Scotland and northern England
 

We’re making summer plans for northern England and Scotland. Our trip to this region will take place either before or after a week-long stay in London with family. Since the London week’s timeline has not been set yet, we thought we’d try to make more definitive plans for the other part of the trip. Our plane tickets haven’t been purchased yet, so our itinerary can easily be reversed.

We’re thinking a week or so in Scotland, then 3 nights in York. We can add a couple of days to it if needed.

A possible itinerary:
Day 1. Fly into Glasgow or Edinburgh. Spend the rest of the day and night in Glasgow or Edinburgh.

Days 2-3-4. Take a 3 day group tour with either Timberbush Tours (departs from Glasgow or Edinburgh) or The Wee Red Bus Tours (departs from Edinburgh) to see some of the Scotland’s highlands and the Isle of Skye. We’re thinking about arriving in Glasgow since Timberbush Tours picks up Glasgow passengers after picking up Edinburgh ones. Both companies end their tours in Edinburgh. Both companies seem to have very favorable ratings, plus we’d prefer to take a tour instead of driving around on our own. Anyone have opinions on these companies? We’ve never been to Glasgow, so if we start there we’d like to take a half day city tour or take a self-guided walking tour.

Days 5-6-7. Edinburgh. Spend a day in the city and visit the castle. We’ve seen a fair amount of Edinburgh on a previous visit. The second day we’d like to take a day trip to Rosslyn Chapel. Can we get there using public transportation or should we book a day tour? On the third day visit Stirling Castle. Again, can we get there using public transportation or should we book a day tour?

Days 8-9-10. Train to York. Two days to explore York and York minster, a day on the moors (on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway?)

Day 11. Train to London, stay 1 week. This will be a different thread.
Day 18. Fly back to US.

Does anyone have any recommendations for lodgings in Edinburgh or York? We’d like to stay in moderately priced lodgings, $150-$200.USD, B&B or hotel, near the train station if possible. We realize London will be more expensive, so trying to economize here.

We’d appreciate any comments and suggestions.
Thanks!

<i> Can we get there using public transportation </i>

http://www.rosslynchapel.org.uk/p/getting-here-I561/

<i> Again, can we get there using public transportation </i>

Train from Edinburgh or Glasgow

My recent trip report and pics for Glasgow might help you.

http://www.fodors.com/community/euro...-and-kilts.cfm

For your tour in Scotland I'd recommend Rabbies. Very very well known and long established company that uses small vehicles exclusively

Rabbies.com

Thanks for the replies...

dotheboyshall. Thanks for the link for Rosslyn Chapel. It looks easy enough, so that should work fine for us.

RM67 I started reading through your TR, then realized I need much more time to read through very carefully. We may need a second day for Glasgow based on your highlights! Also your photos are stunning. After a few days of going slowly through them, I might return to ask where some are located, specifically.

janisj. I opened that tour website and it looks very good. I'll have to do a compare/contrast among them since itineraries seem similar, but you think maybe they're want we want? Good reputation, nice folks. Small groups sound very appealing.

Any accommodation recommendations? Should we set the price higher?

Thank you Kathleen - more than happy to help if/when you have questions :-)

We stayed at the Holiday Inn Express on Cowgate in Edinburgh and at The Groves in York. Cowgate is a block off the Royal Mile and close enough to walk from Waverley Station unless you dislike pulling wheeled luggage over cobblestones. We took a taxi. The Groves is within walking distance of what you will want to see in York.

We used Grayline (because they picked up at the hotel) to see Melrose Abbey and Rosslyn Chapel on a single day trip. Melrose was a favorite.

Note that Timberbush tours are not necessarily small group and if they pick up passengers prior to Glasgow, you can be pretty sure that they are using a large coach. All Rabbies tours are small group and never more than 16 passengers. Their tour itineraries are very similar to Timberbush. I have done a Rabbies tour and can highly recommend them. The pick up location for Rabbies in Edinburgh is very close to Waverley Station.

BTW, you really don't need a whole day for Rosslyn Chapel. A couple hours or at most half day as the bus from Edinburgh centre takes about 30/40 minutes,should give you plenty of time. I believe it's the #15 bus but check their website to be sure.

Carolyn, I looked up both lodgings, and both will work. They are now on my list! I especially liked their locations.

history traveler. We do want a small tour,and Rabbies does have my attention. Thank you for your info. on the possibility of it being a large coach with Timberbush. That matters.

Thanks both, for the Rosslyn Chapel information

Given the title of your post, I got excited and thought you might be visiting some of the places in the north of England between Edinburgh and York.

There are some lovely sites in the northeast such as Jedburgh Abbey, Bamburgh Castle, Dunstanburgh Castle, Alnwick Castle, Warkworth Castle, to name a few. There do seem to be tours from Edinburgh which go to some of these towns.

http://www.goscotlandtours.com/heart...ders-tour.html

Personally I would skip Glasgow and just concentrate on Edinburgh and the northeast coast. The border area is very beautiful too. But I have never taken buses, just traveled by car.

Found a company that sounds like the type of tour you are interested in that does Northumberland from Edinburgh:

http://www.bordersjourneys.co.uk/aln...ttish-borders/

Thanks palatino82. We'll check out the links. We think we might be shortchanging northern England and may consider adding a day or two here. We just don't know if we can give up Glasgow after reading RM67's TR. If the tour in the link you gave is a loop and goes south into England, then backtracks, would we be backtracking too much by returning to Edinburgh?

The loop from Edinburgh would be backtracking a bit. But at least you would get an experience of the countryside and the sights that you would otherwise miss going straight from Edinburgh to York. Another option would be to use Newcastle as a base and take a day tour from there. The train ride from Newcastle - Edinburgh is less than 2 hours, and then you could take the train from Newcastle - York.

http://www.newcastlecitytours.co.uk/prices.php

Newcastle and Northumberland aren't as much on the radar screen for people outside Britain, but my husband is from the area and has relatives in Edinburgh, so we know that part of the country well and it has so many beautiful castles and other activities (boat rides from Seahouses), not to mention Hadrian's wall.

http://www.visitnorthumberland.com/h...ritage/castles.

Anyway, I am sure you will enjoy whatever you decide. I just had to put my plug in for Northumberland. If you like castles, it can't be beat, and the countryside is beautiful.