carryonbaggage

I just booked a spur of the moment flight from LAX to Manchester leaving on Dec.28, and returning on Jan.7, and am in the very first planning stage of this trip. I do plan on getting a good guidebook and doing a lot more reasearch, but would appreciate any assistance anyone can give me. I have been to London several times, as well as to York, but never to the Manchester area. I would also like to go to Edinburgh and possibly Glasgow, or any other interesting area I could fit in during this short time. I will be going with a friend who has never been to the UK. We are interested in museums, castles, quaint, old areas, beautiful scenery, pubs, hiking, and meeting the locals! I'm sure I left something out...
Anyway, any kind of itinerary help would be appreciated. We are both in our early forties and are in good shape. Money and time seems to be our only big concern!
Thanks for any help!

janisj

If you don't want to hang around Manchester, you can fly from MAN to either GLA or EDI, or take the train.

One major issue is finding rooms in Edinburgh basically between Dec 29 and Jan 1. Hogmanay is VERY popular and rooms book up quite far ahead.

You could tour the Peak district near Manchester - but w/ the iffy-ness of Dec weather it wouldn't be my 1st choice.

I'd probably stay one night in Manchester - mostly to get over the jet lag, have some great Indian food and visit a couple of museums. Then book take the train or fly to Glasgow for Dec 30 - Jan 1. Then train to Edinburgh for the rest of your time before returning to MAN the morning of Jan7 (or the night before if your flight is really early)

OR - If you can find rooms in Edinburgh reverse the route - Edinburgh first, celebrate the New Year in Edinburgh, then travel to Glasgow around the 3rd.

While you are in Edinburgh you can take a train to Stirling for a day trip to visit the Castle, etc.

alanRow

I hope you've got some spur of the moment accomodation & transport for Edinburgh as it's EXTREMELY busy at New Year, so accomodation & transport should be booked ASAP

See www.edinburghshogmanay.org to book tickets for NY events, www.virgintrains.co.uk for - em - trains & www.manchesterairport.co.uk for deatils of flights

caroline_edinburgh

DH worked in Manchester for a while & I always enjoyed visiting for the weekend. Here are some recommendations.

Manchester has some fantastic unspoilt pubs. I suggest lunch at either Sam's Chop House or Mr Thomas's Chop House (grand old Victorian pubs), and later an evening pub crawl to as many of the following as you fancy :

the Circus (tiny, v. friendly), next door the Greyhound or the Grey Horse, the Old Wellington, Sinclair's Oyster Bar (the last 2 v. old but were reconstructed on a different site following the 1996 bombing), Peveril of the Peak (excellent, if smoky, tiled bar), the Rain Bar (not old but frequently local CAMRA pub of the year, lots of good beers and a beer garden with heaters), the Lass o'Gowrie (again, not old, but good for beer).

Then dinner in Chinatown - the Yang Sing is an institution & is good (also vg for dim sum during the afternoon).

Or dim sum for lunch, & dinner at Sam's Chop House ? Decisions, decisions !

I've only been to the famous Curry Mile once and was disappointed, but maybe we just chose the wrong restaurant.

Afternoon tea at the Lowry hotel if you can squeeze it in too

I enjoyed the Whitworth Art Galley & the tour of the Lowry centre - c.11am I think. Also several other private galleries on & around Portland Street for contemporary art.

Let me know if you want any specific recommendations for Edinburgh.

carryonbaggage

Hi,
Thanks for all of the help so far. I have decided not to spend New Year's in Edinburgh, as my budget can't quite afford it. I had no idea it was such a popular destination at this time of year. I will instead spend the first day or two in Manchester, and Jan.2-5 in Edinburgh, and then back to Manchester for the last day. Any ideas on a fun, but not too pricey place to spend New Year's? I booked this spur of the moment, no research prior, flight because I need to get out of L.A. for a while. In other words, a quiet, relaxing New Year's would be fine with me! Something with a local flavor, but not too wild. Any ideas?
Thanks!

carryonbaggage

Caroline,
I would love any recommendations for bed and breakfast type places you may have. I am on a very limited budget, so the less expesive the better, although safety and cleanliness are priorities.
Thanks,
Jean

sheila

carryonbaggage

I was going to suggest a place I stayed at in Leith a couple of years ago- Bar Java. It was recommended in the cheap and cheerful section in Scotland the Best. I thought it a bit more downmarket than my middle aged, middle class life was happy with, but I'd have loved it in my early twenties.

The West End Hotel occurs as a place you might like as an alternative.

In Glasgow try Babbity Bowsters.

In Edinburgh, great pubs include the Café Royal, the Barony, Mathers, the Diggers (posh name the Athletic Arms), the Roseburn, Bert’s, and the Abbotsford.

In Glasgow, the home of the Scottish pub, they are all worth trying, but these are some of the best- definition of best here is “Glasgow”-
The Halt Bar in Woodlands Road
The Corinthian in Ingram Street
The Scotia (my favourite- folk music, writers and journalists) Stockwell Street
The Saracen’s Head (wan singer, wan song) Gallowgate
The Bon Accord- for the beer. N Street(now a slip road of the motorway)
Tennents in Byres Road.

As to entertainment, buy a copy of The List when you hit either city and it will tell you what's on, where.

owain

"I've only been to the famous Curry Mile once and was disappointed, but maybe we just chose the wrong restaurant."


