Hello!
I wanted to get some advice from fellow travelers about part of my itinerary. Our trip begins and ends in Manchester but our focus is Scotland. We will travel to York, Edinburgh, St. Andrews, Isle of Skye and Gencoe before we begin our journey back to Manchester. We plan to spend the last night in Manchester but we have a free night in between Glencoe and Manchester. I wanted advice on where to drop off our rental car and take the train back to Manchester. My initial thought is to drive from Glencoe to Stirling and stay the night. The next morning it seems easiest to drop the car off in Stirling (Celtic Legends allows this.) and take the train to Manchester from there. Do you see a problem with that logic? I considered Glencoe to Glasgow but it seemed a bit daunting plus we like the idea of seeing Stirling. Another option would be to drive from Stirling to Edinburgh to drop off the car and catch a direct train from Edinburgh. Does anyone have a recommendation? We prefer to keep it as simple as possible since we are not used to driving in Scotland and not extremely familiar with train travel.
Thanks so much for your help!!
Ginger
Posted by
Lake District, England
5824 posts
One of those questions with multiple answers.
The problem with a car drop in Edinburgh is you then have to catch a bus or tram into Edinburgh, and Waverley station is not the easiest station in the world to find your way round.
What about catching the LNER direct train from Stirling to York at 1034 (it is the Inverness to London train), switching trains at the much easier York station to a York to Manchester Airport direct train- which leaves York 25 minutes later.
That gets you to Manchester Airport by just after 4 pm.
Switching at Edinburgh and catching a direct train via the Lake District is half the price- but maybe via York is the easier option. Also the Edinburgh to Manchester Airport direct trains are currently frequently terminating at short notice at Preston or Lancaster, forcing an extra switch.
York to MAN is hourly.
If a rail strike was announced two weeks previously would you be able to switch your car drop off from Stirling to Manchester?
Posted by
OP
27 posts
Those are great ideas! I will ask the rental company the question about changing drop off points if necessary! And it seems you agree with me that Stirling to Manchester by train is a good idea - just need to choose the best route. I thought the same thing about dropping off in Edinburgh - seemed to add more time to the trip when considering travel from car rental to the train station. Thanks for making me feel better about my thought process!