Traveling from Edinburgh

[danascully96]

Hi,

Apologies for all my questions in this post.

I'll be living and working in Edinburgh this summer thanks to my university sponsoring me (paying for my plane ticket/groceries/room and board). Some of my work will be remote, so I will have opportunities to travel during the week.

Of course, one of the best things about being in the UK is its proximity to so many different countries. Although I've noticed that flying out of Edinburgh during the summer means high prices, London is a different story. Even flying to Istanbul from London is under $100 in July (I'm American, so I'm viewing everything from the USD). Should I fly to London and then fly to the other destinations? Has anyone ever done that? I'm on a budget😫

I might have to pare down my far-off destinations to only a few -- here's my list: Istanbul, Budapest, Bern, Ljubljana, Amsterdam, and Madeira/Lisbon.

I definitely plan to also travel around the UK while I'm in Edinburgh -- York, Stratford-upon-Avon, and the Lake District spring to mind.

What would you say is the cheapest way to get around the UK? Are there any must-see sights you'd recommend?

Thanks!

If you have a few weeks together where you could travel around Europe you might be better doing all of the places you want to go to together via Interrail rather than pay for individual flights. DC1 has done this and managed about 6 countries.

School holidays in Scotland are between the end of June and Mid August so yes, flights are expensive then. You could consider flying from Newcastle or Manchester. You can get the train from Edinburgh very quickly to both so that’s an option.

When you say you’re here (Edinburgh) over the summer, when?

Skyscanner is good for prices but not all airlines use it. I don’t think jet 2 who fly from Edinburgh do. Also, oddly, it can be cheaper to do a package with jet 2, easyJet etc so you’re booking flights and accommodation together. We’ve just found that looking at Lisbon. EasyJet holidays were cheaper than flight and hotel separately.

Travelling around the UK, train is probably your best bet —altho they’re fond of strikes atm! Were in york, you can get a direct train to edinburgh in a lot 2.5 hours

The others, I’d try and fly from manchester / edinburgh/ glasgow / newcastle. Connecting flights via london airports (none of which are actually in london so you can’t get a direct train there) often get cancelled or delayed so for me it’s worth paying a bit extra

Also check the ferries - you can go direct on an overnight from Newcastle to Amsterdam

https://www.directferries.co.uk/newcastle_amsterdam_ferry.htm

The overnight ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam is good fun, I'd do that and then link into the train network.
Look up The Man in Seat 61 website for route planning and booking guidance.

As a resident of the Central Belt myself, it is indeed frustrating that our flights are more expensive and our options limited 😩 What I do to get the best deal:
Always search flights from all 3 airports I could reasonably use: Glasgow, Prestwick, Edinburgh.
Find the best value flights then decide on my holiday using that airport, rather than pick destination first. So you might need to leave your wish list to one side and start again, picking some cheap flights and then looking at onward travel by train once you get there. Trains are almost always cheaper and better on the continent than in the UK, sadly. Or even just pick some new cities.
It all sounds fabulous, I hope you get some good trips booked! Enjoy the madness of living in Edinburgh over the summer as well.

If you are travelling in the UK with a friend/partner/colleague, you can get a 2 together card. It lasts 1yr and gives you 30% off train travel after peak hour- but only when you both travel together. We recently got the train from london to Edinburgh, and made the cost of the card back in that 1 trip alone. If you are a student though, you might get additional travel discounts. Two Together Railcard (twotogether-railcard.co.uk)
Skyskanner and seat 61 websites are also useful for other travel.

Oh and I highly recommend going to Leiden instead of Amsterdam ( not far away) like a more peaceful, more beautiful, less touristy Amsterdam but still has lots of good museums.

@CadyEastmanThat's a great suggestion. I think my job will be remote enough where I can have a few weeks to travel by rail. That's much more sensible than my original plan of flying back-and-forth😅

@surfacedeamon I'll be in Edinburgh from mid-May to mid-August. Interesting about the easyJet/jet 2 package deals, I'll play around with those. I'd probably be staying in hostels is the only thing, but those deals are enticing.

@LittleMy77 York looks SO dreamy. Of course, riding a train in the British countryside will make me insufferably twee and sentimental, though😉I feel the same about an overnight ferry from Newcastle to Amsterdam.

I'm adding Manchester/Glasgow/Newcastle to my flight searches. Thank you!

You know the fringe festivals are on in august? You might not want to go anywhere while the worlds biggest arts festival is on.

on the other hand, everyone from York/cambrigse/oxford
Comes up for it so you might want to take the chance to escape the overstuffed city and visit theirs while if quiet,

@Wbeezer Just checked out the Man in Seat 61 -- truly a traveler's gold mine!

And Leiden is now on my list! Swell recommendation (ashamedly, I just learned that Rembrandt grew up there from my Googling).

@Newname2308 Thank you, I'm psyched to explore the UK/Europe. Wise to look at flight prices and then make a list from there. I was clearly stuck in the daydreaming phase😜

Like you said, I've also noticed that airfare in the UK is comparable, if not better, than the train prices depending on where you're going (i.e., London).

