

3) Don't drive to Glasgow. It's an easy day trip on the train. For Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the best building is the Glasgow School of Art, (good from the outside but tours 11am and 2 pm(Sat 10.30am))but others include Queen’s Cross Church, the Mackintosh House(this was his house and shows what a complete artist he was. He designed almost everything in it); Scotland Street School (now a museum of education Mon-Sat 10am-5pm Sun 2-5pm); the Willow Tearooms; Martyr’s Public School; and you should se the modern House for an Art Lover in Bellahouston Park.

4) No whiskey in Scotland. Only the real stuff. No tours in Edinburgh, although there's a serious tourist trp of a place just below the castle on the Mile. But there is the splendid Scottish Malt Whisky Society to visit:-
http://www.smws.co.uk/; and they are having a tasting as follows;-

"Our last ‘Last Drop’ event at 28 Queen Street was so popular we are holding another here at The Vaults. Our Venue Director Anne Griffiths has been offered, and wisely accepted, a private collection of some very old and exceptional Society malts. We only have one bottle of each and we would like to share them with you! Tickets are limited to 25, so please book early. A light supper is served.

Date: Wed 7th June 2006 Time: 6.30-9.30pm Venue: The Vaults Location: Leith Address: The Vaults 87 Giles Street Leith EH6 6BZ

5) For your anniversary (congratulations) I would suggest either the Witchery- which I'm not that fond of, but believe me it will be memorable. Indeed, I'd strongly advise you to slum it in a hovel somewhere the other two nights and stay at the Witchery too...if you can get a room.

I assume you're not doing these trips back to back?

tcreath

I agree with janis as well. Definitely try to fly between Edinburgh or Glasgow and Paris. Check out whichbudget.com to find out which airlines fly between the two.

I wouldn't stay near the Gare du Nord. We recently stayed at the Hotel du Champ de Mars in the 7th and loved it. The room was about 79 euros per night and we had a view of the top of the Eiffel Tower...quite a site! If your husband has bad knees I would recommend staying somewhere near a Metro stop (which shouldn't be hard to do in Paris). The recommendation for staying in St. Germain is also a good one.

Congrats on your upcoming trip!

Tracy

Dave_in_Paris

If part of what makes Paris a little more nerve-wracking is the language, it may help to know that English is widely spoken. I would not stay near the Gare du Nord, especially given your husband's admirable style of touring, but in a more picturesque neighborhood in the 4th, 5th or 6th arrondissement, with pleasant cafes and appealing sights right outside your door, and visible from the cafe! A tour-boat ride on the Seine provides a pleasant introduction to the city, a good alternative to a bus tour, though the commentary is sparse and banal. A word of caution about the Metro system: trajectories that don't include stairs are rare. The majority of Paris cab drivers are honest, and if you hesitate to speak out your destination you can write down the address and show it to the driver. Have a wonderful stay!

alanRow

"We are taking an Easyjet flight to Edinburgh in the late afternoon from London and will fly out about 11:30 am the third day as we have to catch the Eurostar to Paris that afternoon. "

1) Which London airport - Easyjet flies to 3 of them & none of their flights leaves at 11:30 (earliest after that is 12:15).
2) flight time will be about 1h15m for any of them
3) Say 30 minutes to get out of the airport - which I would say is optimistic
3) Transit time to Waterloo will be AT LEAST 45 minutes.

So the earliest you can get to Waterloo is 2:45pm - and that's assuming everything goes exactly right

BUT WHY when there are perfectly respectable Air France or BA flights direct from Edinburgh to Paris - you'd be in Paris at roughly the same time that you'd ARRIVE at Waterloo

jomowy

Wow! Thanks for all the replys. Life has gotten in the way, so this is my first chance to check the postings. I WILL look into flying to Paris; it would save a ton of time and be much easier. I already booked my Easyjet flight, it leaves Edinburgh at 11:35 and arrives at Gatwick at 13:05 but perhaps Easyjet flies to Paris and I can change the tickets. If not, they were cheap anyway, 99 # for both of us, and I could still use the London to Edinburgh portion. The more I was searching on the internet, the more I was thinking we wouldn't need a car for our short visit in Scotland, so that's good - plus more $ to spend on flying to Paris. I'm so glad I posted my message before I booked the Eurostar. Thanks all for your help. I haven't done much research on Paris yet, so appreciate the ideas of places to stay, and will definitely check the 5th,6th & 7th. Actually, I found a pretty neat website called www.parishotelservice.com. I told them a little of what I was looking for and they emailed back with 4 options. I wasn't able to open their links, but was able to find the hotels on other websites. Now, I'm armed with more information and can make better requests.

So how do we go about touring the scotch distilleries? My husband thinks that's going to be the highlight of his trip!

jomowy

OK, I did look at plane flights from Edinburgh to Paris and back to London. The best I could find was on BA, $421 for two. That's not bad, but the train was only going to be $120 for two. It would leave Waterloo at 15:11 or 16:12. If I keep my Easyjet flight and arrive at Gatwick at 13:05, do you think I'd have any trouble making the 15:11 departure? How do I get from Gatwick to Waterloo? I have to think about whether flying is worth the extra $300.

sheila

jomowy

I did actually answer your distillery question. There aren't any in Edinburgh. And I suggested you substitute a visit to the Vaults. But if you're determined, then your nearest is Glenkinchie at Pencaitland, 15 miles from Edinburgh. They have a visitor centre, and a museum. It's owned by United Distilleries and is one of the whiskies it markets as a "Classic Malt". To my tatste it is easily the least nice of the 6.So, whn it comes to tasting, try to get them to part with one or more of the others. To travel to the distillery by public transport take the No. 44b 'First bus' to Pencaitland from Edinburgh city centre.

nho9504

We are doing similar trip in Sept.

I just check BA Connect, the no-frill arm of BA - EDI - CDG via BHX one-way is 58 pounds including tax.
Leaving from EDI is much cheaper than from GLA, no idea why.

You may want to check this option.

nini

You are getting some great advice. A side trip to Rosslyn Chapel is definitely worth the effort. Our innkeeper had us convinced we had to take a taxi to Rosslyn. We did and the cost was about $30--we took the bus back into Edinburgh and it was under $10 for the two of us. Take the bus. Have a great trip!

janisj

One thing -- poor little Rosslyn Chapel has been totally overrun by Da Vinci code trekies. W/ the release of the movie next month it will only get worse. It is very likely visitors will have to be limited in some way. So be sure to check the web and Waverly Bridge Tourist office before you head that way to see if there are any changes/restrictions.

(I am sooooooo very glad I visited it several times in the "old" days before Dan Brown created this monster)