Scotland - 7 nights

Hi Everyone
Due to a timing problem, we arrived Glasgow on a Monday and need advice on how to get to Edinburgh. Since jet lag will come into play, we thought about a car/taxi hire. Any suggestions on companies?

We plan to spend 2 nights in Edinburgh and then travel the countryside for 5 nights. We are castle, historical sights, foodies, shoppers, a distillery or two people. Ideally we were thinking from Edinburgh going Grantown on Spey and then heading to the west. We need to leave early on a Monday and thought we should stay in Glasgow our last night to make our airport trip less hectic. We would truly appreciate your ideas. Thank you!

Depends on a lot of factors.

1) How many of you there will be.

2) If you are arriving during rush hour.
3) How many bags you have.

If you want to do it cheap, the 500 bus service (non stop) to Glasgow rail station is about 15 minutes and costs £4.20. From there you can connect to a train to Edinburgh for an additional £11.50 one way. Alternatively the 757 stops a couple of times and is £3. Either way, from the train station, use a www.scotrail.co.uk train to Edinburgh.

Alternatively, get the above bus services into the main bus station and get the www.nationalexpress.co.uk coach service for £9.60 one way (a return would be likely cheaper than two singles, ditto the train).

As for the price of a taxi from Glasgow airport to edinburgh, pfff, £85 at a minimum I guess, very roughly? Don't do it....

You could hire a car, but I wouldn't do it with jet lag, especially if you don't know the route/area. Save cash and hire it after you've got to Edinburgh and knocked that off and are ready to move into the countryside. You won't need a car whilst in Edinburgh.

Depends on how many of you there are, what time you arrive and from which direction (jet lag wise), and what budget you have really.

Thanks! There are 4 of us that is why I thought the car hire/taxi might be more practical. I'll run this by my travel companions. Any thoughts on our itinerary? Again, appreciate it.

Correction to #1. The bus service is www.citylink.co.uk. Buses from Glasgow to Edinburgh run every half hour. Suggest you ask abou cost of taxi when you arrive. Hiring a car will be time wasting by the time you have picked it up and returned it.
Castle - Stirling is cheaper and better than Edinburgh/Eileen Doonan (west coast)
Historical Sites - Bannockburn (Stirling), Culloden ( Inverness), Glencoe (west coast)
Foodies - you are in the wrong country.
Shoppers - Edinburgh/Glasgow/Tourist Attractions everywhere
Distilleries - Grantown is as good as any.
Shame you are not interested in the scenery !

Thanks very much. We also are interested in scenery. I just thought we would enjoy it while searching for the castles, historical sights etc. Again, appreciate your advice. D

Pitlochry (90 mins north of Edinburgh) is very nice, and has the Queen's View nearby and the Edradour Distillery http://www.edradour.co.uk/index5.html which has free tours that run every 20 minutes.

Have a look at my Scotland pictures

http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/edinburghlove/TouristScotland# for some ideas and of course my Edinburgh blog for things to do in the city.

Have fun !

Assuming you can fit all your bags in a taxi you'd be best doing that if there are 4 of you. Bus to the city centre then a bus or train to Edinburgh wont save you that much money between the 4 of you.

Do you think we are pushing it too much -
Edinburgh to Pitlockery
Pitlockery to Grantown on Spey
Ullapool
Oban
Glasgow

Are there towns were we could stay for two nights and cover the territory

Also meant to mention we want to see the sights in Glencoe.

Thanks !!!

The only long day woud be Ullapool to Oban, assuming you are going down the west coast. This coast is not a place to hurry.
Edinburgh to Pitlochry is between 1.5 and 2 hrs. You could easily do the distillery and push on to Grantown the same day.
Grantown to Inverness is 1.5 hours. Do a morning distillery trip if you wish then visit Culloden, just outside of Inverness. Inverness to Ullapool taking it slowly is about 1.5 hours.

Take two days hugging the coast down to Oban. Kyle of Localsh, although not an attactive place is probably about halfway. Plockton a few miles north of Kyle is a must but accommodation is more limited.

Edited by: pedro555

Thank you. I'll investigate Plockton. Would you mind if I send you our "final plan" after we come up with it? Again, appreciate your thoughts. Denise

#8 has explained the timing of your trip, so I dont need to repeat it. Feel free to post your final plans so that we can make sure you've not over estimated anything.

Plockton is a very cute wee place, my Aussie boyfriend loved it and was amazed that palm trees grew there !! (true)

I love plockton - worth the detour. And I'd have to disagree that scotland is a bad place for foodies. In Edinburgh I'd go to the Witchery.

What do you think of this idea -
From Ullapool head south seeing Dundonnell, Poolwee, Gairloch, Kinlochewe and staying overnight in Plockton. Our next overnight could be Oban and then in Glasgow for our final evening.
Thanks!

Plockton and Oban are good overnight stops. Oban to Glasgow is only 2 1/2 hours. Go via Inverary. When are you travelling?

We will be traveling in July. We will stay in Glasgow our last night to be closer to departure. Thanks so very much for your help. I hope you realize how all of you have made our life a bit easier. Now I just have to get ready for the single lane roads!!! - wish me luck.

Denise

If you are going to be travelling in July, then you need to book accomodation in advance, it's peak tourist season anyway, but Scottish schools are also on holiday and a lot of us holiday in our own country !

http://www.visitscotland.com/ can help you with accommodation. I would even phone them and get them to help you. They charge £4 booking fee for ALL the accommodation you book, not per place and are most helpful. They actually phone the B&B whilst you are on the line and tell you then and there if there is space and then email you all the details.

I used them for a road trip around Scotland at the last minute and they booked 7 nights accommo for me all over in about 20 minutes which is far faster than I could have organised it and as she was suggesting the places, I would google them as I spoke to her to check that they looked ok.

Have a good time !

The Witchery - I can't even afford the first course !

After Kinlochewe don't be tempted to take the shortcut from Shieldaig to Lochcarron. Go via the coast (Applecross).

£12.95 for 2 courses isn't extortionate. The trick is to go at lunchtime.

Thanks so much for all that helped us out!!

i was looking into a possible dash to scotland in the beginning of april, and would also like to thank you all

that witchery place looks great - probably have to check that out :-)