Yes, you did. A good approach is to go for one with little neon or chintz. My preference is Punjab, at the south end of the mile.

carryonbaggage

Thanks once again for all of the help. I have made reservations for a room in Edinburgh for Jan. 2-5 and plan on spending the last night in Manchester (as well as the first night) but I still undecided about where to spend Dec.30th, New Year's Eve, and New Year's day. I know I would enjoy Glasgow, but with my limited time is it too much like (or too close) to Edinburgh to get a good "feel" for Scotland? I would like to spend some time in smaller "village" type places but am thinking that would not be the best idea for the New Year's holiday. I am sure everything would be closed. As I am writing this, I am thinking Glasgow might be the best option for me. I could always take day trips to the countryside. Any thoughts?
Thanks again, you are all awesome!

sheila

There will be smaller villages all over Scotland with their own festivities. It's a big deal here. For example, 2 years ago we had dinner in the Kenmore Hotel- Kenmore is a prtty village of about 150 souls- with a folk music duo playing in the dining room (I will pass over the quality issue), then repaired to eth square where there was a big bonfire and fireworks.

If you wanted to you could come as far north as Stonehaven and go to see the fireballs.

If you look at this site, you'll see some options, but if I were choosing one of these from your geogrpahic base, I'd go to Comrie

http://www.hogmanay.net/?q=node

carryonbaggage

Sheila,
Comrie looks like the perfect solution! Will it be difficult to reach without a car? I will be using trains/buses for this trip. Do you have any advice on places to stay in this area? (Remember, I have a very pathetic budget!)
How does this sound- 1 night in Manchester, 3 nights in Comrie, 4 nights in Edinburgh, and the last night back in Manchester. I think I will also be doing day trips (or half-day) to Stirling and St. Andrews.
Thanks again!

janisj

Unfortunately - no trains to Comrie. You could get there by bus but you would be fairly stranded w/o a car.

If you need to travel by train - then look at Dumfries, Stirling, Perth, Stonehaven or even Inverness.

Of those - probably Stonehaven would be my 1st choice. Small town, on the water, fishing boats in the harbor, the amazing Dunnottar castle w/i a reasonable walk if the weather cooperates, and train connections to Aberdeen for a day trip.

sheila

You can get a bus fairly easily. I'd have to look up how but it wouldn't be hard.

Comrie is a lovely little (emphasis on the "little&quot town, with an array of good shops, a couple of good restaurants, some super walks in the area, and a number of B&Bs- with which I'm not familiar.

Someone on here stayed in Comrie last summer. Try searching/asking for where they were. Or check out visitscotland.com or the Undicovered Scotland web site. Word of warning... I wouldn't do St Andrews or Stirling by public transport from Comrie.

2nd word of warning- hotels will be dear at New Year. B&Bs may not

janisj

I didn't mean to say Comrie isn't a nice little town. I really like it. It is just a bit away from things for buses - especially in the winter.

You can get there from Perth and Crieff by bus for sure - but even just from Perth it takes nearly 90 minutes. And some of the services are seasonal so end at the end of October.

If you want to go there and then stick around Comrie and Crieff, it would definitely be a good place to enjoy a country Hogmanay.

But if you wanted a base to see some other things in the area to be practical you'd really need a car for a couple of days.

Whereas someplace like Stonehaven, Inverness etc have rail connections to lots of places.

Just depends on what you want to do once you are there . . . .

carryonbaggage

Once again, thanks for all of the great advice. It is now time for me to make some very difficult choices! Too much to see and too little time...
I would like to purchase advance train tickets for this trip and have two different websites, GNER and the www.virgintrain sites. Is one better than the other? It looks like the advance single journey tickets are the most reasonable. First I guess I need to figure out excactly where it is that I'm going though!
Jean

caroline_edinburgh

Sorry I haven't responded before, I've not had PC access the last few days. But you have had very good advice from others.

All the different rail websites are confusing, aren't they ? Personally I tend to use thetrainline.com (which I think is also linked to Virgin), but probably just because it's the one I first came across. I think they all have all the services on, anyway, whether they are 'their own' trains or not. E.g. all the Manchester-Edinburgh services are run by Virgin, and Edinburgh-Newcastle services are run by Virgin and GNER, but I'd expect to see them all on every website. If you are using routes where there's a choice, I'd go for GNER over Virgin, but not if it's much more expensive.

Sheila, how interesting, I had no idea Bar Java did rooms. I agree, I think it would be good fun for twentysomethings.

owain

Yes, London-Scotland is one route where there's meaningful competition between two companies. GNER run up the East Coast main line, and Virgin the West Coast. Therefore, GNER is quicker if you're heading for Edinburgh, and Virgin for Glasgow, but a cheaper fare may make the extra hour or so worth it. I don't have any preference for one operator over the other.

carryonbaggage

I have spent the last week doing a LOT of reading, and it seems that the more research I do, the more confused I get! I did try to book a room in Stonehaven for Dec.31st and Jan.1st, but everything seems to be either closed or already fully booked. I also tried St Andrews for the same time period and most guest houses are closed and the hotels are WAY out of my price range which is around 150 dollars a night or less. Oh, and I also emailed a couple of guest houses in Comries this morning and am waiting for a reply, but am afraid they may also be closed at this time. I am now thinking I might have better luck around the Borders area. Any ideas on this area for New Year's? It might be more convenient as my first 2 nights will be in Chester, then the 2 undecided nights, then 4 in Edinburgh, then back to Manchester for the last night.
Thanks again!
Jean

janisj

Actually - you willl probably have better luck in places like Comrie, Crieff, Perth than in the Borders. More places will probably be closed over the winter in the Borders because it isn't as heavily touristed as some other areas.

New year's is a "special case" in Scotland though. Most places that are open will have higher rates that weekend . . . .

janisj

Here are a few that seem to be open Dec/Jan

www.royalhotel.co.uk/
www.scotland2000.com/james/index.htm
www.mossgielhouse.co.uk/ (I only assume it is open since they mention New Years Eve as a local attraction)
www.merlindale.co.uk/index.htm (I can't find where they spell out open dates - may be a long shot)