3 Days in Scotland via London

[ronandannette]

Good morning fellow citizens of the Commonwealth (or is it evening there? ). I'm trying to decide if the following plan is workable, needs to be tweaked or should be abandoned entirely. Please give me any advice or correction you may have.


We have what may be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to travel to Europe next May. We would like to see something of Scotland as it is the location of my DH's ancestry. We propose to fly into London and overnight there, picking up a rental car the next morning. We'd drive to "somewhere" near the ferry for the Isle of Mull as seeing Calgary Bay is important to DH, and overnight there. The next day would be planned to include a round of golf at St. Andrew's - also a bucket-list thing for DH. I imagine we'd stay somewhere near there, or maybe back in Edinburgh that night. We'd then have a day to make our way back to London and do some very superficial sight-seeing before our flight out the next afternoon?

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

 

[Lyricallie]

Hi there,

I'm from Glasgow in Scotland currently living in London so I might be able to help.

It is a long drive up to Scotland from London especially as you're criscrossing across Scotland for Mull and Edinburgh etc. You might be better getting the train from London to Glasgow 4hr40minutes or Edinburgh - slightly longer - and then renting a car from there. Edinburgh to Glasgow (east to west) is about 45 minutes by train.

Good morning fellow citizens of the Commonwealth

 

[ronandannette]

Hi there,

I'm from Glasgow in Scotland currently living in London so I might be able to help.

It is a long drive up to Scotland from London especially as you're criscrossing across Scotland for Mull and Edinburgh etc. You might be better getting the train from London to Glasgow 4hr40minutes or Edinburgh - slightly longer - and then renting a car from there. Edinburgh to Glasgow (east to west) is about 45 minutes by train.

Thank you so much - I would certainly appreciate any help you can give. Regarding distance and time, we live in the vast, open prairies of Western Canada and driving 800 miles in a day (about 12 hours) is not out of routine at all. Do you ever do the drive or is it kind of "unthinkable" there? If we were to take the train, what would that be like, presuming we arrive in London mid-afternoon after an 11 hour travel day? I imagine we'll get a hotel near Heathrow unless you've got a better idea?

 

[Jon84]

Driving would be an experience, depending on the day of the week, you could hit plenty of stressful rush hour moments. As much as you're used to open country driving, our roads are not so open, there will be bottle necks up the M1 as you pass major cities. It's not something I'd spend my time doing on a holiday!

The Scottish girl on my team only drives back home from London at Christmas due to ease of taking presents etc. Else she swears by train or flying (fuel isn't cheap here)

Arriving mid-afternoon at Heathrow, you could make it to Scotland for the evening providing you get some sleep on the flight and then the train.

 

[ronandannette]

Driving would be an experience, depending on the day of the week, you could hit plenty of stressful rush hour moments. As much as you're used to open country driving, our roads are not so open, there will be bottle necks up the M1 as you pass major cities. It's not something I'd spend my time doing on a holiday!

The Scottish girl on my team only drives back home from London at Christmas due to ease of taking presents etc. Else she swears by train or flying (fuel isn't cheap here)

Arriving mid-afternoon at Heathrow, you could make it to Scotland for the evening providing you get some sleep on the flight and then the train.

OK, that's good input. Where would I look for information about this train ride? You'll think this is lame but we've never ridden one (other than our municipal transit trains around the city). There is very limited access to passenger rail service in Canada.

 

[Jon84]

Best to buy in advance, and pickup at the departure station as it'll be cheaper.

https://www.thetrainline.com/ is probably a good place to start. You should be able to buy a ticket that covers all the trains between Heathrow and Edinburgh for example.

Could you fly in and out of a more Northern Airport like Manchester or even into Glasgow. Both have international flights.

 

[Lyricallie]

Thank you so much - I would certainly appreciate any help you can give. Regarding distance and time, we live in the vast, open prairies of Western Canada and driving 800 miles in a day (about 12 hours) is not out of routine at all. Do you ever do the drive or is it kind of "unthinkable" there? If we were to take the train, what would that be like, presuming we arrive in London mid-afternoon after an 11 hour travel day? I imagine we'll get a hotel near Heathrow unless you've got a better idea?

I wouldn't drive personally especially as you only have 3 days. By the time you get there you'll have to drive back!
The train is great like the other poster said prepay and pick up at the station, this is what I do and I get the train home about once a month. The train is fine, the scenery will be great and you can relax rather than having to concentrate on driving. A hotel at Heathrow is ok, but you might be better off coming into central London and staying somewhere a bit more touristy, that way you'll have loads of options for dinner and can go for a wander before passing out from travelling! Getting into central London from Heathrow is easy, just jump on the shuttle train apparently it's 15 minutes!!! https://www.heathrowexpress.com/new

I only fly from Gatwick/Luton, so I usually have to get a coach, which takes about an hour and 40 minutes.

 

[jevs]

Only superficial sightseeing in one of my favourite cities eh Netts?

You have great advice already from real Scottish people, but I'll also echo to take the train. Make sure you choose one with a bar onboard

And definitely stay in Central London with limited time!

 

[ronandannette]

Only superficial sightseeing in one of my favourite cities eh Netts?

You have great advice already from real Scottish people, but I'll also echo to take the train. Make sure you choose one with a bar onboard

And definitely stay in Central London with limited time!

Ah yes...I didn't want to tell you this and upset you more than you already are, but it's a quick add-on to a much anticipated Med cruise next spring.

Getting to the Isle of Mull and St. Andrew's is what's really important (to DH) and flying into London is a budgetary compromise as the actual itinerary is Calgary-London/London-Barcelona/Barcelona-Calgary. Doing that with Edinburgh or Glasgow in place of London almost doubles the cost.