siew

Hi members

Next month on the 12th July I be going to UK to attend my son's graduation on 17 July in Loughborough (Midlands) & then to Lucerne to send my son, who is starting course at IMI on 29th July.

I be traveling with my husband, 3 sons, & 2 sisters.

Places we'd like to go beside London:
- Lake District
- Edinburg
- Lucerne

From London, we plan to hire a van to go to Loughborough, then to Lake District & Edinburg. From Edinburg, we can take a flight to Zurich or Lucerne. I have been googling on best economical way to travel from Edinburg to Lucerne but doesn't seem to get me anywhere

We'd also aim to stay in a apartment with self catering facilities.

Need recommendation on best way to travel & where to stay. Thanks.

kleeblatt

Flying to Switzerland from Edinburgh is the pits. BMI has some direct flights but the rest are all connecting flights.

Aramis

First - congratulations

Second , Lucerne does not have an airport so that might be part of your trouble in finding cheap fares

Third - you don't say if you need en EDI - ZRH return ticket or if you are going one way and flying out of Switzerland, or have to get back to London, or what your dates of required travel are.

Fourth - check for flights into Basel and out of Glasgow, too. Basel is only a little farther away than Zurich and Glasgow is a one hour bus ride from Edinburgh with many more flight options. Could you travel from Newcastle, too? NCL probably won't provide a cheaper option but you should be aware it is a possibility.

I can see EDI - BSL for $307 return for July 20th - 30th, and $326 for EDI ZRH, same dates. $160 for a one way.

unclegus

don't rent a Van in the Uk.A van is a light commercial vehicle for the transportation of goods.
Rent a People Carrier they usually hold 7-9 people,any more than that then you would need a Mini-Bus.Most rental companies will have them.

siew

Thanks for the reply.

Will rent a People Carrier as suggested by Uncle Gus. Have decided 2 spent about a week on trip from Loughborough to Edinburgh from 18/7 onwards. Any advise on where to stop for accommodation & what to see on that trip please. Is it easy to find accommodation if we don't book in advance. Sort of wanting to just go along that route, free & easy style, stop where ever the place interest us. With booking then we can't detour, if we find interesting place along the way. Any advise on that please.

Thanks

janisj

just time for a quick comment right now -- you definitely will want to book your accommodations in advance. If you were just one or two people, you could get by that way. But you have 7 people and are traveling in July - many B&Bs won't even have enough rooms for seven and small hotels may be booked up. Especially on the weekend when you start your journey north.

Alec

English schools start breaking up for summer holidays around 16/17 July, whilst Scottish schools are on hols from the beginning of July. You definitely need reservation for the Lake District and Edinburgh, and many places are already booked up for weekends. In B&Bs, you are looking for at least 3 rooms (a double, a twin and a triple). Also they will only take booking for two nights over a weekend, Fri and Sat nights usually. One-night stay is possible during the week.
For the Lakes go to official tourist office site at http://www.golakes.co.uk/
For Edinburgh, http://www.edinburgh.org/