Edinburgh

doctor evil

Heya,

I`m planning a few days away by myself to Edinburgh in the spring time. I`m looking for suggestions of decent hostels to stay at and places to visit or things to do etc. I`m fairly flexibe will most likely be midweek. I was thinking of flying into Edinburgh, spend a day or two there than go by train or bus (depending how long it will take, any ideas?) to Aberdeen for the day possibly the night .Then down by train to either London where I will stay at another hostel or to a siblings home which is about an hour away by train from london.

I was thinking Febuary or April.

Any recommendations?.

Lorrainebow

Hi,

Have been to Edinburgh a couple of times in the last year and absolutely love it. Have usually stayed in the Travelodge which is just off the Royal Mile - St Mary's street I think - www.travelodge.co.uk and they usually have really cheap rooms, especially mid week. As for things to do - there's loads! Best idea is to hop on the tour bus for a spin to get your bearings and figure out where everything is. The ticket is valid for 24 hours i think so you can hop on & hop off as you like. The entry fee to the castle is pretty expensive and for the price you don't get too much. The views from outside are just as good. The grassmarket area is quite cool for nightlife & gets pretty busy at the w/end with hen/stag parties but it's really lively. If it's other nightlife you're after there are a few tour companies who do spooky tours. I did one with mercat tours (If you google them you'll find their web page) and it was great craic, a bit scary if you're going down into the city's vaults but funny too!

Hope this helps,
enjoy your trip.

L'bow.

doctor evil

Yaye someone replied!

How much is it into the castle?. Which would be cheaper to fly to London from Edinburgh or Aberdeen or get the train down.

So much to get sorted!.

Guess_Who

I lived in Edinburgh for a few years and when I went to the castle it was 8 pounds (sorry aussie computers don't have pound signs) but it may have gone up since that was about 4 years ago.

There was a post on here just before New Years about Edinburgh that I replied to with a few suggestions for things to do. See if you can find it, if not let me know and I'll get my thinking cap back on.

It'll be much cheaper to fly down to London from Scotland, just get a cheapy easyjet flight, trains in the UK are quiet expensive. Getting the train up to Aberdeen shouldn't cost too much and is a really nice journey, even just for the bridge at Dundee which I always thought was pretty cool and going over the Fotrh Rail Bridge. Think it takes about 3 and half hours, not sure how long a bus would take. Be prepared for the cold, Aberdeen is freezing but definately worth a visit.

You'll have a great time

Edited to add the link to the other thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055030885&referrerid=

doctor evil

Thank you Guess_Who, flying it will be. I had heard that trains there are expensive, I was hoping of booking/buying them in advance online. I think I got the glimmer of the whispher that there is a problem with the train website with regards to the post code for Ireland?.

Guess_Who

I've never booked trains online. Ireland not having post codes has been a bit of a problem for other things but it depends on what they need your address for. If it's just to send your tickets could you give your sibling's address in the UK and get them to send it onto you?

It's probably the GNER website, have a play about with it yourself and see.

John R

The idea that long distance rail fares are expensive compared to air travel in the UK is a popular one but IMO it is grossly exaggerated particularly by the media. They use similar fare structures; book in advance or on off-peak services and you can get cheap fares, turn up an hour before departure and the rail fares are high but try the same with airlines and they will be too if you can get a seat at all.

I had a quick look for a random date in April. Aberdeen-London is £27 with GNER, the cheapest flight I found was £21 to Luton with Easyjet. Add the cost of getting from Luton to central London and they are about the same.

There is no problem booking rail tickets from here, I have done it dozens of times through the virgin trains website. They will not post them outside the UK but you can opt to collect them from the automatic ticket machines or ticket offices in any major station.

To check times and fares use the www.nationalrail.co.uk website.

To buy tickets use any of the train company websites, they all sell the full range of tickets for all companies fares. Their websites are listed on the site above.

www.thetrainline.co.uk also sell the full range but they add on a booking fee.

The cheap advance rail fares are similar to low fare airline tickets; they are only valid on the specific train booked with very limited conditions for refunds or changes.