As my recent post indicated, Mom and I are planning to visit N. England and Scotland from 12-28 May 2016 (not including travel days). My original itinerary included the Lake District, but for various reasons we are thinking of narrowing our focus to the east coast (York, N. Yorkshire, Northumberland and Edinburgh, with a Rabbie's tour of the Highlands from Edinburgh).

I'm having trouble figuring out how NOT to break up our time in Scotland, if possible. Ideally I'd start in York and work our way to Edinburgh, ending with 7-8 nights in Scotland, including 2-3 nights with a Rabbie's tour. The idea was that we'd drive ourselves for the England part of the trip and have a relaxing tour on the Scotland part.

My question: Is there a better way to tackle this itinerary than to fly in/ out of Edinburgh? If we fly into Edinburgh, we'd probably spend 3 nights to see the city, then take the train to York for a couple of nights before hiring a car to work our way back north. What I don't like about this plan is that we'd end up in Edinburgh at either end of our trip. The only other options I see are to fly into Newcastle and take the train to York (not sure how this would be after a long flight), or start in London, but we aren't really interested in visiting London this trip.

Consider flying into Manchester airport (nonstops from several US cities) and taking the train to York. The train station is right in the airport and the ride takes around 90 minutes.

Thanks, Gardyloo. I was looking at arriving at Manchester for the Lake District, but not for York. That's a very feasible plan, especially as the logistics would be so simple.

Definitely fly into MAN -- train to York. Two nights car-less for York and jetlag recovery. Then collect a car and meander north through Yorkshire, Northumberland, the Borders to EDI. Drop the car at the airport (so you don't have to drive IN Edinburgh. Then take the tram or a cab into the city. Do your Rabbies tour from Edinburgh

Could not be easier.

Perfect. I think we have a plan. (Well, we've had several plans, but I think this one will stick .

Janis - What you outlined is exactly what I envisioned doing. Thank you!!

As others say, the train goes straight into MAN and either detours west to Manchester, waits a few minutes then trundles east to York, or just goes east to York, depending on which train you catch. Not a lot of space for bags on the train, but at least catching it at MAN ensures it starts empty so load up those shelves and spaces and relax.

Re the car -- Enterprise is good but don't set on them until you check Autoeurope.com They are a US-based broker that handles all the majors and can usually offer bookings w/o drop off fees.

Ah - good to know about both luggage and Enterprise. I'll check on Autoeurope. No drop fees would be good.

Out of personal interest, I tried two dummy bookings on AutoEurope (Hertz, Europcar) for later this year York to Edinburgh and both had an estimated 40-45 pound one way fee.

But were the totals more or less than one gets w/ Enterprise or anyone else?

Like someone insisting on free wifi in a hotel - not necessarily a savings is the room rates are higher.

W/ rental cars as everything else shop around and compare.

(I've rented 3 times between York and Edinburgh -- and not had drop off fees but dates/specifics do make a difference. Once time there was a drop off fee for an automatic but not for a stick - go figure)

What I've noticed (for Enterprise, anyway) is that the drop fee is significantly higher for the airport than for other locations.

What location would be best to pick up in York? I suppose that depends on the car hire company, of course, but in general, would it be better to get a car at the train station than at other city locations? I'm wondering how difficult it is to get out of York.

In York it really doesn't matter -- AFAIK all the rental locations are outside the city walls, and most will be near/near-ish the station.

Thanks Janis!

>>I've rented 3 times between York and Edinburgh -- and not had drop off fees but dates/specifics do make a difference.

That's a good trick worth trying out next time.

I just discovered a minor hitch in our plans. Turns out the Edinburgh marathon is on 29 May, and the city will be busy and accommodation expensive that whole weekend. The obvious plan would be to reverse our itinerary, starting in Edinburgh, then do a Rabbie's tour, then on to N. England and finish in York.

I'm considering an alternative, though: Start in Edinburgh for 3 nights (no tour), train to York, then drive north and finish our trip in Scotland, but not in Edinburgh - perhaps spend the last few days in the Borders and then Callander before flying out of EDI. Would the late May Bank Holiday (which would be our final weekend) affect our driving or accommodations in the Trossachs/Loch Lomond area?

check www.nationalrail.co.uk for train fares to York - can nab discounted tickets if you book far in advance to get these limited in supply cheapest ducats.

Possibly a wee bit; but it's an English holiday, not a Scottish one

Sheila's point is critical and just beat me

Sheila and Bilboburgler - that's a fair point, and I'm trying to plan an itinerary that splits our trip equally between Scotland and England because we really want to visit both. Here's what I'm currently thinking:

Start in Edinburgh for several nights, then Rabbie's tour to the Highlands. Pick up car at EDI and spend a couple of nights in the Borders, then on to Northumberland, North Yorkshire and York before flying out of Manchester.

This would give us 8 nights each in Scotland and England, although admittedly most of our time would be spent between Edinburgh and York. With all of the miles between the Highlands and York, I thought this would be the best way to see both without my having to drive it all. I welcome and and all further input!

Sorry - I jumped back into my own thread without reading my previous posts and misinterpreted Sheila's comment! I thought you meant we were spending more time in England than Scotland, rather than realizing you were being literal regarding the May Bank Holiday . Oh well - my last post still stands in terms of potential itinerary, because it seems the best way to avoid the marathon in Edinburgh as well as avoiding backtracking.