Hello! We'll be completing a Rick Steves tour in Belfast in August and would like to take a ferry to the Scotland coast. Since we'll have no car, we'd like to take a ferry to Edinburgh from there. Any suggestions on where to buy tickets?
Thanks!
Robin
You can find details on how to buy a through ticket that includes the ferry from Belfast to Cairnryan, then onward coach travel to Edinburgh via the site below:
http://www.translink.co.uk/Services/Ulsterbus-Tours/cross-channel/
Or if you prefer the train use https://www.virgintrains.co.uk/ and search from Belfast Port to Edinburgh. However, this journey is more convoluted – Cairnryan to Ayr (bus), Ayr to Glasgow (train), Glasgow to Edinburgh (train).
Unless you have burning desire to do this over land and sea most people would fly.
Thanks so much for your information with this! We are considering flying, but my husband thought the ferry and train trip might be rather scenic. Would anyone recommend this trip by ferry and train?
It's been a while but we spent 3 weeks on the Dingle peninsula and wanted to go to Scotland and then down to London. I looked at air travel but we travel very heavy and it didn't seem to work well. So we drove up to Belfast spent the night and ferried over to Scotland. Had a taxi driver take us to the port, giving a great tour of the city along the way. We enjoyed the ferry. Our first time for anything other than a river ferry. We would recommend it if it fits your travel plans. Arriving in Scotland we picked up a rental car toured Scotland for 5 days the trained down to London.
Oh yes we bought the ferry tickets from the ferry web site before we left home.
The line is considered one of the scenic ones in Scotland, especially if you can start it at Stranraer, a few km south of Cairnryan.
All the journeys involve some changes, but there are a few trains per day that run from Ayr to Edinburgh without need of a change.
