Transportation between London and Edinburgh

Personally I would take the train but don't know the time line. If it was more than six or seven hours I would consider flying.

I believe there is still an overnight (sleeper) train getween london and Edinburgh. I took it a while back, very convenient. They wake you up with coffee about an hour before you arrive. i think arrival in Edinburgh is about 7 am. I recommend it. There is also a simllar between Glasgow and London.

Nancy, The trip between London and Edinburgh is relatively quick by train, so I wouldn't recommend using budget airline on that route. For example, there's a direct train departing London King's Cross at 07:00, arriving Edinburgh at 11:32 (time 4H:32M). I doubt very much whether this would be any quicker by air, when all factors are considered. However, I didn't check on the prices (one way could be as high as £205). Rail travel in Britain tends to be among the most expensive in Europe, so that's something you'll have to consider also. You could also consider travel by Coach (Bus). For example, National Express has a direct Coach departing London Victoria Coach Station at 09:00, arriving Edinburgh at 18:35. The Fares shown start at £12.50. Happy travels!

While standard fares for long-distance trains are expensive, advance purchase discount fares are very cheap. The anytime fare for London-Edinburgh during the day is £146. The cheapest online discount fare is £12. Book at www.eastcoast.co.uk. Discount fares are posted about 60 days in advance. The night train is the Caledonian Sleeper. Bargain berths go on sale 12 weeks in advance and can cost as little as £19. Book at www.scotrail.co.uk.

There are two direct train routes from London to Edinburgh. There is the East Coast Main Line, temporarily operated by East Coast after the government took it over after the last two gangs to try operating it paid too much. It, as described above, goes from Kings Cross up the east coast via, among others, York, into Waverly station, much of the route is at 125 mph. The other route is the West Coast Main Line, operated by Virgin Trains, from Euston station via Rugby, Stafford (bypassing or optionally calling at Birmingham), Crewe, Carlisle and Glasgow. It has a much windier route so uses tilting 125 mph trains. The West Coast route goes through the Lake District. There are many positives about both routes. If it were me I'd consider prices and benefits of both before choosing.

Many thanks for all of your suggestions! Since we like train travel, we're leaning in that direction. Would it make sense to take the East Coast route to Edinburgh and the West Coast route on the way back to London? Since our dates are firm, I can easily purchase tickets ahead of time. Are these websites friendly to Americans or are they connected to Rail Europe? And, what are the options for retrieving tickets? Again, thanks so much for your help. The Helpline makes travel planning a breeze!

If you are doing a sleeper train, you dont see much of the scenery, possibly the last hour. We travelled east Coast route and what we saw in the morning was pleasant

Nancy The East Coast route - faster, straighter, some coast views (on the east side of the train), probably more comfortable train as you are either on HSTs or former provincial Eurostar trains which were diverted to East Coast. You go through York, although if you don't get off you won't see much. Its been a few years since I did that one, and I remember the scenery being nice but I wasn't overwhelmed. The West Coast route - full disclosure - I work on that route so I'm a little biased. Also, I have never been north of Preston on this line so some of my comments are from what I have heard.
The line has long segments of 125 mph straight line running so is pretty fast. There are areas of 110 mph running, and the Pendolino or Super Voyager tilts on all curves. From the northern suburbs of London all the way up into Cheshire the line follows, pretty much, the Grand Union Canal. Around Berkhamsted and Watford Gap the two are side by side. Very scenic, but it is also true that at 125 mph not all details are easily seen. The countryside north of Stafford up past Crewe and Preston is really beautiful. No coast, but plenty of rivers. As the train runs up past Oxenholme in the Lake District it must be beautiful. Then up through Carlisle, the same one sung about in CATS. Both the Pendolino and Super Voyager are nice modern trains but getting a good view out the window is slightly more difficult as not all the seats directly line up with a window. Which way? Dunno. Your idea of going one way and back the other is interesting. You will see even more if you can stop and get off along the way.

Hi, My first use of trains I used a rail pass. I purchased a first class rail pass because I figured while I never will be able to fly first class, I could at least try rail first class. I took at least four different rail companies' first class. The nicest by far was Virgin's, which you could get using the West Coast route. I took the East Coast route myself, Edinburgh down to London, and mostly it was the first 1-2 hours that were the most scenic, but I think I would put it mostly under "nice" scenic, not "must see" scenic. My first trip was with the pass (I felt a newbie for traveling trains), but my second used tickets purchased online and picked up at the rail stations. Advance tickets (purchase beginning 12 weeks prior to trip), point-to-point, are great for savings. The price of an advance first class would be higher than a regular seat, but I think you would really like the first class service on a Virgin train! When purchasing online, the advance tickets say something about used only on certain system, click for the details to make sure it's a Virgin train you are purchasing. It's also good to get your reservation (free to do) when you purchase your ticket. You should be able to pick your seat and whether you like to sit forward facing or don't care. edit: Someday I'd like to do the sleeper train, though I've read some people actually don't like the sensation. I want to try at least once to find out for me!

Nancy - London to Ediburgh via rail can be done for as little as £29.40 pp. I used Eastcoast Rail (www.eastcoast.co.uk) last summer for our families train travel and found their web site easy to use and saved quiet a bit.

I'm really suprised that everyone is so anti-air. My husband and I wanted to do a day trip to London from Edinburgh, and we flew. It was $100 round trip and a one hour flight. I guess if you're not going for a day (and pressed for time), then a 4 1/2 hr train ride isn't a big deal, but it's cheap and fast to fly, and there are a lot of budget airlines to choose from... (We used flybe.com)

We have made this trip by air (Easyjet) and train. Did this in reverse, Edinborough to London Euston in October. Bought tics from Virgin Rail for $26 each well in advance. I think we changed trains in Crewe.

Amy Those are really good comments about the one hour flight to Edinburgh. I would think that the distance is long enough to consider the flight. I don't fly, choice, but I am interested in how the whole experience was. Did you start in London? How did you get to the airport? How was the check-in? Did they make you wait at the gate? Was it London City? How did you get from the Scottish airport to the centre of Edinburgh? Was the trip the same going back? Were you wiped out at the end? Curious minds want to know. So many questions - sorry.

Several years ago we flew into Heathrow, then caught a British Midlands flight to Edinburgh. Once we landed we caught the bus from the airport into the city. Worked well for us as we felt we needed to get there as soon as we could to maximize our time in Scotland.

I'm so appreciative of all these responses! Amy, I, too, am interested in Nigel's questions. I tend to think that the hassle factor of getting to the airport (one hour ahead?), going through security and, then, getting back into town from the airport make the train option appealing. We'll be in the UK for five weeks, so we're not in a rush getting to Edinburgh or back to London. Our dates are set (we're doing 3 RS tours), but we have a couple days between each. Since we'll be covering a lot of ground on the tours, the train would just be transportation (pleasant, I hope) and not a vehicle to stop anywhere along the way to do sightseeing. Many thanks to all of you who have taken the time to give me suggestions. I'm taking them all under consideration.