Interesting stop on the way from London to Edinburgh by train --- Need some
Replies: 19 - Last Post: Apr 23, 2012 5:59 AM Last Post By: Genya
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Interesting stop on the way from London to Edinburgh by train --- Need some
I'm planing a family trip to UK with my parents and sister on September. We will stay in London for 4-5 days and I am thinking about moving up to Edinburgh. My parent don't want to drive and don't want me to drive either so we decide to use the train with Britrail pass. At first I thought about taking a night sleeper train but my mom has a problem sleeping on the train so we need to do the day train. Since it will be a pretty long train ride so I'm thinking maybe we can stop at some interesting spots along the way and getting on the next train. We will have about 4 days including the train ride.My plan is
Day 1 : taking the early morning virgin train to Windermere and walking around that area (is it pretty to walk around that area ? I just want a glimpse of lake district.) Then take an evening train to Edinburgh.
Day 2 : Spending the whole day in Edinburgh
Day 3: Buy one day tour up to highland
Day 4: Leave Edinburgh a bit early and stop by York and then back to London
Is this possible? Do you have any suggestion?
Thank you very much
1
I live near Windermere and that whole area is lovely. I'd recommend cutting a day or two from London and spending a full day in the Lake District.I'm pretty sure you'll be able to hire a car in Windermere as there's some even nicer places to be discovered by car, which are in easy reach of an hours drive.
You'll be doing alot of travelling in that day. Edinburgh and York are great too, you've picked some nice places.
2
York is worth a day / overnight of anybody's time - it is one of UK's most historic cities. It is about 2 1/2 hours from Edinburgh, and 2 hours from London. See http://www.visityork.org/4
I would also go for York or Durham. The Lake District is nice, but on the other side of the country. This would only add circa 60 min or so though.5
Going from Euston to Edinburgh (ie via the west coast) is at least an hour longer than Kings Cross to Edinburgh by the east coast. Diverting via Windermere will add around 2 hours to that total travel timeYork is a stop for all services between Kings Cross and Edinburgh whilst Durham only has relatively few services direct from London and may mean a change of train at Darlington before reaching Durham and one at Newcastle when you continue to Edinburgh which will mean additional travel time.
York is therefore the simplest and most time effective choice. But what are you doing after Edinburgh?
6
As mentioned, the train journey from London to Edinburgh is only 4.5-5 hours. It's quick and efficient with lovely scenery along the way. If you catch the early morning train you will be in Edinburgh for a late lunch.But if you want to break up the journey York is the best place to do it. Beautiful cathedral, possibly the most beautiful in the UK, a charming historic town centre, old city walls, a good museum or two. You can see most of what York has to offer in one day if you arrive early enough, spend the night, and depart for Edinburgh the next day. If you have an extra day to spend in York you can arrange for a bus tour to Castle Howard or Harewood House followed with a trip through the stunning Yorkshire Dales.
Edinburgh is a beautiful city and worth more than one full day. There are scores of travel agencies that offer day long bus tours but you won't be seeing the real highlands (if you want to experience proper wilderness) as that's too far north of Edinburgh, but the bus companies will usually take you to Loch Ness, Stirling Castle and several whisky distilleries along the way. Still a lovely journey through the lower parts of the highlands.
If you're only taking the train to/from Edinburgh there's no need to get a Brit Rail pass. Just buy train tickets direct from the national rail website, the earlier the cheaper.
7
York is a nice stop but Windemere (or actually Ambleside) in the lake district is better - some good walking easily done from the town and some nice places to stay/eat/drink there too.You can get a bus from Windemere station to Ambleside - i think its about 20minutes.
Have happily spent 4-5 days in Ambleside without a car
8
You need to decide: are you visiting London and Edinburgh and simply stopping on the way between them, or are touring the UK seeing places in between London and Edinburgh?If the first option, then buying the pass is a very expensive to do so. If you are willing to sacrifice flexibility to save a lot of money, then buy cheap train tickets to travel at fixed times, booking about six weeks in advance for the lowest fares. Alternatively, since you will be in a group of six contact the railway to enquire about discounted fares for group travel. I suggest York as a very good place to spend a day on the way, and perhaps Durham on the way back. Oh: while the scenery is indeed beautiful, the trains go so fast that you can't actually see that much.
The Lake District is indeed an outstandingly beautiful place to visit, but is not on the direct route between London and Edinburgh. Since it is a bus-ride away from the nearest railway station (itself on a branch line), allow at least a day to make the visit worth while (I mean, leave London the previous afternoon; spend the night near to the Lake District; spend a full day there and spend the night nearby and continue to Edinburgh the next day).
9
Just a little PS....There are no Virgin Trains to Windermere - day or night.
In fact - there are no direct trains from London to Windermere.
You need to change at (preferably) either Manchester (Piccadilly), Preston - or Lancaster.
10
As has been mentioned York is a nice stop along the way, as for your time in Edinburgh you will find plenty to do there and wont be able to see half of what the city has to offer in a day!Highlights for your time in Edinburgh - Try the National Museum of Scotland (its free), it recently underwent refurbishment and it has a huge collection of objects. Edinburgh Castle is also popular, although a little bit expensive and at night try one of the many ghost tours, you see a different side to Edinburgh and they are very atmospheric.
A day tour to the Highlands is possible, i think Rabbies do pretty good tours which take in Loch Ness and Inverness. Bear in mind it will be a long day as it takes around 4hrs from Edinburgh to Inverness in either a bus or train.
Useful Websites
Rabbies Tours -Tours to the Highlands
Rooms in Edinburgh -Information and accommodation in Edinburgh
Trainline -Booking train tickets
12
If your itinerary includes a Sunday, I strongly advise you to look at forward plans for line closures for maintenance work. If you book on llne & then the train is substituted for a coach, your 4 1/2 hour journey time will be completely unachievable...Also, check out the overall reliability stats for the East Coast & West Coast mainlines: neither of them are held up as examples to other train companies
14
York as above, and I agree with #7 about Windermere. It's a nice-enough area but not as good as other parts of the Lakes. Ambleside is good, but I'd probably go for Keswick as a base instead, which is even better IMO, or you could easily do both in a Windermere-Oxenholme loop. Although Keswick station is now shut, there's a connecting bus to and from the station at Oxenholme, which is on the main London Euston - Glasgow Central line.Otherwise, you could sack Edinburgh entirely and just get off at Doncaster. It's got The Dome, good shopping at The Yorkshire Outlet, lots of pubs, and you're right on the doorstep for places like Conisbrough, Denaby, Stainforth, Rossington, Bolton-on-Dearne and Mexborough.
