We are scheduled for an 8 day Rick Steves tour on Oct. 9 and plan on coming 10 days early. We will fly into Edinburgh, meet with friends finishing a tour there then driving to Glen Coe and Isle of Skye. The tour starts in Inverness so the question is:
1. Do we drive back to Edinburgh and take the train to Inverness
or
2. Drive through to Inverness and probably pay more for the car rental
and
3. How easy is it to rent a car in Edinburgh versus from the airport?
Our hotel in Inverness is on the river just south of the Castle, how easy is it to get transportation back to the hotel after dropping of the car if that is the choice.
Thanks for any suggestions!
Posted by
Yorkshire
1359 posts
If you hire in Edinburgh and choose to return car there after being in the Highlands in effect you are going to lose a full day out of your time and it would feel very unsatisfactory having to return back to Inverness ,with the train tracks running more or less next to the road you just spent hours driving down.
Getting train from Edinburgh and picking up hire in Inverness should work better and worth taking a hit ,even a biggish one on the hire charge.
The days will be shorting be twilight by 5.45 ish
Posted by
Yorkshire
1359 posts
While Inverness is a big deal in the Highlands, more or less everything is within 3/4 mile radius of the Castle including the Arnold Clark depot.
Posted by
OP
46 posts
Thanks Richard, had not thought of train to Inverness first, then car around the Highlands. My thinking was focused on visiting Stirling Castle on the way to Glen Coe, could maybe do that from Edinburgh before the train, something to think about.
Posted by
Yorkshire
1359 posts
Your plan sounds a good use of time.
What I will also throw in is the A9 down to Edinburgh is no joy to be on at all, it's much improved from it's horrendous mad max racetrack days when it was rated as the most dangerous road in Scotland.
It's very likely the Two together rail ticket would be a good investment , £30 covers the pair of you and gives 1/3 off railfares outside the morning rush hour.
Just out of curiosity ,which airport do you fly out of to head home
Posted by
OP
46 posts
Thanks Richard for the train info. We will fly in and out of Edinburgh.
Posted by
Yorkshire
1359 posts
You might want to check Scotrails ,Spirit of Scotland pass too.
The 15 day variant might be very good value and the Two together pass would give you 30 percent off the pass price.
One extra quandry the passes terms and conditions says it gives you a 20 percent discount on standard Arnold Clark car hire from Edinburgh!.
There used to be many more area passes listed on the main National Rail site
https://www.scotrail.co.uk/tickets/combined-tickets-travel-passes/spirit-of-scotland#content-tab-1
Posted by
Yorkshire
1359 posts
Alternate link on National Rail site
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/prf90d13c35ce741008d5f4736d0e192.aspx