I'm back, with more questions about our trip to Scotland this August. (Thanks to everyone who responded to my earlier quandaries.) We're trying to do this on public transportation as much as possible. We are a family of 4 (son 20 and daughter 17).

We fly to London and get there too late at night for any public transportation out of town. So we have a place to stay in London (Arran House Hotel) and plan to take GNER train out of Kings Cross the next morning. Taking a side trip from Newcastle by train to see Hadrian's Wall on the afternoon of the 16th (just a few sites, not doing a lot of walking). Then back on train to head north.


I don't want to miss Edinburgh, so we're going anyway despite the crowds. Questions:
--Would Edinburgh be less crowded during the week than on the weekend? I think we'll go to Edinburgh first, on a Thursday and Friday (8/16 and 17). Would it be better to see Edinburgh on the following Monday and Tuesday (8/21 amd 22)--planning to book a flight on bmi out of Edinburgh evening of the 22 in order to get our plane back to the States early on the 23rd. (But if our destinations change, it might work better to fly out of Glasgow.)
--Some people have mentioned places to stay from which you can get into Edinburgh (since the city itself is probably full up ). Any other ideas of surrounding areas? Or places to read reviews of B&Bs? I'm having trouble finding any reviews, which I usually rely on. Right now I'm looking at places around Linlithgow or Bo'ness, and getting a taxi to train from there. Does getting to Edinburgh from there sound doable? And it seems like, from the location on the map, it might be a good place to get to other places from too.
--Any opinions of Carriden House (mentioned on another thread) or Hollywood House (Bo'ness), for which I don't see any kind of rating. Is 35L per person per night about what you would expect? Pictures on the web of Carriden House look good, and they have a room big enough for the 4 of us.


Other than Edinburgh, our plans are still pretty vague. Would like to go to Stirling, possibly would get a car and go through Trossachs area, maybe see Glamis castle, take train to Pitlochry. We like to see historic sights and aren't planning to go much into the wilds, but might like to see or climb Arthur's Seat (will have to see where it is).

--I'm not sure what to do about train tickets. Called GNER and still confused. Sounds like we should book our train from London to Edinburgh (Linlithgow?) in advance, making sure we will be able to get off at Hexham and get back on later. Then maybe get a 4 day pass for after that (Scot Rail? Brit Rail?).

Sorry if I sound like another clueless tourist. I actually have been researching this quite a lot--3 days, in fact, staring at the computer screen. So thought I'd ask my questions here again, and stop a while to get my eyes uncrossed.

Thanks.

At that time of year, Edinburgh is packed no matter what day of the week it is. I told you in a previous post that the Woodside hotel in Musselburgh is the place for you. It is 110 GBP a night for a family of four with breakfast. You'll not beat that in many places in August. Yet you have not even mentioned it as a possibility. Your loss. It is VERY easy to get into Edinburgh by public transport right outside the hotel door. What more do you want?

&quot;<i>Would Edinburgh be less crowded during the week than on the weekend?</i>&quot;

No

I think the suggestion on your other thread to stay the night at a pricelined LHR hotel and flying up to EDI early in the morning makes sense. You could leave your bags at EDI and take the bus into Edinburgh to see the city. Then in the late afternoon take the bus back to EDI, pick up your bags and rental car and head out. That way you won't be tied to Edinburgh-area accomodations.

Then you can take an early train on Aug 21 to Newcastle/Hatwhistle - tour the Wall a bit and then catch an evening train to York. Tour York the evening of the 21st and all day the 22nd - then a train down to London that evening for your flight on the 23rd.

The cheapest train tickets DON'T allow you to break your journey, so you'd have to buyt a more expensive ticket that allows it or buy separate tickets for each leg of your trip

London to Newcastle (&pound;10), Newcastle to Hexham return (&pound;4.70), Newcastle to Edinburgh (&pound;9.50).


as for somewhere to stay, haver to agree with almcd. You'd pay &pound;2.30 per person per day for unlimited bus travel within Edinburgh which includes Musselburgh - see www.lothianbuses.com

You'd pay more than that for 1 taxi ride, let alone the cost of a train (5.70 return EACH per day)

And what do you need a Brtirail pass for

See this earlier thread on day trips to the Wall:

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34832681

About ticketing: fares from Newcastle along the Wall are effectively commuter walk-up prices that you can pay as you go. However, tickets from London to Newcastle need to be watched pretty carefully, as they are only cheap if you tie yourself down at least a week in advance: this is a pretty busy line. Not sure about the Newcastle-Edinburgh leg, though apparently you can get things cheaper if you book a through journey as a succession of separate single legs, even if you never actually get off the train. You need to play around with www.nationalrail.co.uk and www.thetrainline.com a bit to see what can be done.

London to Edinburgh is from &pound;12.50 one way

Don't know if I've suggested this to you before or not (would have been easier to keep it as 1 thread !) but have you considered staying in Glasgow ? Trains to Edinburgh are frequent &amp; take 50 minutes, a day return costs about &pound;8 and Glasgow has a lot going for it in its own right. The Premier Travel Inn on George Street is very convenient for Queen Street station.

Linlithgow is OK but Bo'ness is pretty rough.

But I still think you could probably get *something* in Edinburgh if you tried. Have you tried phoning the tourist office &amp; asking them what they've got ? 0845-22-55-121.

P.S. &quot;but might like to see or climb Arthur's Seat (will have to see where it is)&quot; It's in the middle of Edinburgh !