As for Fringe, I'll likely spend a couple of days celebrating the festival and then spend a few weeks in Europe as the end of my stint abroad. Thank you for the well wishes!

@CJ4713 Thank you! I currently plan to do most of my traveling alone, but I have a few friends from the US who plan to use my trip to Edinburgh to visit me for a week.

Maybe I'll make a friend in Edinburgh to join me in my travels, but for now, I'm drawing on some inner girl power for bravery💪 If I do befriend a traveling buddy, we'll definitely cash in on this deal!

And alas, I'm not a student, but I will be an extern at the University of Edinburgh, so who knows if I can get an ID card for student discounts.

Thank you again to everyone for your fabulous advice! It is all very reassuring.

If you decide on Interrail (or rather Eurail as you’re American, but it’s just a different name for the same thing) I’m on a FB group called Interrail and Eurail travelers. Full of useful posts.
A Eurail pass would also allow you to travel by train within the UK.

The Edinburgh Festival/the Fringe isn’t something you celebrate, it’s an arts festival, which means that there are hundreds of music, comedy and drama performances to see. It’s worth more than “a couple of days” and it would be madness to leave the city when you have cheap accommodation there, unless you really really hate the arts.

Agree.

People travel to go to the Festival from all over the world.

At the very least get a ticket fifvtge Tattoo, take in some shoes and spend a few days wandering around d watching the street performers

Ticket for the Tattoo

Sorry about the weird typo

@stealtheatingtunnocks After reading the comments, I'm thoroughly convinced I should take full advantage of Fringe and was being daft before. Fewer crowds in York may be appealing, but Fringe is not to be missed!

@MrsFezziwig I'll take a look at the FB group -- a Eurail pass sounds perfect.

@Heather37231 Yes, "celebrate" was the wrong word.

I was under the wrong impression -- I'd read so many posts talking about how "crazy" Edinburgh gets in August, I thought that meant I'd want to leave after a few days, but you're right that I should stay for as long as I can. It looks spectacular!

It’s mad here in august. There are about 3000 shows, plus the international and film festivals. Some of it is brilliant, a lot is not, but seeing weird/awful shows is part of why it’s so good. People get forensic and plan their days with shows from 09:00 til 05:00, I’m not kidding. You can see really good stuff with the free fringe shoes and street performers if you are lucky. Agree about getting a tattoo ticket, but take a rug, it gets chilly. And don’t bother with the early show, you want the fireworks.
the last night of the fringe is brilliant, get up Calton hill with a bottle of wine and a pal and watch the fireworks.

thereS quite a lot to see in Scotland. If you like castles and history and islands and sheep and shit. Get one if those wee hop on hop off bus tours. And if you do that get some Avon skin so soft, it’s the best thing for the midges.

@stealtheatingtunnocks Wow, thank you for the Fringe itinerary!

My second year of law school back in the US starts on August 26th for me, but maybe I could stay 2 extra days for the finale...

I've been to Scotland before and adore it -- Edinburgh's so witchy and mysterious, I couldn't stop thinking about it after I left.

I plan to visit St. Andrews, Isle of Skye, and Glencoe again as well. Def want to see the coos & sheep, too! <3 I'll pick up som Avon as well, but honestly I'm going to be working on a small budget so will have to keep luxuries to a minimum.

Oh, don’t miss school for the fireworks, it’s great but not life changing.

what an amazing opportunity you have. I’d like to do this in the USA but I am very old and not studying law. Or anything!

I think flying from other airports can be a false economy and if you’re only going for a few days it’s going to take you most of a day to get to Manchester airport as it’s 3.5 hours by train, plus your check in time and time you’d need to allow for any delays or cancellations. I’d only consider flying from Glasgow or Newcastle if I was going away for at least a week and MAN if I was going long haul for longer. I have access to free accommodation and parking near MAN and I’ve still never found it preferable to flying out of EDI 30 minutes from my front door!
locally I would look at 1 or 2 day tours with Rabbies or Timberbush to see parts of Scotland which might not be served by train.
Arran is very doable by train, boat and then bus around the island.
Glasgow, Newcastle, St Andrews and Stirling are all good day trips by train from Edinburgh. You can also do Blair Atholl and Blair Castle and then stop off in Pitlochry on the way back for a day with a real highland feel.
york deserves at least a one night stay.
Train to Penrith and then bus to Keswick for a weekend in the Lake District.
if you want coos and sheep then the royal highland show will be on just near the airport in June.
how old are you? You might eligible for a young persons railcard.

Have you considered visiting Bristol and Bath? You can fly into Bristol Airport and then take the bus into Bristol (there's no rail link between the airport and the cities and as its quite far out in the countryside. There is a rail link between the 2 cities and it only takes about 20 minutes on the train). I wouldn't bother hiring a car as both places have clean air zones, residents parking zones and tortuous one way systems .

@stealtheatingtunnocks do you mean last night of the fringe or tattoo fireworks?the end of fringe ones got scrapped last year 😢