London to Edinburgh by train

Carey,

Like you, I love trains; but I agree with the others that flying from Heathrow to Edinburgh makes sense. If you book well in advance, you can get cheap fares on either BMI or British Airways.

You might want to check the fare for an open jaw ticket (Chicago-Edinburgh, Heathrow-Chicago). If you're booked all the way through from Chicago to Edinburgh and you arrive late at LHR, the airline will be responsible for getting you on the next available flight to Edinburgh.

Take the train back to London. If you book around 60 days in advance on the National Express East Coast site, you can get very cheap discount fares for fast day trains. Or travel overnight on the ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper. If you book well in advance, you can get cheap Bargain Berth fares.

Take a look at the journey planner at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
Use Heathrow as your starting point and Edinburgh (or Edinburgh Waverly) as your destination.

You'll need to determine how you want to get from Heathrow to London, and then get to (probably) King's Cross station for the train to Edinburgh. You're looking at a long day of travel. (There may be others on this chat board who can give you alternatives.)

I just returned from a trip to Edinburgh and one thing I discovered is that there was major construction on the rail lines between Newcastle and Edinburgh. Traveling from York, we were diverted westward to Carlisle, and thence up to Edinburgh. It added nearly two hours more to the trip than we had anticipated. Keep checking the schedules.

Just curious: Why not fly to Edinburgh directly, or at least connect through London? I think you're looking at seven hours or more of train travel, plus the time spent getting out of Heathrow, connecting, etc.

I agree with Matt- flying into LHR, I'd check on BA or other airline, with a flight to Edinburgh. I love the train ride from London up to Edinburgh, but why deal with such a long ride after a flight when you are already at the airport? You could do the train on the way back down if you are returning to London.

We had thought of that, but the direct flights out of Chicago all go through LHR anyway and are much cheaper than flights directly into Edinburgh. We wanted to spend a few days in London at the end of our trip, but maybe we will look into taking a flight from London to Edinburgh on the way there. My family really likes to travel by train, but maybe we will save that for the end of the trip when we come back to London to fly out.

The train travels the same tracks south as it does north. Meaning...you'll see the scenery on the way back to London.

I agree with the others and check into flights. You'll already be a little jet lagged so flying would be easier than trying to get out of Heathrow, get into London, getting to King's Cross, getting your tickets, finding your track, sitting for another 5 hours, etc.

Steve,

If you book far enough in advance, it would be cheaper to fly British Airways directly from LHR to Edinburgh than to take a coach to Gatwick and to fly easyJet from there. I found an advance fare of 43 GBP. And BMI's best fare is a few pounds less than that.

It seems like the difference between transferring by bus from LHR to LGW (over an hour), then allowing enough time to check in and then finally fly to Edinburgh would not be any quicker than taking the train. I just took the train from Edinburgh to London last month and it was a little over four hours. I am not a fan of train travel necessarily, but it was actually quite pleasant and perhaps a would be a nice change of pace after being on a plane for eight hours.

It really seems to be a case of six on one hand half dozen on the other. Perhaps just a preference issue.

The train from London Kings Cross is direct to Edinburgh, Waverly Station.

Have fun and enjoy either way. Remember, vacation is not a destination......it is a state of mind. :)

I have traveled to Scotland many times from Madison via Chicaog. And I agree that it is better to fly directly to Scotland. That said, when I booked my flight this past August flights to Edinburgh were really stupidly expensive. I was actually trying to get to Inverness and I tried many permutations. I ended up taking the train. I did fly back from Scotland via Glasgow to Heathrow, to Chicago to Madison.

So check various options. Also, it might be worth contacting American Airlines and ask them if they are going to reinstitute their direct flight from O'Hare to Glasgow. They stopped it a few years ago but I heard a rumor from a flight attendant that it might come back. The season is May 1 to Oct. 31--or at least it used to be.

Take the Tube directly to King Cross. There you can catch the train to Edinburgh. It's about an hour into King's Cross and about 4 hours to Edinburgh's Waverly station. The one I took went up the East Coast through York, Durham and Berwick. The train I was on had free wireless all the way. Pam

I have traveled to Scotland many times from Madison via Chicaog. And I agree that it is better to fly directly to Scotland. That said, when I booked my flight this past August flights to Edinburgh were really stupidly expensive. I was actually trying to get to Inverness and I tried many permutations. I ended up taking the train. I did fly back from Scotland via Glasgow to Heathrow, to Chicago to Madison.

So check various options. Also, it might be worth contacting American Airlines and ask them if they are going to reinstitute their direct flight from O'Hare to Glasgow. They stopped it a few years ago but I heard a rumor from a flight attendant that it might come back. The season is May 1 to Oct. 31--or at least it used to be.

Take the Tube directly to King Cross. There you can catch the train to Edinburgh. It's about an hour into King's Cross and about 4 hours to Edinburgh's Waverly station. The one I took went up the East Coast through York, Durham and Berwick. The train I was on had free wireless all the way. Pam

I would strongly consider booking an inexpensive flight on a regional carrier (easyjet, ryanair type of airline). The island may look small on a map but it will take a full day to go that far. It may be even be cheaper to fly. Best of luck!

We took the train from London Kings Cross to Edinburgh's Waverly Station and it was a little over four and a half hours. If I remember correctly, they had hourly trains leaving London, so depending on how early your flight lands, you could take an 8am train and be in Edinburgh in time for lunch. Also, the Tube goes directly from LHR to Kings Cross, so no need to transfer in order to make it to the train station from the airport. The price was also very good: 14 GBP per person. I'm not suggesting that flying is not a good option, but the train option is not a bad one either and you get a bit of scenery.

The deal breaker for me would be if you had to transfer airports to fly to Edinburgh (at that point, you might as well take the train since it would roughly take you the same amount of time) or if the flight to Edinburgh was way expensive.