marvina

In May we're planning to spend maybe 3/4 days in London--to visit our son who is studying there--and then head to Scotland for 7-10 days.

My son and I have never been there. (My husband was in Edinburgh 30 years ago so don't know if that counts.)

With so many choices, I'm feeling overwhelmed. I'd love to hear about how best to get there, where to go once there, and what to see.

We've driven from London to Cornwall several times over the years to visit relatives but that's our only UK experience outside London. We loved the freedom that came with driving ourselves.
We like to eat well, prefer small boutique hotels and would like to combine city and country experiences. If there's good theater to be had and modern art to see, we'd like that too.

I'd appreciate your suggestions.
,

Havana128

Train - King's Cross - Edinburgh Waverley. 4.5 hours. Book in advance discounted 1st class off- peak. Sit on the right.

jkbritt

Bus. London to Edinburgh. £16.90, 9 hours, overnight. Same one I took for 9 Pounds a few years back. Much cheaper than gas and car rental. The train can be faster - 4.5 hrs. and a bit cheaper.
Look at http://www.stuckonscotland.co.uk/edi...don-train.html.

Plane is about £50 each plus costs to and from airport.

Challiman

We're doing the same trip in May, London 3 days, train to Edinburgh, on to Inverness, Skye, Oban, Glasgow.

Havana128, thanks for the tip on which side to sit on!

Challiman

You may want to look at my thread Very Early Planning for Scotland May 2012. I made a typo, it is for 2013. There is an itinerary there that we've sort of going by.

marvina

Thanks for the help everyone. Train or plane, since cost is not an issue.
Is the scenery lovely enough to make the train worthwhile?

Challiman, I'm not sure how to find your thread. First time I'm doing this sort of thing. Did you post a link somewhere?

nytraveler

Plane won;t be any faster than train - which is city center to city center. Once you get there rent a car to tour around.

(We've done the trip up and back only by car - but we were stopping at various places in either direction.)

Challiman

Here's a link: http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...n-may-2012.cfm

I think that will work OK.

Challiman

We've made changes to these plans, but you can get an idea of what we're doing. Good luck. We've never been to London or Scotland, so this is so far what we're planning.

janisj

I'd normally drive because there is soooooooo much to see enroute. But since you have so little time take the train. Don't rent a car until you are <u>leaving</u> Edinburgh. Driving in central Edinburgh can be worse than London.

after 2 or 3 days in the city, I'd take a cab out to EDI and collect a rental car there.

Where you go is almost limitless. You are looking at about a week so you need to focus maybe one or two areas for 2 or 3 nights each and then a couple of 1 night stands in between. Where are you flying out of (hopefully EDI or GLA and not back down in London)

If it was me and only my first time I would do something like

1) a couple of days in either Fife or the Borders, a couple of days in the Trossachs, and the rest either up north w/i a few miles of Inverness.

or

2) 2 days the Trossachs, 3 days on Skye,and 2 days around Inverness (never IN Inverness)

or

3) 2 days in the Borders, 3 days in the southwest, 2 days in Glasgow for the museums/art scene.

marvina

Thanks, Challiman. I figured out how to get to your thread, which was really very helpful.

Thanks to Janisj, too. In answer to your question, we'll be going back to London to drop off our son and stay a few days before heading home out of Heathrow. Long flight to SFO.

marvina

Thanks, nytraveler. I had a hunch that the train would make sense. I'd also been thinking about how much I had airports.

janisj

OK - then I'd take the train up to Edinburgh - 2 or 3 days there. Then pick any of the 3 scenarios I suggested, end up at GLA. Drop the car there and fly down to LHR.

Or if this sounds interesting - you could take the sleeper train one way and either a day train or fly the other direction. Taking the sleeper back to London would maximize your last day in Scotland - you'd arrive at Euston Station.

marvina

Thanks, Janisj.

I meant to say I hate airports so the train is very appealing.

indy_dad

We did janisj itinerary #2 -- one of our favorite trips:

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...rip-report.cfm

http://ukfrey.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06...highlands.html

Visited Edinburgh previously:

http://ukfrey.blogspot.co.uk/2011/07/edinburgh.html

Challiman

Havana128, can you explain what we might see from the right side of the train? And if we book ahead of time will be be able to choose the seats? Are there observation cars we should ask for?

Any other tips? From anyone?
Thanks.

Gordon_R

The "sit on the right" thing related to the fact that on north-bound trains, the windows on the RHS look out towards the North Sea coast. There are several stretches of the east coast mainline that run very close to the sea, so the thinking is this is a better view than looking inland.

No, there are no "observation cars".

Challiman

Thank you, Gordon! It was hard to tell from the maps just how close to the coast the trains came. I'm trying to maximize every photo op. I wish we had a month or more as I know Scotland is so beautiful.

Havana128

Also I think you would get the better view of the cathedrals at Ely and Durham from the right going North.

marvina

Hi Everyone,
Our plans have been slightly altered. Now we're planning on spending the first week in April in London before leaving for Scotland.
When we'd planned to stay briefly in London, we were going to stay in S. Kensington at Number Sixteen. But now that we're staying longer, we'd like to try renting an apartment. Less expensive and more flexible. Someone mentioned Rolf Skotnes as an agent who rents apartments.
Has anyone heard of him? Do you know of any other reputable apartment agents? I've looked on VRBO but I'm a little leary of renting directly from an owner.

I'd appreciate hearing from anyone with experience. Thank you.