Hello
We will be in Scotland for 7 days and we thought of staying in one place -- Edinburgh. We need to go to Dundee and Livingston in search of family historical records but we also wanted to take the train to Inverness with a stop along the way and take the West Highlands train. Are we missing something by not staying in other towns in Scotland?
Thank you.
Posted by
Washington DC
28065 posts
I hate changing hotels, but beyond a certain distance (varying with the traveler and the circumstamces), some places are just too far away to be good day-trips. Inverness from Edinburgh is one such situation. It is a minimum 3 hr. 26 min. on the train each way. That certainly leaves inadequate time to see Inverness and the place where you want to stop along the way.
The West Highland Railway runs from Glasgow to Mallaig and to Oban. The trip to Mallaig takes over 5 hours one way, and you'd first have to get from Edinburgh to Glasgow (roughly an hour). Clearly, that is not a day-trip. The trip to Oban takes just over 3 hours, but again you must first travel from Edinburgh to Glasgow. Not a day-trip.
Livingston is less than half an hour from Edinburgh. Dundee is 1-1/2 hours away.
Posted by
RIchmond, BC,Canada
932 posts
I would not do Edinburgh to Inverness as a day trip it's just too far. I spent 6 days in Edinburgh and did day trips and spent time in the city and still could have filled a few more days. With 7 nights you only have six days, and some of those days will be used up getting to and from the airport, and recovering from jet lag when you arrive. Staying in one place actually allow you to see and do more as you don't spend precious time packing up and getting to your next location. With such a short stay it's a good idea to stay in one place.
Posted by
Edinburgh
2681 posts
Dundee is very easy to reach by train from Edinburgh ,will take around a hour, Livingstone about 50 minutes by bus from the city centre, loads of buses going various routes. there are trains to Livingston from Edinburgh but the Livingston trains stations a distance from the main town.
Posted by
OP
Oaxaca Mexico
8 posts
Thank you all for your fast replies. I appreciate your comments on trying to do day trips to Inverness or Mallaig. We won't try those trips. I wanted to ask if there are places in the Highlands we could visit on the train that are not so far away and we could visit for the day and return.
Again, thank you for your time..
Posted by
Florida
137 posts
This is one of the best tours we've done. So much covered in a single day and it's free. You can pay what you think it's worth at the end, but there was absolutely no pressure to do so. That tour had us falling in love with the Highlands and the basis for our upcoming trip.
https://www.thehairycoo.com/tour/1-day-free-scottish-highlands-tour-from-edinburgh/