The R&A recently announced the 2027 Open Championship at St. Andrews, and as that will be the year I turn 50, I intend by hook or by crook to attend. Presuming I attend several consecutive days, it is better to rent in St. Andrews and try to walk to the course each day, or to stay further out and either train to St. Andrews daily or even have a rental car? I realize competition will be fierce for reasonably priced lodging in the town of St. Andrews itself and am willing to stay elsewhere if that is, on the whole, a better option. I'd like the input of those you have attended and their experiences. This is still 28 months off but lodging will be at a premium in the entire region. I appreciate any insight. Thanks.

The R&A recently announced the 2027 Open Championship at St. Andrews, and as that will be the year I turn 50, I intend by hook or by crook to attend. Presuming I attend several consecutive days, it is better to rent in St. Andrews and try to walk to the course each day, or to stay further out and either train to St. Andrews daily or even have a rental car? I realize competition will be fierce for reasonably priced lodging in the town of St. Andrews itself and am willing to stay elsewhere if that is, on the whole, a better option. I'd like the input of those you have attended and their experiences. This is still 28 months off but lodging will be at a premium in the entire region. I appreciate any insight. Thanks.

There is no train station in St Andrews. The nearest station is Leuchars which is about 6 miles from the Old Course. So it is either a local bus or a taxi from Leuchars.

If you can get accommodations in the town that would be best by far and then walk to the Old Course.. Otherwise I maybe wouldn't bother with the train but would stay in one of the fishing villages (Crail/Anstruther/etc) and drive to the Open's park & ride lot.

Merged and tagged for the United Kingdom

I would consider looking for accommodation in Dundee. I’m pretty sure that dedicated buses run from there for Open championships but if not it’s an easy bus or train ride. Dundee will have plenty of places to eat and drink and the city of “jute, jam and journalism” is much underrated for tourism these days.

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news...d-study-finds/

I suspect that, unless the OP is planning to do a little drug dealing when in town, that he’ll be fine. Most violent crime is associated with inter gang fighting, usually played out in the poorer suburbs.

The city centre when an Open is on will no doubt be busy and will attract the usual risks of petty crime preying on naive tourists. As long as you use you city smarts with money, phones etc you will be fine.

I have to admit that we find Dundee horribly grey, drab and depressing. It’s probably ‘safe’ but I would never choose to stay there.
The fishing villages Janis mentions would get my vote. Some lovely accommodation, good food, seaviews etc.
Anstruther is probably my favourite but there are several including St Monan’s and Elie which aren’t quite as touristy.
Parking can be at a premium so if you have a car I’d look for somewhere that has car parking.

+1

Thank you for input. Ideally, I'd prefer to be without a car. I'd like to fly into London, train to (somewhere in) Scotland, and be able to use trains/buses/walking for getting around. I did drive on the left for a week in Ireland and avoided getting anyone killed, so I have that under my belt, but still would be happier out from behind the wheel (plus expense and hassle of the rental).

Train to Edinburgh. Train to Leuchars, taxi or bus to St Andrews. Easy peasy. However that is only if you are only going to the Open Championship and aren't interested in exploring the rest of Fife including the fishing villages, Isle of May, Falkland Palace, etc.

How long will you be in Scotland in total -- how many days on either side of the Open? If this is strictly an Edinburgh/St Andrews trip there is no need to have a car. re you interested in spending any time in London. If it will be just Edinburgh/St Andrews book flights Home > EDI or more likely depending on your home airport - home > LHR or some other major European hub > EDI. A couple of days in Edinburgh to recover from the jet lag, train to Leuchars/bus to St Andrews. Attend Open, back to EDI fly home.

But if London is in the mix I'd fly home > LHR and head into London for a few days, then train to Edinburgh . . . the Open/sightseeing in Edinburgh, fly home.

My suggestion of Dundee as a base was specifically for attending an Open at St Andrews and finding both reasonably priced accommodation and easy transfers to the golf course. If the OP can find and afford somewhere to stay in or very close to St Andrews then that’s the best plan, but he will be competing with the players and media who all both want the same and have deep pockets.

The Fife villages are lovely but I am assuming that transport to and from the Open without a car is going to be harder to organise, presumably either buses or taxis. The latter may be fine in the mornings but a lot more complicated coming back. Maybe I’m wrong and there is organised transport as well.

Dundee may be grey and dreary to some but for me it’s worth it simply to see the extraordinary V&A building on the river front, let alone what will be inside. And, as I say, the main advantage will be cheaper accommodation. You can easily do it from Edinburgh as well and that would be a great option if there are golf “widows” involved in the party, but the accommodation is going to be a lot more expensive.

If you want to go to Scotland then fly there rather than an airport 400 miles away. The cheaper fares to London will look a lot less cheap when you have added on the time and cost to get north. Edinburgh is the best option but Glasgow will work as well if the deal is better. Manchester is also better than London, as there are direct trains from the airport to Edinburgh.

All well and good. Unfortunately, flights into Edinburgh from the States are extremely limited. Depending on his home airport, it may be the OP absolutely MUST transit through LHR, DUB, AMS, CDG, or some other European hub. The 'easiest' route from my large-ish west coast city to Edinburgh involves three (yes . . . three) flights. That is why I specifically asked if visiting London was in the mix. If it is - flying into LHR then later taking the train to Edinburgh would be a great solution.

And even for a cheap room I personally wouldn't stay in Dundee unless that was the only place I could find accommodations. I've been underwhelmed by the Dundee V&A. The building is interesting but the collection feels like a poor step child of Cromwell Road.

That’s not correct Janis. A quick look suggests that there are two one stop options from Little Rock to Edinburgh this July, via either ATL with Delta/Virgin or ORD with United. The OP may use a different airport but can probably connect with either ORD or ATL. Of course these flights are probably not the cheapest.

We will just have to agree to disagree about Dundee. I was just working on the assumption that the OP will be concentrating on the golf and probably not willing or able to pay the astronomic rents that will be asked nearer the course.

Per post #10 the OP says he'd like to fly in to London and take trains north. That's his preference . . . which of course could change.