Train vs Plane for various parts of our UK trip

Question: After London, our next stop is Inverness to start a hiking
tour - Is it better to take the train from London to Inverness or to
fly? If we fly, we can explore Inverness for a day and, of course, it
is faster. If we take the train, we might get to see more of England
and Scotland. Has anyone taken the train and do you recommend it for
the scenery?

A day to explore Inverness is a lot more than you need, it is not the most interesting place in Scotland. The scenery along the route is partly very scenic. Another option is the overnight train which saves you a bit travel time but still give you a bit of highland scenery.

Question: Should we take the train from Inverness to Edinburgh or fly?
The advantage of flying here, would be to have more time to explore
Edinburgh since I know one half day isn't nearly enough. But I have
heard the train is a lovely way to see the Scottish countryside as
well. Has anyone taken the train?

There are no flights between Inverness and Edinburgh. To fly between the cities you'd need to fly via London which to be honest would be silly.

I doubt that you will really save any time at all on a flight from Inverness to Edinburgh. The extra time needed at either end is not like flying from London but you will still need time to get out to the airport in Inverness and into Edinburgh city, plus at least an hour to get checked in and boarded at INV, as well as the flight time. The train takes 3 hours 45 minutes from city centre to city centre and you have the advantage of seeing the countryside on the way.
From London to Inverness makes more sense to fly as you will save some time. But all it’s likely to do is give you time in Inverness itself, which is a decent place to stay but doesn’t have an awful lot for tourists to see. There are sites nearby but you will need some time to see them without a car and they may be on your tour anyway.
Edit: I didn’t even think to check that there were flights from INV to EDI. It’s many years since I needed to fly up from MAN for work on a day trip a few times and there were flights then to both EDI and GLA.

Do keep an eye on the train strikes, which are usually one day , and be flexible to train the day before or after. Good luck!

Thank you all! I didn't even realize there might not be flights from Inverness to Edinburgh! I guess that settles that! Seems best to take the train for sure on that leg. And probably also from London to Inverness although I did just see about the strikes. Hoping that will all be over by the end of the summer.

I think that we would all like to see the disputes settled but I would note that we must be coming to the first anniversary of some of them. They were certainly happening in June last year.

I would argue for taking the daily direct day train from London King's Cross. North of Newcastle that route gets very scenic. It arrives at Inverness at about 8pm. But it is a full day trip.
But in the interests of fairness there are flights from London Heathrow, Gatwick (both on BA) and Luton airports. The Luton one (on Easyjet) is usually late morning, and you can find fares as low as £20 before baggage and seat selection fees.
On the way in from the airport you could get a taxi to take you via Culloden and Clava Cairn as they are that side of the city anyway.

You will see the same scenery as you would have on the way up from London, on the train back to Edinburgh afterwards. It's certainly a train journey worth doing.

Alternatively if you caught an early flight, then the train in from the Airport to Inverness you should be there early enough to take the afternoon boat trip out on Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle (the link buses run from the Bus Station, adjacent to the Railway Station).

If you took the Caledonian Sleeper up, then at the end of August it'll still be light enough to enjoy the best of the scenery north of Perth.

The train covers the same track between Inverness and Edinburgh so no need to do it twice. I've take the train numerous times between Edinburgh and London and the scenery is nice in the northern part of England and southern Scotland. But, when I had to go between London and Inverness just prior to the pandemic, I flew. It would have been too much train time.

So my suggestion:

Fly between London and Inverness. (I flew Easyjet from Gatwick.)

Train between Inverness and Edinburgh.

I don't know the exact dates you're traveling, but Loganair flies between Inverness and Dublin a few times a week. Nonstop. But......I'd stick with your original plan to fly out of Edinburgh as the scenery is worth it.

isn31c, thank you for such detailed advice. This is our first trip to the UK so I am having a hard time with geography and distances. I believe we are staying in Belgravia and will not have a car. I will check out where those other airports are but would probably need something close.

And Frank, as always, extremely good recommendations - much appreciated! I now realize that of course we'd be seeing some of the same scenery on both trains - duh. So I am pretty sure now that we'll fly from London to Inverness (maybe spend more time in London and get into Inverness later) and then the train from Inverness to Edinburgh and that will be enough train.

I now realize that of course we'd be seeing some of the same scenery
on both trains - duh.

A train has two sides, and travelling on the route twice allows you to see both sides of the scenery.

If you are going to fly from London to Inverness, and are staying near Belgravia, make life easy on yourself and stick to either Heathrow (LHR) or Gatwick (LGW). They will be a lot easier to get to than Luton.

I'm going to stick with my suggestion of a plane versus a train from London to Inverness. It's an eight hour train ride and that is a long time on a train. I travel a few times a year from Dundee to London and even without changes it's a 5 1/2 hour journey. Next time, I'm thinking of flying. (Luckily no need to get there two hours early as there is only one gate and the terminal is the size of a large house. No jets. Just turboprops.)

If you're staying in Belgravia then it really depends on what flight suits you better- as, depending slightly on where you are, it is as easy to access Victoria for Gatwick, as to access the Piccadilly line for Heathrow.
Gatwick is probably a bit faster, but there is not really that much in it, in the overall scheme of things.

Good point about both sides of the train, Badger! ;) But eight hours is a long time and i think I'll go with the one train in Scotland for the experience. When I search for flights I'll definitely hit the "consider airports nearby" button - I actually didn't realize we could fly out of other airports in London. So all good advice. Any recommendations about using Uber in London - is it the same as here? Or do people still use taxis?

