Family trip to York and Scotland with children, any recommendations?

[LoudBee]

Off to York and then Scotland in August, really looking forward to it, taking DH DS and DD who is Sen, we plan on going to Jorvik Viking centre for day one and then next day off to Scotland, planning on going to see the Three sisters and drive through Glencoe, and one day booked for Edinburgh castle, always a bit worried if will be overwhelming for my DD who is only 9 years old, DS teenager 17
any recommendations to visit? Staying near Edinburgh, would have loved to go to John o groats as we went to lands end last year but the drive is just too far for a day. Any other recommendations for York and places to eat? Does anyone know if the Park and Ride Bus in York goes close to the Viking centre?

The park and ride drops you off about 15 minutes walk from the yorvik museum. However the ques are about an hour wait. The park and ride gets very busy too, sometimes standing room only. That's all I know about York. York is very busy sometimes, lots of crowds. Beautiful city though

there are several Park & Ride sites in York, so it depends on which one you use. The two with bus stops closest to Jorvik are Service 7 (drops off on Tower Street) and Service 8 (drops off on Piccadilly). Service 8 is usually less busy than Service 7, and the traffic on the Service 8 route is usually quieter. Both are about a five minute walk from Jorvik, but as the previous poster mentioned, there are usually long queues at Jorvik and you’ll need to book in advance.

If you have a spare day on the way up or back Kynren is well worth it.
Kynren - An Epic Tale of England

It will be the Rawcliffe Bar park and Ride? As it’s near where we are staying? Thanks for all the information

My husband and son would absolutely love this! Thanks

You're going on a day trip to Glencoe from Edinburgh?!

We liked the castle museum in York - preferred it to Jorvik.

Walking round the walls in York is good. Just mooching round the streets and alleys is interesting, the architecture is incredible. The city centre is quite compact, so any park and ride service will only be a short walk to where you want to be.

Edinburgh in August is rammed, accommodation if you can find it will be extremely expensive. But it’s an amazing place.

Glencoe is several hours drive from Edinburgh. And again, during the summer months it could be very very busy and nose to tail traffic.

Oh god! This is worried me, is it too far? I know it’s about a 3 hour drive, we are going to get up early, it’s like a big one off!

Second this!!

The Castle Museum is great. And cheaper than Jorvik plus you can spend a few hours there mooching around.

It has various exhibits including a really cool Victorian street with shops and gruesome bits for the kids. There’s the tower/keep just outside it that you can visit and plenty of room outside for a picnic and for younger kids to have a run around.

Plus you can see such delights as bottles of Sperm Oil in the Victorian chemist 😂

We usually park in Monk Bar Car Park in York and walk in, it’s very convenient. Food wise, we love Marzano Italian in York and the food stalls in the shambles. We’ve done Bettys before and it was nice but I couldn’t wax lyrical about it. The wizard golf near Jorvik looks good and we always enjoy a walk down the shambles and doing the little shops.

We liked Spark for food in York - it's one of those places with multiple outlets, so you can each get a different type of food.

https://www.sparkyork.org/

As well as other things mentioned, the Rail Museum is great. We primarily went for the Wonderlab, which is like the one at the Science Museum in London, but has a more engineering focus, so it isn't just a duplicate of the London one. I thought that would be the bit that my DDs wanted to see, but they were surprisingly interested in trains too.

I think you may be able to book the Jorvik Centre, as I remember walking past the queue and going straight in.

The chocolate experience in York was really good too.

Glencoe is a 3 hour drive from Edinburgh IF the traffic is good!! It's windy roads a lot of the way, and will be bumper to bumper with tourists just now. What are you going to do when you get there?

There are lots of bus companies in Edinburgh who will drive you on a Loch Ness day tour from Edinburgh. It's a 12 hour round trip. I used to be a driver for them 20 years ago "you're going to see A LOT of Scotland today, but most of it through the bus window..." It was a miserable day as a driver, stuck behind endless camper vans, sweating that you wouldn't get to fort Augustus in time for your passengers to catch the 3pm Loch Ness boat cruise.... However, as a passenger, I think it would be a better option to go on a bus tour than drive yourself, if you're not familiar with the roads. I recommend Rabbies, Haggis or Highland Explorer because they have little buses, rather than Grayline /Scotline who do the same thing but with full size buses.

I live near Edinburgh and work there. The castle and surrounding areas can be extremely busy at this time of year especially with The Fringe starting. I find it overwhelming myself so imagine it maybe difficult for others too x

I wouldn't consider Edinburgh to Glencoe at this time of year. Scotland is bigger than people think!

3 hours and then some, probably. Height of summer? I'd allow 4 hours each way, minimum. I'd hope it'd be quicker, but I'd plan for 4 hours. It's 100 miles on mostly single carriageway roads - get stuck behind a lorry, caravan or even tourists going slowly so they can admire the view and you could be driving for a lot longer.

Glencoe is lovely but why would you want to basically waste a day driving when there is so much to do in the Edinburgh area? Leave Glencoe for another holiday. Do a trip up the West Coast, then over to John O'Groats (which is crap, btw, but Dunnet Head is stunning). Maybe even take a day trip to Orkney (or longer - Orkney is fabulous).

So 3 hours there 3 hours back are you not planning on stopping? Your google maps won't have factored in being stuck on B roads behind coaches and caravans. It is really worth a visit but I don't think you have planned very well with your Sen child stuck in the car.

Thank you, for the Glencoe day we are setting off super early, so prepared for the long drive, but thank you Because in my summer hols impulsive brain I’ve not thought about the traffic and August busy times so will deffo have a re think of this trip, also we have sorted out parking for the Edinburgh castle trip, I know it’s going to be exhausting but we have never been, it’s a one off lifetime thing I think, we may not get to do this again so this is why we are madly cramming everything in the trip, we live more down south than up north but always wanted to visit

Could you maybe do an overnight to glencoe it just seems such a waste just driving then driving back basically 6 to 8 hours in the car.

Have you already booked your Jorvik tickets? You need to book in advance and then just turn up 15mins before your entry slot. They managed the queues really well. I wouldn't try and book in on the day as it gets full really quickly. Walking on the York city walls is free and a great activity. Walking up and down the Shambles is also free and lots of lovely shops and stalls. Have a great day!

Also, unless you are massively into military history, Stirling Castle is a lot more fun, less crowded and less overwhelming than Edinburgh Castle (but still does the whole castle on a rock thing). I would sleep over 1 night in Stirling (stop off to see The Kelpies along the way) and if you are determined to drive to Glencoe and back to Edinburgh in 1day, give yourself a leg up by starting from Stirling.

Thank you, I’m going to put these down in my notes and re figure out our days, all the information is great fully received btw, like I said we’ve never been and could do with advice especially with our daughter, she actually likes a car journey, for her it calms her more than anything, she also suffers with her legs so we wasn’t planning on a big hike, we was thinking of going to the trust centre place at Glencoe , she can have a slow pace and enjoy the sites and my son would probably have a longer wonder, we was aiming to leave about 7am , but I think we need a re think

In Edinburgh, rather the National Museum and/or climb Arthur's Seat

I wouldn’t go to glen Coe from Edinburgh, traffic is bad, roads aren’t dual the whole way. How about Loch Lomond. If you want to visit the highlands, do it another year and stay further north/multiple places.