Stirling to EDI

As a rule ,I always stay at the airport of departure the night before a flight home . Generally my return flights leave early AM , and I find it less stressful than hustling to the airport in advance of a flight . Stirling is about 40 miles from EDI , and at the time you would be making your trip , inbound rush hour to Edinburgh will be at its height .

I think that is entirely reasonable, in July, to travel in from Stirling.
Weather is very unlikely to affect you.
Noon flight, sticking to the 3 hour rule is a 9am arrival.
If you travel by direct coach you can catch the 0702, and be there at 0803, even the next one at 0832 arrives at 0932 which is still more than enough time when the check in desk (if it's Delta or BA closes at 1100).
If by train you are changing into the tram at Edinburgh Park (not Waverley or Haymarket)- half hourly service Stirling to EP (39 minute journey), then tram every few minutes-
Assuming not a Sunday the 0704 train is your ideal, but the 0729 or even 0809 will still get you to the Airport by 0900, and the next two trains by 1000.
So you could plan to travel by train, then switch to coach if there was a massive train problem.
I think I would choose to travel by direct coach, but that's me.
Travelling in at 0700 will be before morning peak traffic.

I'm with steven on this one. I agree that it's certainly doable but for me, the stress of dealing with public transportation on the morning of my departure would not be fun. It would be different if you were staying in the city but traveling from Stirling will take transfers and more time.

I like my departure day to be as easy as possible. I want to get up, have a nice breakfast (if time allows), gather my thoughts and my luggage and calmly make my way to the airport. A commute from Stirling would not allow me to do that. But that's me. YMMV.

That's an easy run into Edinburgh from Stirling. I would stay there if you have found somewhere pleasant, you've plenty of time to get to the airport and it will only take an hour or just over. The 0832 Megabus would get you there by 0930. Even if long haul you have enough time as Edinburgh really doesn't need the full three hours recommendation, and for short haul you are well ahead of time.

jgdh brought up a good point. Do you have a European layover on the way back? If so, you only need to be at the airport 2 hours ahead of time, so you could certainly take that into consideration.

I haven’t done this in Scotland, but many who visit Switzerland spend their last night in Lucerne, which is just over an hour from the Zurich airport.

I never understood the need to stay at an airport or in the departure city unless you have a super early flight. Does everyone stay at the airport in the US the night before their flight to Europe?

Also should add, I’m not sure if you know this, but there is no passport control when departing from EDI. So, you don’t have to worry about a long line for that. You just go thru security and walk to your gate. I just returned from there and found the airport very manageable.

The Megabus is the same as the Citylink coach. Megabus and Citylink "codeshare" on the Inverness and Aberdeen routes, but they are normally Citylink liveried vehicles. I don't know about Stirling to Edinburgh Airport but on the longer journeys to Inverness and Aberdeen fares for the identical seat can be up to £30 cheaper on the Megabus website than on the Citylink website.

security was interesting.

Can you elaborate?

Just. follow up to say that leaving from Stirling to EDI worked beautifully. In a way, it was the equivalent of flying open-jaw, because we got to begin and end our trip in two very different, interesting, and worthwhile locations.

We used the 8:32 Megabus, which was simple and straightforward, arrived by 9:30 and then we were through security within 15 minutes thanks to an efficient queueing system. Lines to check bags appeared to be long and slow, but we were carry-on only so that was not an issue.

Thanks for the input, everyone!

We seldom stay at a hotel when we visit, but had an early flight out of EDI and booked the Hampton Inn- airport. We were pleasantly surprised. The food was decent, they had a fairly well stocked bar. It is on airport property and staff was extremely helpful. The breakfast buffet was well stocked and surprisingly good.

Hampton Inn Airport 5 Almond Ave. Ingliston, Edinburgh EH12 9GN
44 131 370 9999

At the end of our trip using public transport, we were grateful we decided to stay at the airport! We had no worries about making connections for our flight.
Granted it is a somewhat nicer Hampton, but it is a standard hotel.

Just a thought.

Just. follow up to say that leaving from Stirling to EDI worked
beautifully.

Glad it worked out. Thanks for reporting back.