diptiraman

Hi - in May I plan to travel to the Highlands, Skye and the Lake District in England. Was planning to rent a car at Inverness, drive around and then to Skye/Portree. What is the best way to get to the Lake district from there. Am assuming I should take a train? Should i drop off the car at Portree and look for a train From there or should I drive back to Inverness. Train to Carlisle or is there a better destination. I plan to again rent a car in the lake district to drive around and then maybe on to York.

sparkchaser

<i> What is the best way to get to the Lake district from there.</i>

Depends on what "best" means to you.

What are your entry and exit points in the UK and what is your timetable?

A train would be less stressful and more scenic than driving but flying from INV to LBA or MAN might be faster.

diptiraman

entry point is edinburgh and flying out of london two weeks later - so yes, time is a bit short. Want to see in and around inverness / portee / lake district / york. Am fine with driving in the UK - am open to trains/flights. Am looking for the best way to get the maximum out of the two weeks i have

sparkchaser

I wouldn't drive from Inverness to the Lake District -- the drive time and train time are about the same but actual traffic conditions are a wildcard. My suggestion is to take the train from Inverness to Carlisle then pick up a car in Carlisle for the rest of your time in England.

diptiraman

thanks, that was the conclusion i was reaching. But how do you recommend i cover inverness / skye? was thinking about taking a train from edinburg to inverness, then rent a car in inverness, visit portree from inverness and then return to inverness, return the car and train it to carlisle? is this the best way to plan this?

sparkchaser

I'd drive. You'll be able to get to the more out of the way bits that you might want to see.

diptiraman

sorry - thought you were recommending train from inverness to carlisle? - so you mean inverness - skye - inverness?

sparkchaser

If cost isn't an issue then train from EDI-Inverness and a car for your time up North then a train from Inverness-Carlisle then rent a car in Carlisle.

Otherwise, I would pick up a car at EDI and drive that around until you are ready to head from Inverness to the Lake District and take the train from Inverness to Carlisle and picking a car up when you arrive.

Others will have other suggestions and you get to pick which plan falls in your best compromise of cost, time, and convenience.

diptiraman

thanks a ton - that is very helpful

and if I have 4 days to spend in the north (excluding days of edinburg-inverness and inverness-carlisle train trips) - - and a car - then how would you recommend that i spend those days

sparkchaser

I know how I would spend them, but I know nothing about you and what you like...

diptiraman

I guess I am there for the beauty - i would like to walk about a bit, drive through some nice scenery - maybe a castle or two, at least from the outside, definitely the Loch ness, just for the legend of it

I have never been to the Highlands (actually just to edinburg in scotland) - and everything seems so fab when reading on the internet that I am having a tough time choosing

So why dont you give me a reco

RM67

If it were me I would not bother with Inverness at all. You have mentioned Skye - that area, Plockton just across on the mainland, and Torridon have all the stunning scenery you could possibly wish for.

I might even think about flying into Glasgow instead and hiring the car for the onward travel from there (assuming you haven't already booked tickets). Gives you the chance to see another city, then a pleasant drive north which is all pretty spectacular once you get to Loch Lomond.

If you really dont want to drive all the way up to the highlands then train from Glasgow or Edinburgh to Fort William, plus car hire in Fort William might work (though I'd not use it as a base, I'd head further north for actual accomodation). You can then drop the car off in FW, and get the train back south (via Glasgow/Carlise) for the lakes bit and a new hire car

janisj

OK -- late to the discussion.

But first of all . . . There is no place you can drop a rental car in Portree (or on Skye)

Your entire itinerary is Edinburgh to Inverness to Skye to the Lakes to London in two weeks - but are you planning any time IN Edinburgh and London or are those just your entry/exit points? If you are staying in Edinburgh and London even just a couple of nights each you are trying to cover a LOT of territory.

But I would drive from Skye to the Lakes. Back tracking to Inverness doesn't make a lot of sense. (you could entirely skip Inverness - you'll see plenty of Highlands traveling to Skye). Portree to say Keswick is a 7-ish hour drive so can be done in one long day, or w/ one stop over.

What to do w/ the car after the Lakes depends on whether you are going straight to LHR or are staying IN London. If you are staying in London, drop the car in Liverpool or Manchester and take the train to London.

If flying out directly - you can drive. Penrith to LHR (depending on times of day / traffic) will be a 5 to 7 hour drive.

janisj

Didn't see RM67's post . . . I agree re skipping Inverness. Your actual itinerary greatly depends on whether/how much time you want IN Edinburgh and IN London.

I only skimmed all the other responses before posting -- now I see York mentioned. You really are trying to fit a 3 week trip into two weeks. You need to make some hard decisions . . .

PalenQ

Yes drive from Maillag via Fort William to the Lake District - Keswick is a sweet town to make you Lake District base IME. Why hassle with returning one car just to pick up another?

