Train or coach direct from Glasgow to Edinburgh airport?
 

We will be making an early trip from our hotel in Glasgow (Hotel du Vin @ One Devonshire Gardens) to the Edinburgh airport in the most direct and expedient way possible. The fewer vehicle changes and the speediest method we can use is what we are striving for. It is going to be a long day of travel. Our flight from Edinburgh is at 11:15 A.M.. Suggestions?

One of the many wonders of Scotland is that it's impossible to use public transport to go directly from Edinburgh or Glasgow Airport to Glasgow or Edinburgh respectively.

You can take a train from Glasgow QUEEN STREET station to Edinburgh HAYMARKET station then the Airlink coach to Edinburgh Airport from directly outside the station

www.firstscotrail.com
www.flybybus.com

Alternatively look at the route map for the Airlink bus and compare it to the Citylink timetable for the Glasgow to Edinburgh coach and you'll find the same stops appear - in this case however you have to cross the main road to get from Citylink to Airlink coach.

www.citylink.co.uk/timetables.php

Just to confuse things further you can book the Citylink coaches on the Megabus website and get the tickets cheaper

www.megabus.co.uk

But as your flight is at 11:15am and the road between Glasgow & Edinburgh can become gridlocked I'd take an early train - you'd need to arrive at Haymarket by 8:15am at the latest

One of our great stupidities. Instead of having one well linked airport equidistant between our two major cities with enough traffic to at least rival Manchester, we end up with two badly placed airports that aren't even well connected to the cities they serve.

We have often got the bus from Glasgow to Maybury Junction in Edinburgh (the 900 goes mostly every 15 mins) and then crossed over the road and got the Edinburgh airport bus back into the airport. Tis silly that you have to, but actually not that bad to do....
PS had dinner in Hotel du Vin a month or 2 ago, very nice. However you are spolit for choice with restaurants in the West End...

I'd maybe consider leaving Glasgow the night before and stay near EDI. Unless there is some reason you must sleep in Glasgow that night, it would be much easier to finish up your Glasgow visit in the evening and go on to EDI for your last night.

If you follow janisj's suggestion then DON'T book a hotel at the airport - it's only 20-30 minutes (depending on traffic) from the centre of Edinburgh to the airport, so it's easier to travel from Glasgow to Edinburgh, stay in Edinburgh then take the Airlink bus the next morning. For ease of access to both train & coach I'd suggest somewhere like the Jurys Inn on Jeffery Street

Thanks to all. We are hooking up with an old friend in Glasgow on the night before the flight so will stay in Glasgow. We have learned that for 50 pounds we can get a taxi from the hotel directly to Edinburgh airport which is only slightly more than taxi from hotel into Glasgow Queen St., 2 train tickets and then taxi to airport. & so much easier on old bones. Now-----how long do all of you knowledgeable folks think it will take us to make that drive in early Saturday morning traffic? We will want to arrive at the airport by 9:45 AM latest.

On a Saturday morning somwhere between 45 to 60 minutes. Any accident on the M8 could lengthen that considerably.

I'd leave at 0815....at that time on a Saturday, the M8 should be pretty quiet...