Help first time family trip

Via Michelin is a good tool for estimating driving times, though it doesn't account for any stops or traffic delays. It shows a 7.5-hour drive from London to Edinburgh, essentially all on motorways so not very scenic. Are you looking for two days in Scotland, not counting the drive from London? Or are you including the driving time (essentially one long day) in your two days? And will you need to return to London within the two days (essentially both days driving with an overnight in Scotland)?

I'd encourage you to learn more about Scotland, starting with our host's material on this website. It's a big and varied place, with two important cities, lots of beautiful rural areas, and many interesting sights. You may find that your two days are better spent closer to London, where you won't spend so much time just getting there and back.

You may get more useful feedback here if you're clearer about your timeline and how Scotland fits into your whole trip, also your family's interests, the time of year, and children's ages.

So, looking at 2 night. So hope to drive down for roughly check-in time and spend the last day exploring after checkout too. So essentially 3 days.

Edinburgh does seems closer but not sure what the little one (6yo) would like.

Wanting to see some of the beauty of Scotland and maybe something activity or experience like thrown in too.

Maybe take the overnight train instead of driving? Two days in Edinburgh (or Glasgow or even one night in each?) with no car sounds far better than driving.
I was recently in Edinburgh and made a day trip to see The Falkirk Wheel and The Kelpies. Loved it. I'm not much for castles, but the Stirling Castle is nearby there. We had lunch in the lovely town of Linlithgow, home to the ruined castle where Mary Queen of Scots was born.

I might be missing something here but are you planning a 2 day trip to Scotland driving to and from London? If so, it’s completely impractical even without a 6 year old. Even if it’s actually 3 days and 2 nights you will spend all day 1 getting there and all day 3 coming back. If you are extremely lucky you might be able to drive to Edinburgh in 7.5 hours - it’s more likely to take longer. And that would be without stops which you would absolutely need. And that’s on very busy motorways seeing very little of the country in between. Obviously there are parts of Scotland a bit nearer but still too far away for me and I suspect that’s not what you have in mind.

Taking the train you could cut the journey time down to a bit over 4 hours plus the time to get to King’s Cross from wherever your start point in London is. But I still wouldn’t do it for such a short visit.

When is this for?

As you've already said 2 days IS too short for a trip like this from London.

Are you aware just how far it is and how long it will take you to get to Scotland? Does that estimate of 10 hours take in stops? You will definitley need them and this could easily add several extra hours to that estimate. That is not a one day drive, especially with a 6 year old.

Driving in the UK is slow and it will take a lot longer to cover distances than you might expect. Also motorway driving may be faster but is deadly boring with minimal views.....

Why Scotland? What are you hoping to achieve in such a short visit, or is it just a tick exercise for another country?

If you must go, then think about the Borders area which is less far to drive than Edinburgh and is relatively quiet as not many tourists visit there. What sort of things does the six year old like? There are beaches, or ruined castles to explore....

You don't say what other places you are visiting during the stay. Is it just London or are you seeing more of England?

To be honest, those two days could be much better spent somewhere closer to London. There's a lot of England waiting to be discovered and a lot of it is child friendly...

I’d get the train from London - it’s 4.5 hours to Edinburgh, comfortable, nice scenery, takes you from city centre to city centre.

You could have a nice trip just in Edinburgh.

Alternatively take the train further - maybe Aberdeen or Inverness then rent a car in Scotland and do your driving where it’s scenic.

Honestly the thought of driving from London to somewhere unspecified in Scotland fills me with horror - mostly hours and hours of thankless driving on motorways till you hit the border.

The Borders or Fife are both lovely (the coastal villages of Fife are an easy drive from Edinburgh incidentally) but I suspect you might have highlands and lochs in mind, in which case you’ll need to go further north.

All the advice above would give me a real reason to pause on this idea. Drive time alone is enough. However, we are supposed to be supportive and genial and encouraging on the RS forums. To that end I would say to go and do the trip. You CAN do it. Plus, you will learn a lot and when you return you can assess whether or not advice here did or did not work out.

Having just endured a journey from Nottingham to home on Skye by car, I would strongly urge you against trying to do London to the highlands for a short trip. Our journey was impacted by delays on the motorways caused by roadworks and weight of traffic, but also by a serious accident, which required the casualties to be air lifted to hospital. We were at a standstill for 3 hours. I would find it very stressful to contemplate a drive from London to northern Scotland and I am an experienced UK driver.