Edinburgh Travel Forum

Hi all,

I am slowly putting up a plan to visit Scotland (flying in to Edinburgh) this September.

I have a few general questions:

1. Are organized day tours better than doing day trips from Edinburgh yourself (I read that transporattion is difficult). I would like to visit Glasgow, the highlands, Border Abbeys. I am not sure if it is adviseable to do them by myself via public transportation.

2. My itinerary is turning out to be like this:

Day 1 Edinburgh
Day 2 Edinburgh
Day 3 Glasgow (day trip)
Day 4 Border Abbeys (day trip)
Day 5 Highlands (day trip)
Day 6 Edinburgh

Makes sense or not?

Hope to hear from you guys soon.

Thanks in advance.

Although I rarely take organised day tours I do think this will probably be the best thing for you. Getting to the places you want to see by public transport will take up a fair chunk of time, and will not be possible in many cases.

Not for Glasgow though...just take the train or bus and explore by yourself. www.nationalrail.co.uk will give you train times and fares (faster but more expensive).

http://www.citylink.co.uk/index.php will give you bus times and fares (slower but cheaper).

There are frequent buses, taking around 1h 21m.

For the Highlands and abbeys etc explore the organised day tours available. Googling 'edinburgh day tours' will bring up several companies such as:

http://www.scotland.org.uk/tours_day_edinburgh.htm

http://www.scotlinetours.co.uk/

etc. It is best to book online in advance for these tours.

Not wanting to split hairs, but the coach takes 1hr 10 mins!! You can also investigate Megabus, which takes longer. If you haven't already booked accommodation in Edinburgh, then do so NOW. Not sure where you want to go in the Highlands but it will be a LONG day trip. Agree with Leics re independent vs. organised tours. When you arrive in Glasgow, go to George Square and pick up the hop on/hop off bus - this will give you a good overview of the city and will take you to places that you certainly wouldn't get to during a day visit.

The Citylink site says the journey takes 1h 21m, which is why I said it did (not having benn on it myself).

Maybe they are allowing for traffic congestion?

National Express coaches also run the Edinburgh>Glasgow route, and their journey is timed at 1h 10m.

http://www.nationalexpress.com/home.aspx

If you haven't already purchased your air tickets, you might want to think about flying into Edinburgh and returning from Glasgow. You could then use public transport to go from Edinburgh to somewhere in the Highlands like Inverness and use that as a base to see that area for a day or so. then you could take public transport from there to Glasgow and see the West coast of Scotland before you depart.

Thanks everyone now have enough information (I think) to move forward.