Glasgow and Edinburgh
 

Dear All,
I'll visit Glasgow and Edinburgh this summer and it will be our first time in Scotland. The hotels seem to be a bit pricy in Edinburgh and Glasgow is a big city so many alternatives. Which area is a convenient area to stay in Glasgow for a first time visitor especially for nighlife ( more interested in nice clubs and upscale restaurants) ? And as for the edinburgh would you have any hotel suggestions not too pricy please?
Thanks

Yeah . . . this won't do at all.

WHAT IS YOUR BUDGET?

Answer that, and you can get some insight. The term "pricy [sic]" is meaningless.

When in the summer? The Edinburgh Fringe Festival is in August, so if that's when you're planning to go, it would explain the higher hotel prices.

I'd pay more to stay in Edinburgh for sure - Glasgow has some nice really neat parts but overall has one of Europe's highest crime rates I hear and Edinburgh is so so nice to just walk around.

cheapest is not always the best IMO. check out B&Bs - go to the Edinburgh Information Centre's web site and what their many many listings show.

http://www.visitscotland.com/en-us/i...centre-p234441

but as jent says if it's during the Edinburgh Tattoo it may be a hard thing to find anything at all that is anything at all reasonable - maybe then staying in Glasgow is fine but figure in travel costs getting to Edinburgh and back.

We need to know 1) WHEN the trip is (very VERY important re Edinburgh) and 2) your budget. 'Not too pricey' could mean anything. And if you are in Edinburgh between the end of July and beginning of September -- all accommodations will be pricier. Some double their normal rates or more.

hi everyone. our trip will be on July so it seems like a very high season. We found hotels for both cities. We are planing to stay more days in edinburgh and the i think we ve found a reasonable one.
IF you have any recommendations regarding short day trips from Edinburgh, i would appreciate.
thanks

Look at Rabbies website . . . all of their tours are very good, economical, and are limited to small groups https://www.rabbies.com

For day trips from Edinburgh, I recommend Rabbies www.rabbies.com. I would not rent a car if staying in Edinburgh. There are a number of places you can get to via the train...Stirling Castle, Linlithgow Palace,North Berwick & Tantallon Castle, Dirleton Castle to name just a few. St. Andrews is an easy trip via train plus a short bus ride and Rosslyn Chapel is just a twenty/ thirty minute bus ride from Edinburgh Centre.

Glasgow has a lower crime rate than Amsterdam and New York.

Ah, the old stats problem is that we are talking reported crime. Within the EU the highest levels of reported crimes are
UK/Ireland/Denmark/Netherlands

No one knows what the crime-rates are, only the reported-crime-rates. :-)

within these Scotland does especially badly. However we are talking reported crime, not crime itself.

Which also makes comparison with the US and city to city very difficult.

My interest with Ferguson for instance is not that the cities have a variety of large crime groupings but that reporting a crime was a way of expanding budgets in the police department. Hence many of the crimes appear to have been "discovered" where no witnesses were present.

We also have the performance driven culture distorting the figures and the general fact that throughout the western world reported crime rates have been falling since the removal of lead from petrol.

I note that Glasgow has a central motorway and a fair amount of old industrial pollution still to be cleared up.

IF you have any recommendations regarding short day trips from Edinburgh, i would appreciate.>

Yo don't need any high-priced guided tour to take some easy day trips from Edinburgh (or Glasgow) - two of the easiest on your own trips being to Stirling and its famous castle (think Braveheart as Stirling Castle is part of the Scottish national patrimony for its role in wars throughout the years and to St Andrews - sweet seaside university town - Prince William matriculated from the local uni) - trains go all the time to Stirling and to Leuchars, about five miles by connecting bus to St Andrews - you can also take public buses to St Andrews directly.

Guided tours are great if you want to go further afield like to the Highlands as this is hard to do in a day via public transportation - but for Stirling and St Andrews it is much much cheaper to do on your own and at your own pace.

PQ: I also personally wouldn't take Rabbies to Stirling -- just too easy on one's own and the castle can take 3 or 4 hours.

But To say not use Rabbies for St Andrews >><i>it is sooooo easy by train</i><<. First of all it isn't all that easy by train - not difficult but there is the train/bus/St Andrews//bus/train connections to deal with. BUT Rabbies also takes folks to some of the WONDERFUL fishing villages one would miss entirely . . . and does it a a very reasonable cost. Not at all expensive.

