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Edinburgh to Glasgow day trip train info and/or possible tour guide

My friend and I are planning a day trip from Edinburgh to Glasgow. Once we get there, we plan to explore some of her family heritage, which includes some spots 1 to 2 miles out of the city center. Does anyone know if there's an open-ended ticket with which to travel to Glasgow and also travel on the city's buses or trains to get around semi-freely, without a bunch of train reservations. Or else, we may just hire a tour guide (didn't find any name in the RS book) to take us around. If you know any guide names, especially ones dealing with genealogy trip.

Posted by
17417 posts

As I recall from our 2014 trip, Edinburgh to Glasgow is a commuter train with no reservations. They are frequent so just pick the one that works. Hopefully someone else can answer about local transport around Glasgow. We walked most everywhere but did use a cab once when it was pouring rain.

Posted by
533 posts

An off-peak day return (i.e., round-trip) ticket from Edinburgh to Glasgow is GBP 12.70. You can travel on any trains between the two cities that you like with no reservations (except those departing before 9:15 AM or so - if you want to get an early start, you need an Anytime ticket, which costs somewhat more). There are frequent trains throughout the day.

For an extra GBP 3.20, you can add a Glasgow PlusBus ticket, which gets you unlimited travel on buses all around the Glasgow area. More information about that is here: http://www.plusbus.info/glasgow

If you want to take Glasgow's Metro train or commuter trains, those would not be included in the PlusBus ticket. But as I recall, they're not too expensive, and they don't require reservations.

Posted by
11294 posts

Khbuzzard, that BusPlus add-on is a GREAT deal! A day ticket for just the First buses was £4.50. Thanks for the heads-up.

As for guide names, I have Rick's Great Britain book; on page 793 near the bottom, he lists two local guides. (I know the Glasgow chapter is identical in his Scotland book and his Great Britain book, but of course the page numbers are different).

Here's who he lists:

Joan Dobbie: £120/half-day, £140/day, tel. 01355/236-749, mobile 07773-555-151, [email protected]
Colin Mairs: £100/half-day, £150/day, mobile 07716-232-001, www.ExcursionScotland.com, [email protected]