Getting from LHR to Edinburgh and from Edinburgh to Bath to London
 

My friend and I will be having just a quick girlfriends' time-out this May. We'll be arriving at LHR on May 11th around noon from Los Angeles. Our preliminary plan is to fly BMI directly to Edinburgh upon our arrival at LHR. Spend the nights of May 11 through May 13 in Edinburgh. Leave for Bath on the 14 and spend that night and the 15th there. Then on to London until our flight home on May 21.
Question: What would be the most efficient and cost effective way to arrange our transportion from Edinburgh to Bath, and from Bath to London? Should we get point to point rail tickets rather than a 4 day Britrail flexipass since we would be needing only 2 of the 4 days? And then there's the question of our transportation while in London itself in addition to our transportation from the city to LHR for our return flight.
We really need direction from somebody with expertise and knowledge of the transportation system.
For this trip, we will be remaining in Edinburgh proper for the time we are there (no side-trips); the same with Bath, and for London, we'll concentrate on the city with nothing very far afield. As I say, this is a quick trip and we don't want to spread ourselves too thin. Any and all suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance, Barbara

EASIEST would be to fly from Edinburgh to Bristol and take a local train from there.

Then you just need a point to point ticket for Bath to London

For London to Heathrow there are reams of information on this website & the Heathrow Airport website - but it boils down to Tube, Heathrow Express or National Express coach.

What's best for you depends on a number of factors not the least of which is where you are staying in London

I'm not sure I'd regard getting a bus from central Edinburgh to the airport, faffing about with security, flying to Bristol, getting a bus to Bristol Temple Meads station then getting a train to Bath as easier than getting a train from central Edinburgh to Bristol, crossing the platform and getting a direct train to Bath. But chacun a son gout.

The straight answer to your question is that there isn't an expert on this. You need to check the Edinburgh-Bath fare for the time and day you're planning at www.nationalrail.co.uk. Follow the search to the "fares" section, then click on each displayed fare (there'll be lots of them) to see the restrictions that apply.

Repeat this with different times, then repeat the excercise for a Bath-London fare. It's virtually certain the best deal you'll find will be very much cheaper than a 4-day pass.

One standard answer to your question, BTW, is to refer you to an American site that allegedly does the calculation for you. DON'T DO IT. THe site isn't programmed with the millions of discount fares that proliferate in Britain.

There's a whole PhD course on which London travel pass to buy and put on an Oystercard. If you want to save the last 50p, your posting title might not attract the really hard core Oysterologists (which only visitors understand: no Londoner has time to appreciate subtleties of Oysterology that don't apply to his particular commute), so you might want to repost with a question like "What's the best Oyster package for a five night London stay?" and spell out how much travel you want to do.

Personally, I'd just buy an pay as you go Oystercard, put £20 on it and spend my energy having fun. But then, I'm improvident about these things.

I agree - flying Edinburgh to Bristol, train Bath to London would be the least complicated and most efficient.

(Even if you do decide to take the train Edinburgh > Bath it wouldn't pay to get a rail pass)

I was posting at the same time as flanner. Normally I'd also rec taking the train. But getting out to EDI from central Edinburgh is quick/cheap on the airport bus. In this specific case I'm pretty sure I'd fly (but IF a really, really good rail fare popped up, it wouldn't be a bad choice either)

Have Janis or Alan tried getting from Bristol airport to anywhere civilised? They chose its location only after a rigorous scientific process to find the most inconvenient location in SW England with the worst possible road access.

However, while the plane option is a serious pain in practically every orifice, it might be cheaper and it might, just, be faster than the train even allowing for all the messing about. Check BA and Easyjet.

I may not have been to Bristol Airport but I do know that direct trains to Bristol from Edinburgh are few and far apart.

It means a change at Birmingham with short connection times and even the direct train takes a fraction under 6 hours.

I would avoid having to transfer at LHR ... it's a real mess.

You can fly BMI to Edinbugh from Chicago and several days a week from Los Vegas.

You can also fly nonstop to Edinburgh from Newark on Continental and also, I believe, from Atlanta.