We have just returned from 3 weeks in Scotland, incl first 5 nights in Edin. We spent a couple of hours in Linlithgow seeing the old castle and having a lovely lunch but would not appeal to stay. Glasgow would be a better choice I would stay. Can heartily recommend Glamis Castle -was one of our 3 favourites - the others being Cawdor and Dunrobin. We loved Scotland - a truly stunning place with lovely friendly people.

Arthur's Seat is near Holyrood Palace which you will want to visit. If you are serious about hiking up to top of Arthur's Seat be sure to wear the proper shoes. DH hiked it last year and regretted the shoes he wore. A few places were slippery and walking is not that easy. BTW, DH is an avid runner and walker.

Thanks for the location and train information, everybody.

Yes, after I posted I found out that Arthur's Seat is actually in the &quot;wilds&quot; of Edinburgh! I'll tell my son to bring his boots.

I did see your recommendation of the Woodside Hotel, alcmd. Thanks. I wanted more information besides just that it has a good price and is near train, but when you first mentioned I couldn't find anything else about it. Yesterday I was able to access some websites that hadn't worked earlier, and did get a little more information. But no reviews from anyone who has actually stayed there. Any ideas of where I could find reviews of Scottish B&amp;Bs? Not much in tripadvisor (and yes, I know some of them may be faked).

As for flying to Edinburgh and seeing it for a day, then leaving in order to avoid staying in Edinburgh area, I'm not sure we can see everything in just that one day. But maybe we should try to fit in Hadrian's Wall on the way back to London instead of the way out. If just up to me, I think I'd skip it and just see Scotland this trip.

Hi,
My father in law stayed at the Woodside last year (my husband and I got married in East Lothian). I briefly saw his room and it seemed fine - comfy with en-suite bathroom but nothing posh. The hotel itself if similar - a bit worn around the edges but perfectly decent. We had a bar lunch there and it wasn't great though. As a base for sleeping it'd be fine, I'm sure. And connections between Musselburgh and Edinburgh are excellent - it's only a twenty minute bus ride and there are plenty of buses.

When you walk Arthur's Seat, be sure to do the Salisbury Crags for some more great views (of Holyrood and Dynamic Earth below). When we did the walk, with our then 11 and 14 year old daughters we wore our regular walking shoes (rather than our boots) and were just fine. The girls had athletic shoes, my husband had walking/hiking oxfords and I was wearing my Timberland walking/hiking sandals. I don't think boots are necessary as long as you have sturdy shoes with good soles.

I would agree with Caroline that you might consider staying in Glasgow (think I suggested this in the other thread). It would give you good flexibility - you can easily make the decision on the day whether you need an additional day in Edinburgh or wish to explore more of Glasgow.

Look at this thread from 2004 - there are many B &amp; B options listed.

http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...p;tid=34464431

We will be at 4 Morningside place in August, but before your trip. Haven't been to that B &amp; B (nor Scotland yet for that matter) but the pics of it on aboutscotland.com look good and the owner, Jill, is very helpful in planning (bus routes and what to see) via email. We are looking forward to staying there. We used undiscoveredscotland.com and aboutscotland.com to find B &amp; Bs. You can also just find the name of any of the better-known B &amp; Bs in Scotland and put that name in a Yahoo search. It will bring up many, many websites where that B &amp; B is listed - then use those sites to do your searches.

PS - Caroline, who lives in Edinburgh, said that the Morningside area is nice and that homes in the area of 4 Morningside are million dollar homes and that 4 would be right by the bus route - 10 minutes into town by bus (or less).

Woodside Hotel had only 1 room left but not suitable for 4 people. 4 Woodside Place booked up. So I'm still looking for something near transportation into Edinburgh. Anything that's 30L per person per night works out to about $240 total per night, so it would be nice to be under 30L pppn, but that's probably what they are getting for standing room in the train station restroom.

Marcan - try either the Apartment By Castle - www. abc-edinburgh.co.uk immediately beside Edinburgh Castle in the centre of Edinburgh as it now has availability for the 16th - 18th August. Alternatively look at Fountain Court Apartments, www.fountaincourtapartments.com - either their Grove Street or Morrison Street complexes. They have about eighty apartments and are about a fifteen minute walk from the castle and the Royal Mile. You can find reviews etc on all of these on tripadvisor.com Both will save you wasting time travelling back and forward during the Festival and Tattoo period.

Do not even think of taking boots to climb Arthur's Seat. It is a straight forward walk up a steepish hill and for anyone used to hill walking, it is a breeze. Sneakers are fine.

Thank you, meks! We reserved Apartment by Castle. Those were exactly the nights we needed. It's scary, though, what happens if we should have to cancel for any reason. Going to look into travel insurance.

Pleased to be of assistance. Johnston Terrace is right in the city centre and that apartment is in a great location, immediately beside Edinburgh Castle. I think it will be even better during the Tattoo performances as the lights on the castle will change colours adding to the effect. There are numerous things to do and see within walking distance of the castle and many attractions are also located in the city centre. There will be a lot going on during the time you are in Edinburgh and with many shows ongoing late at night it means that should you take in a show or two that you do not have to rely on the local transport services to get you to and from your apartment / accommodation. Have a look at the websites
www.edinburgh-festivals.com and more especially the websites
www.edintattoo.co.uk
www.edfringe.com
If you or any members of your family wish to go to any of the Fringe shows it would be adviseable to book in advance.
As you are also interested in Arthur's Seat / Holyrood Palace and Park look at
www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/holyrood_park.pdf
Have a good time and I am sure that you will enjoy Edinburgh during the Festival time.