coolpar

I've been thinking about saving money by flying to London and then taking a train to a town near St Andrew's, Scotland, thereby saving on the direct flight fare, and having more funds for the golf courses. Anyone have any input? Is this a good idea?

PalenQ

IMO yes but you may find flying from London cheaper - but the train trip lets you see the lay of England and Scotland along the tracks - and after Newcastle the train line is one of the most scenic in Britain - mainly hugging a rugged coast to Edinburgh - from Edinburgh the train tracks over the famous cantilevered Firth of Forth rail bridge to Leuchars, the train station for St Andrews, 5 miles away - buses link the train station to the old town.

But if you just show up and buy a ticket in London you may pay much more than a flight - walk up tickets can be very very expensive in Britain - look at www.nationalrail.co.uk for schedules from London's Kings Cross train station to St Andrews and or Edinburgh - you will find many deep discounts with varying restrictions - some may not be changed nor refunded so if training out the same day as flying in leave plenty of fudge time in case planes are late - and IMO stay the night in London to recover so you can enjoy the rail trip. Price London To Edinburgh - Edinburgh to St Andrews is I think more a commuter train with a cheap flat fare and there are also buses from Edinburgh that are cheaper and just as fast as the train to St Andrews, one of my very favorite cities in Britain - besides golf it is a quaint cute university town on the sea.

PalenQ

I meant to add that it is very easy to buy tickets thru www.nationalrail.co.uk - no problems reported by many Fodorites who say they have done it - I have nver done it because I always have a railpass because I do far-ranging rail travel - if this is your only train trip then don't even consider a railpass. But it is easy to book at www.nationalrail.co.uk.

alya

You don't say when you are traveling but a quick check on www.scotrail.co.uk shows overnight berths available between Euston station and Leuchars between 19 and 49gbp one way in June

Departs at 9.15pm and arrives 5:46am, if nothing else you'll be nicely rested and ready for golf

http://www.travelpass.buytickets.sco...s/Default.aspx

PalenQ

Yes indeedy - I have taken those Caledonian Sleepers run by ScotRail several times and they are IMO amongst the nicest overnight trains in Europe - especially if you get like I do a private first-class single (or double if that's the case) - really nice bed with sheets and free breakfast in bed in the morning. Land stay up in London until boarding the overnight train (usually do not run on Saturday nights I believe) and then crash once aboard and wake up in Leuchars.

alanRow

If you are arriving at Heathrow and want to go straight to Scotland then the simplest and quickest thing to do is to fly.

You could look at flights that go to Edinburgh via LHR (or Amsterdam or Paris or Frankfurt or Brussels) and you won't see your luggage until you reach Edinburgh

If you can't do that then book a separate flight - though this may mean that you have to collect and recheck luggage rather than being able to use the Flight Connections Centre

Getting a train would require you to allow at least an extra hour between landing and the next leg compared to flying as you have to get into the centre of London before you can get the train. I'd rather use that time to give me extra leeway between flights if I can't get a real connecting flight.

coolpar

Thank you PalenQ, alya and alanRow...very informative and timely. It would seem that I'm going at the end of April, and I thought the railpass a good idea, but it really will be just the one train trip. I do like the idea of seeing the country side from the train's vista, but, in the end, it really does look like airplanes all the way thru will be the way to go.
Thanks again, and I'll post during and after the trip to St Andrews.

Sophal

If you go by bus you'll save even more Check out megabus.com!

PalenQ

reconsider missing seeing the lay of the land in between London and Scotland - otherwise you see only airports.

janisj

This thread is 9 months old and the trip was back in April. (sophal joined up and topped a bunch of old threads)