That said you do not need a car in the Lake District as buses and mini-buses go everywhere you'd want to go - did for me in my several days there.

If going by train you can go to Preston and switch to the shuttle train to Windermere, railhead for the lake district- Carlisle is fine too - buses go from there to Keswick I believe.

To go back to London quickly ditch the car in Lakes and take the train - lots of info on trains - www.seat61.com; www.nationalrail.co.uk for schedules and advance discounted tickets. for general info - www.budgeteuropetravel.com and www.ricksteves.com.

If you want to ditch the car in Scotland see if you could in Skye - take the ferry to Maillag and then the magically scenic West Highlands train line to Glasgow and then change to Carlisle.

janisj

>>If you want to ditch the car in Scotland see if you could in Skye - <<

Not possible . . .

diptiraman

Thanks - that is a lot of inputs

So - here is what is fixed about my itinerary - coming in to Edinburgh on the 21st May (late evening) and leaving from London LHR on 5th June around noon.

I do not want to spend time in London at all - probably 1 day in Edinburgh. I am however flying in from Mumbai and have a complicated journey, so thought i would chill out in edinburgh on the 22nd and start driving on the 23rd

I started out with wanting to see Skye, Iverness, Lake District and York - but looks from the above that that may be too ambitious a plan. Finding it really hard to decide what to skip

Initially i though I would train to Inverness - rent a car in inverness, go to skye and back and then train back from inverness into the UK - either lake district or york. But I think that plan is wasting a lot of time doubling back into inverness - plus i am not achieving anything since trains seem to take as long + are often much more expensive

So now I am thinking of hiring a car at Edinburgh on the
23rd

23rd - from edinburg via stirling castle to glencoe, stay over in glencoe
24th - drive from glencoe to Skye (should i make portree my base and drive around skye )
25th - Skye
26th - drive to inverness / or any town around via Kyle of Lochalsh and Eilean Donan Castle (I hear what you recommend about giving up Inverness, but cant bear to come to Scotland and not see the Loch Ness! - even if it is tacky)
27th - lochness, Urquhart

does it seem okay so far?

From here on, not sure what to do. Train from Inverness to Carlisle seems really complicated and horrendously expensive. Trains to York seem better. or maybe i can just drive to Keswick from Inverness - can I do that in one day or do you recommend breaking journey somewhere

if i get to the lake district on the 28th - does it make sense to spend a couple of days here (maybe one night in Keswick, one in Windermere) - then drive on to YorK on the 31st - still gives me a couple of days in York - can then ditch the car in York and train back to London on the 4th

Doubling back a bit - if I do ditch Inverness - what is the best way to get from Skye to lake district / york

janisj

>>24th - drive from glencoe to Skye (should i make portree my base and drive around skye )
25th - Skye
26th - drive to inverness / or any town around via Kyle of Lochalsh and Eilean Donan Castle (I hear what you recommend about giving up Inverness, but cant bear to come to Scotland and not see the Loch Ness! - even if it is tacky)
27th - lochness, Urquhart

does it seem okay so far?<<

OK -- to fix this bit: Loch Ness is a very long lake so you do not need to drive all the way to Inverness.

You could easily drive from Glencoe up as far as Urquhart Castle and then w/ only a little back tracking back down to Invermoriston and west to Skye -- seeing Eilean Donan Castle en route. This is VERY doable in one day. Leave Glencoe in the morning, Urquhart Castle/Loch Ness by 10 AM. Then Eilean Donan Castle is just a 90 minute drive from there. ED castle is just a quick photo stop so you could easily be on Skye by early to mid afternoon.

So nights of the 24th in Glencoe, 25th/26th/27th on Skye.

28th somewhere in Ayrshire. 29th/30th in the Lakes, 31st - June 2 or 3rd in Yorkshire. June 4th in Windsor. Drop car at LHR and fly home on the 5th. Leaving the 3rd to 'play with'/ Either still in Yorkshire or somewhere farther south to make the dribe to Windsor shorter.

diptiraman

Actually - my last question above - if I do ditch Inverness - what is the best way to get from Skye to lake district / york - i think many of you have already answered that and recommended driving from skye to keswick via Maillag and Fort William - so the main question is - can i still fit in Inverness somehow - and if I cant, then I have to decide which one of the three to drop - Inverness / Lake Dist / York


And depending on that decision - does it make any sense at all to convert part of my journey into a train (given that i then would have to drop off one car and pick up another) - actually that would also depend on what the driving terrain is like and how stressful it would be to make a 7 hour drive in one stretch. (I drive lots in India, so I dont have the "side of the road" problem in the UK)

diptiraman

Hey- my post crossed with yours, janisj

thanks a ton. that seems to answer all my questions! think i will follow your advice for the most part


June 3rd/4th - have seen windsor earlier - is it feasible to do bath instead? then i can probably drop the car off in bath and train to London on the 4th