Scotland rail travel

For any pass the answer is always "do the math." If you really, really know when you will be going you can buy discount ticket on Brit Rail but that is totally inflexible. The other option is point to point where you will pay full sticker price although some are off peak. It depends when you are traveling. The rail pass lets you pick and choose when you travel and you are governed by the rules of your pass. This provides the most flexibility and can (repeat "can") save you some money over individual tickets. To find out, I suggest you go to the Brit Rail link on Rick's rail pass page (near the bottom), put in your destinations and see how the costs add up. They used to be a better deal than they currently are but they can still be a reasonably good buy.

Since you will be traveling as much as possible all over the country, the BritRail Freedom of Scotland Pass looks like the one you'll want. If you literally are going to be on trains every day, then the 8 days out of 15 pass probably would be your best choice. If not, then buy the 4 days out of 8 pass and buy point-to-point tickets for any short rides you take on any additional days. Go to the National Rail site to get fares for point-to-point tickets. I don't think you can buy the pass in Scotland. Buy it from home.

I always buy a pass prior to going. I figure how many days I am going to travel and buy the appropriate pass. Two reasons to share: 1.) You can hop on any train and just show your pass. My daughter forgot something at the hotel- we got off our train, and took the train back to retrieve the item and hopped on the next train going in our direction-this could be very expensive without a pass: example- 2.) we were traveling last summer and a young man on the seat across the aisle had bought a ticket but missed the train and got on ours. He was charged an ADDITIONAL 50 pounds for a very short journey.