london to edinburgh - fly or drive?
 

i'm heading to edinburgh in july. flights are pretty expensive (from the states) so I was thinking of flying into london (heathrow) as an alternative. i hear the drive to edinburgh is beautiful and very scenic. however, i only have 8 days vacation to spare. how long is the drive from london to edinburgh? is this drive worth it?
thanks in advance!!

It's about 400 miles each way. The first 2/3 is not scenic, and traffic can be pretty heavy.

Basically, you waste whole day going up and whole day back.

Fly to Edinburgh.

thanks rkkwan! i had heard that it was a pleasant drive - guess my source wasn't that reliable. thanks for the tip.

Take it from me it's NOT scenic. Take the train. 4.5 hours of relaxation Vs 8-10 hours of stress

I haven't done this myself, but many on this board recommend the train as another alternative to get to Edinburgh both expeditiously and frugally.

It might depend on schedules (what time you arrive in London and what time the train leaves) as well as specific departure points for the train (and the connection from airport).

It seems like it might be worth looking into for your situation.

I have a longer time on my trip in May/June, and will use a rental car (from Heathrow), but I'm also planning to take a couple of days to drive to Edinburgh and stopping for 2-3 days in northern England (Yorkshire probably) on my way back. Since we have almost three weeks, and are very laid-back about arrangements and accommodations (we only have first and last night reservations, plus three nights near Blair Castle, to coincide with a special event there), driving back and forth suits our style. (In addition, we *love* our London car rental guy, Peter Waugh, and would go out of our way to rent from him again.)

Have a great time in Scotland!

Gayle

I found flights into Glasgow and Edinburgh (on Continental) were cheaper than to London. This was from SEA. Also, Manchester has been on sale too from lots of cities, and I think that would put you somewhat closer to Edinburgh. This may not be useful to you, where you live, but I thought I would mention it.

Last year I took the train from London to Edinburgh with a stop at York (neat place). Like others have said, it's stress free travel and probably faster.

The drive may be prettier if you stay off the main motorway but then it's slower. However I assume you are on vacation so don't punch the clock.

There's a fair bit to see in Edinburgh but if you get a chance take one of the many day tours to Loch Ness or the Highlands. Scotland is a lot smaller than most think and you can cover quite a bit in one day.

We lived just outside London and drove to Edinburgh - for us it made sense since we were leaving our children with their Grandparents in Yorkshire while we visited friends for a long weekend.

It took us nearly 9 hours on the motorway - We bought 'Hitchhiker Guide to the Galaxy' on tape while in Edinburgh and it made the journey home bearable.

You will love Edinburgh - but FLY!!!

My husband has done the drive from Scotland to York and said it was a wretched 6 hour experience. We will take the train from Glasgow to London this summer, stopping overnight in York. Apparently buying the tickets in advance will secure lower fares, but I have not done this myself yet.

Driving makes <b>absolutely no sense</b>. There is a LOT to see between London and Edinburgh - but you would need to take 3 or 4 days to have time to see much. Plus, when you land after a transatlantic flight it is plain crazy (and quite dangerous) to jump in a car and drive 9 hours over unfamiliar motorways.

If you had 2+ weeks and planned on visiting Wales and/or York and/or the Lakes and/or Hadrian's Wall enroute driving would be the best option. But just to get from LHR to Edinburgh - nope.

The train is an option - but first you have to travel all the way across London to Kings Cross station. So if you fly, you could actually already be checked into your Edinburgh hotel before your train left London.

There are good fares on BMI from LHR to Edinburgh. But as you can see - saving money flying into London can be a false economy by the time you add flights/trains/delays.

I have done a bit checking/asking around on this as we have a trip in Sept.

The conclusion is: take the train or fly EasyJet.

Advance purchase train tickets are inexpensive - they only sell up to 3 month in advance, and you should be able to buy your July ticket by now.

For our trip, we have found a good fare for us to fly from MIA to LHR and out from CDG. So we will fly in LHR, spend 3 days in London. Take the train to EDI. Spend 2 days in EDI. Take a rental car from EDI, tour Scotland and down to Lake District. Return the rental at Liverpool ($72 one-way dropoff surcharge, not too bad). Fly EasyJet from Liverpool to CDG. The airfare is $103 for both of us, dirty cheap.

meant to add - also check for fares from the States to Glasgow or even Manchester. Glasgow especially is convenient to Edinburgh

easyjet doesn't serve Heathrow so that doesn't help ghahn much.

As you're going directly to Edinburgh from LHR, I agree with Janis - fly , and BMI will probably be the cheapest. For future reference, the train is great, good scenery and relaxing, but you'd have to cross London to get to it and it's just too much time for you this trip.

If you're starting from LHR, no contest - fly. I also recommend bmi.

phew - thank goodness for fodorites! i am definitely NOT going to drive anymore.
i'm looking into flights from nyc to manchester (much cheaper than heathrow) and also flights from man-edi.

thanks everyone!!!

bmi also fly MAN-EDI !

Definitely fly easyjet.com

carlyspall, the OP is flying into Heathrow, Easyjet does not use Heathrow, so what benefit would there be to flying Easyjet? He can get cheap fares on BMI, which does fly out of Heathrow.

I'm now looking to travel from MAN-EDI (one-way). Since I'm going to be in the Highlands for the remainder of the trip, I was thinking of just flying out of Inverness to Manchester to avoid driving back down to EDI.
Does anyone know of any travel agents that can help me make arrangements? Is this a difficult ticket to purchase?