Going to Edinburgh (2 days), Bath (2.5 days with 1 day bus trip to Cotswold), then London (5 days to visit son), end of April. Flying from JfK. Thinking about flying into Edinburgh and then flying back from Heathrow. Best way to get to Bath from Edinburgh? Itinerary is flexible, can do Bath first.
Have 2 travelers over 60, does it make sense to get senior card or 2 together? Does this work for Heathrow express? Does standard class have enough room for luggage?
Thanks
"Does standard class have enough room for luggage?"
It depends how busy the individual services are, its impossible to say.
As too which rail card, this will depend on the days and times and the amount journeys you are going to undertake. It might be cheaper getting Super Off Peak tickets, but they are restrictive with little to no flexibility.
"Best" way to get from Edinburgh to Bath is subjective. Do you mean fastest? Cheapest? Easiest?
The train will take between 6.5 and 7 hours including at least one change.
Easyjet offers flights from Edinburgh to Bristol. From there it's a combination bus/train for an hour to Bath.
The flight will save you an hour or two but has more changes.
If you decide to use the trains, note that Cross Country Trains go from Edinburgh to Bristol Temple Meads (15 minutes by another train to Bath) but CC go via Newcastle & York - which is a longer route by about an hour. The quickest & shortest route is to go with Avanti West Coast via Carlisle to Birmingham and then Cross Country Trains to Bristol - where you change to a GWR train for Bath.
Swapping Bath for York would be much easier as York is on the East Coast Mainline from Edinburgh to London King’s Cross.
Buying a through ticket from Edinburgh to Bath can be very expensive. It is best to buy in Advance (maybe 9 weeks out) for specific trains and split tickets works out cheaper. Test out these sites as they will tell you your options. Note that they take a commission on the amount saved. If you don’t want to pay that commission - you can book with them but each leg separately having first noted down the tickets to buy.
https://www.traintickets.com/?/
https://v3.trainsplit.com
Note that Easyjet charge for baggage in hold.
Is Bath absolutely necessary? You don’t have that much time. It would be so much easier to stop in York or somewhere else on the East Coast Mainline train. It’s very easy to get the train from Edinburgh to London but going via Bath makes it quite a difficult journey with a lot of travelling time.
It's very easy to go London to Bath, especially from Heathrow. And it is cheaper to fly home from Edinburgh rather than Heathrow because of the large exit surcharge from Heathrow? Might you revise the order--London first, then Bath, the Edinburgh and home, or go directly from Heathrow to Bath (convenient bus from airport) , back to London, and then up to Edinburgh (one train from King's Cross) and home?
We took a car service from Bath to Bristol, and then EasyJet from there to Edinburgh for a very reasonable cost. Sure you can do the same in reverse.
Thanks so much.