>>BUT Rabbies also takes folks to some of the WONDERFUL fishing villages as well as Falkland, which one would miss entirely going to St Andrews by train<<

Group tours have plusses and minuses - I'd like to set my own pace in say St Andrews and not have to be back ont the bus at XX hours - how long does Rabbies stop in those cute fishing villages - photo op or time to explore. What other companies would you recommend to investigate besides Rabbies? Or are they the only way doing day trips from Edinburgh?

Me I'd rather be a traveler than a tourist carted around by a tour and its confines - to me taking public transportation like trains is as much fun as the destination - meeting locals, etc - a bus tour you are with largely foreign tourists I would think.

There are pros and cons to bus tours - I just wanted to point out that Rabbies or other similar tours are not the only way to do easy day trips from Edinburgh or Glasgow.

Pal...first of all, I don't think anyone would consider Rabbies high- priced. In fact, they're very reasonably priced. As some one who has actually taken the Rabbies tour to St.Andrews, I can assure you that one has plenty of time to tour at their own pace.When I was there, I visited the castle, the cathedral, St. Rules Tower, wandered through some of the side streets, shopped and had time for lunch. It was much the same for the stop at Anstruther. It's really not helpful to offer opinions on tours that you haven't taken.

The reasons for doing St.Andrews with Rabbies are as janisj has already mentioned. The trip is easier and you'll see more. An added plus is that the driver will provide the history along with important information on the places you'll be visiting making for a much better visit.

It's really not helpful to offer opinions on tours that you haven't taken.>

Look I am commenting only on guided tours and my take that doing travels on your own has its own endemic value - Rabies may be the best bus tour in the world I don't know and I did not say anything bad about Rabbies did I - I am just giving my opinion that I'd rather do it on my own - there is an intrinsic value to traveling and not being carted around - that was my only comment.

And for someone on a lower budget - what is Rabbies tour cost - you've taken them - what is it - that is something to consider too.

Easier to me is not always better and seeing 'more' is not always better - I'd rather go there and linger where I want - maybe the whole day in St Andrews and not have to get on the bus at a certain time.

Again you berate me for offering opinions on tours I have not taken - well again my comment was in general on guided tours and how you can easily do it on your own at your own pace at probably a much lower cost.

So sincerely you completely misinterpretted by comments - Rabbies could be the best tour company in the world and it would not change my stance on guided tours. That's my subjective take. I mention if for those who do not cotton to group tours and to say that it is easy to do on your own - you do not have to take a tour. There are benefits of a tour as you mention - I am only giving options for on your own that were not even mentioned, making it sound like Rabbies was the only way to do 'easy' day trips and it is not.

Q - What other tour companies would you recommend so folks can compare and chose?

If you look at my post on April 2, you'll see that I did offer several suggestions for doing non- tour day trips via the train. My only point made here was to say that if going to St. Andrews, Rabbies is probably better than doing it on one's own. I am not a typical tour taker much preferring to travel on my own, but I realize that sometimes tours offer a better option. I'm well aware of the advantages of exploring a place on my own schedule. I've done both...tours and independent travel so feel well- qualified to comment on both. Unfortunately, many on this forum are anti- tour and, if talking about the usual 40/50 people on a bus, you have 30 minutes to see Stonehenge type of tours, I agree that they are problematic at best. Not all tour companies are the same and in recommending Rabbies I only hope to make those differences apparent.

PQ: We get the same arguments every single time Rabbies or Timberbush is recommended . . . and nearly every single time it is pointed out that you have never been on one of the tours. It is also pointed out every single time that most of us avoid tours, especially huge 45-50 seat coach tours. But every single time we <i>patiently</i> explain that Rabbies is a different animal and you should take one before you tell people to avoid them . . .

Maybe the flat emulsion is causing short term memory loss and forgetting the many MANY times this has been kicked around.

So once again . . . a Rabbies tour is NOT the sort of tour you seem to be on about. They are SMALL groups, they get people to OFF the beaten path places, they are CHEAP.

janis - you miss my point - Rabies tours sound fantastic but you only gave that as an answer to the question about easy day trips from Edinburgh and not one thing about doing it on your own which I did and if I bashed Rabbies it is in your own mind - Rabbies sounds like a great tour but one can easily go to St Andrews on their own that was my point.

Rabbies tours cost about 40 pounds and that is yes very reasonable - sounds like a good tour and yes for many a good option - for others who do eschew ALL such tours (bus tours) I gave the info that you chose not to.

Cheers - see you on a Rabies tour sometimes!

Agree with the rec above as to the dates for hotel stays in Edinburgh. We'll be there this year for three nights to attend the Tattoo as well as some of the Fringe events and we wisely made hotel reservations many many months ago.