Both taxis and uber are popular. In fact, many taxis are also Uber.

Uber is used the same in the UK as in the states. Use the app.

Great - thanks, Frank II.

We have used the train between London and Edinburgh twice. The scenery is pleasant but not especially scenic except for a few brief stretches. Flying to Inverness would be quicker. Inverness is pleasant along the river, but if you have an extra day there you could instead visit Culloden and Clava Cairns or go the other direction and visit Urquhart Castle which is touristy but still an interesting ruin.

Thank you, Cynthia. I do think we'll fly. How did you get from Inverness to these places and sites? We won't have a car.

Rabbies offers numerous tours out of Inverness.

I've taken a few one day tours with them and they were excellent. Including one out of Inverness.

Perfect - thank you!!

It looks like it is much less expensive to fly out of Gatwick to INV than LDH to INV. But from Belgravia to get to GAT is 1.75 hrs and it is only about 1 hr to get to LHR. Does this sound right? I was wondering if there is a better way to get to either airport than taxi or Uber, like maybe a good train? Any thoughts on all this?

Also - does anyone know anything about "Easy Jet"? This is the airline that flies out of Gatwick. The flight out of LHR would be on British Air.

Depending on where you're staying in Belgravia (very posh) Victoria train station could be a 5-minute walk away or longer. From Victoria, trains to Gatwick take about 30 - 40 minutes.

The Tube from Victoria to LHR would take about an hour.

Easy Jet is a long-established well-known budget airline with a good reputation.

Thank you, Ramblin'. So, if I'm interpreting this correctly, if we take the tube from Belgravia to Gatwick it will be shorter in time than to LHR. But if we were to take a taxi or Uber, it would be longer?

I have another dumb question - is the "Tube" system a subway and different than what people refer to as the "Train" system?

Would it be reasonable when we arrive to take the Tube from LHR to Victoria Station and walk (wheeling our duffles) to our Belgravia B&B (the Lime Tree recommended by RS was full!) and then when it is time to leave London, take the Tube from Belgravia (Victoria STation) to Gatwick so we could reserve the cheaper flight from Gatwick to Inverness, which is our next stop?

The Tube is also known as the Underground. Yes, it’s a subway system but never called a subway in London. Trains are different.

You take a train out of London to Gatwick. We can offer bespoke advice if you're prepared to say exactly where in Belgravia (there’s a B&B called the Belgravia but Belgravia is also a district). Under no circumstances take a taxi out to Gatwick – far too long compared to the train.

Yes is the answer to your third paragraph. ( Tube LHR to central London; train from central London to Gatwick).

The tube is an underground train system, like the New York subway. You can get to Victoria by using the Piccadilly line tube from LHR with a simple change at Hammersmith to a District line train. BUT where exactly are you staying? It may be that Victoria is not the best station for you.
The tube does not run to Gatwick. You need a regular train, which you can catch from Victoria station (not the tube station). Don't get the branded Gatwick Express - it's a well marketed train which is much more expensive than a regular Southern train, but only a few minutes quicker.
Don't whatever you do use any form of road transport from central London to Gatwick. The route is purgatory, will take much longer than the train and cost around £100

I am so glad I asked! Thank you for all this great advice and education. A friend was just telling me how horrible it was driving to and from the airport(s) was when they were there. So I'm very open to advice on better ways to do this.

We are staying at a B&B on Ebury St. If anyone can tell me which tube-train to get on at LHR and what stop to get off, I'd love to know. And do I need to transfer to a second (tube) train as someone mentioned above? I tried to find the right map and it may be less than a 5 min walk which is probably okay pulling our bags? (I'm sure we'll be a tired mess, but I think we can push through.)

Then on our way out, from what everyone has said, we should book a TRAIN train (not tube!) and leave from Victoria Station to Gatwick Airport? Is that just one train ride and should we book it ahead of time? I plan to book another train in Scotland and apparently that can't be done until 11 weeks ahead.

If you can't already tell, we are not seasoned travelers and are in our 60s so no detail is too small! Thanks again.

Ebury Street is pretty much next door to Victoria Station.

From LHR you take the Tube to Hammersmith. Change to an eastbound District Line Tube to Victoria. Walk to your B&B.

Leaving, walk from your B&B back to Victoria, taking a train to Gatwick. Buy tickets on the day no need to book it’s a commuter service. You can take the more expensive branded Gatwick Express train or take a regular train that calls at Gatwick.

Trains are very frequent – like every ten minutes. Just ask at the station someone will help. It will all make sense on the day.

Tube map (pdf document) https://tfl.gov.uk/cdn/static/cms/documents/standard-tube-map.pdf

You don't even need a ticket to Gatwick- just use your Oyster or Contactless, travelling on Southern. That happens to be the cheapest way (cheaper than a paper ticket) but is also the most convenient. Just be sure to have £9.50 credit (off peak) or £17.50 (peak) left on your Oyster (if using that rather than contactless)

PS- internal trains in Scotland are on an 8 week booking window indefinitely, not 11 weeks.

The tube change at Hammersmith is from one platform to the adjacent one, literally 20 feet. If you time it right it is perfectly possible to walk off the first train and on to the second without stopping.

This is so great - many, many thanks to you all!

Just to clarify - both the tube and the train leave from Victoria Station?