Rail Travel - London / Scotland

With only 13 days there is going to be a limit to how much you can see and do - remember to build in travel times beteween places. The UK isn't that big but it will take you a lot longer to cover distances than you might expect. Also August is peak holiday time and roads and places will be busy.

What do you mean by 'fun places'?

The Edinburgh Festival runs from 1st-25th August and the Tattoo from 1st-23rd August. Edinburgh will be VERY busy (and I do mean VERY) and accommodation prices astronomiclal. It could be great fun, or the stop from hell depending on what you like... It definitely waon't be relaxing! You may want to rethink that stop...

What attracts you to Fort William and Inverness - they are both somewhat uninspiring cities although do have lots of accommodation and are a good base for day trips out.

Have you got any guide books? If not DK Eyewitness Great Britain is a good one to begin with. It has lots of pictures and information which gives a good idea of what places and areas are like. The maps are also sufficiently detailed to help with initial planning. (You don't need the latest version as long as you check latest opening times etc on google. )

I presume you're thinking about taking the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Fort William. That should work well, and taking it combines the costs of both travel and lodging. To go onward to Inverness, you'd want to take a bus. Bus travel in Europe is much better than in the US, but I still wouldn't want to take a long trip on one. Fort William to Inverness is about a 2-hour bus ride, which isn't bad. Inverness to Edinburgh and Edinburgh to London are easy train trips.

Sounds like a wonderful family trip!

wasleys

Thank you for your reply. I get "fun" is subjective. My kids would love to see castles and museums and the such. My wife loves good restaurants. I'd say standard touristy activities.

I was a bit worried about peak period and that could indeed be a problem.

jphbucks

Thank you. Indeed the Caledonian Sleeper piqued my interest.

Out of interest, I had a Quick Look on the Caledonian Sleeper website and saw that for a midweek day in the middle of August next year, some compartments going north were already sold out!

May be worth deciding on whether you want to travel this way fairly soon. Worth knowing that schools in Scotland are on holiday to mid August but then return whereas in England they are on holiday all month.

As stated previously, Edinburgh will be extremely busy and expensive in August due to the Fringe Festival, the Military Tatoo and general holiday travel.

You can take the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Inverness. From there, look at Rabbies Tours for trips around Scotland. These are small van tours with departure points in Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness for western Scotland. These may be a great alternative if you don't want to rent a car.

I think that the Caledonian Sleeper to Fort William is probably a more “scenic route “ than to Inverness. Going north, it gets in at 10am and the last 3 hours would be quite scenic.

In August it will be light from 4am- the Fort William train is scenic (if your berth is on the left hand side of the train) almost all the way from just beyond Glasgow Queen Street Low Level (so just after 6am)- as you have the River Clyde as far as Craigendoran and then the Gareloch (part of the Allied Submarine base- sightings are not unusual) and then Loch Lomond on the other side of the train before reaching Crianlarich where the really great scenery starts.
That is the right hand side of the train leaving Euston as the train reverses direction when it divides into 3 parts at Edinburgh Waverley.

When you arrive at Fort William the morning Jacobite Steam Train will be sat on the other platform.

The Fort William section sells out fast because it is only 4 cars long- 2 sleeper cars, a seated car and the lounge car.

The Inverness section is 7 cars long, and the Aberdeen section 5 cars. The Inverness section is also very scenic north of Perth at 0545, the more so the further north you go- so also the last nearly 3 hours.

I took the train from London to Edinburgh last year (daytime heading North, Caledonia Sleeper heading South). It is a pretty route. But in retrospect, I think it is too short a train ride for doing the sleeper and wouldn't do it again. If you want to just board and immediately go to sleep, it may be fine. But if you think you will have time to get a meal (or two) and have a good night's sleep, you may be disappointed. Plus, it departs so late from Edinburgh that you will have to find something to do, and somewhere for you and your luggage to wait, before getting on your train.

If you can fit it in, I would recommend https://www.beamish.org.uk/. I was there in 1987 and in 2022 and I loved it both times.

It's an open air museum outside Newcastle Upon Tyme.

Beamish is great and the kids will love it, but not the easiest place to get to by public transport.

Beamish has buses twice an hour from Newcastle (a 1 hour ride) as well as from Sunderland (on the Tyne and Wear Metro and through Grand Central trains several times a day from Kings Cross) as well as Chester-le-Street (a minor station on the East Coast Main Line, change at Durham from LNER into a local train).
So not overly hard to get to.
The Newcastle buses also call at Gateshead (on the Tyne and Wear Metro). If you have arrived by train at Newcastle, the Metro to Gateshead then the bus is probably the easier way to catch the bus than going to Eldon Square.
Locally a lot of people use the buses to go to Beamish, hence the pretty good service.