Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Getting to Edinburgh & Glasgow
BY PLANE
British Airways
(
&
800/247-9297,
or 0870/850-9850 in the
U.K.; www.ba.com) offers frequent nonstop flights daily from London's Heathrow
Airport to both Edinburgh and Glasgow.
BMI
(formerly British Midland;
&
0870/607-0555;
www.flybmi.com) also flies from Heathrow to both Edinburgh
and Glasgow. It is a member of the international “Star Alliance,” which includes
carriers such as Air Canada, Air New Zealand, United, and US Airways. From over-
seas, carriers that fly directly to Edinburgh and Glasgow from the U.S. have changed
over the past few years. What long-haul flights there are tend to arrive and depart
from Glasgow's airport.
London, of course, has flights from all corners of the globe. Internally, it is worth
remembering
Ryanair
(
&
0871/246-0000;
www.ryanair.com), which is a budget
airline that flies from Stansted outside London to Prestwick south of Glasgow. Also
Flybe,
another discount carrier, with flights into Edinburgh and Glasgow from other
U.K. airports.
BY CAR
If you're driving north to Scotland from England, it's fastest to take the
M1 Motorway
(freeway or expressway) north from London. You can reach the M1
by driving to the ring road from any point in the British capital. Southeast of Leeds,
you'll need to connect with the
A1
(not a motorway), which you take north to Scotch
Corner. Here the
M1
resumes, ending south of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. Then you can
take the
A696,
which becomes the
A68,
for its final run north into Edinburgh.
If you're in the west of England, go north along the
M5,
which begins at Exeter
(Devon). Eventually this will merge with the
M6.
Continue north on the M6 until
you reach a point north of Carlisle. From Carlisle, cross into Scotland near Gretna
Green. Continue north along the
A74
via Moffat. The A74 soon becomes the
M74
heading toward Glasgow. If your goal is Edinburgh, not Glasgow, various roads will
take you east to the Scottish capital, including the
M8,
which goes part of the way,
as do the
A702, A70,
and
A71
(all these routes are well signposted).
BY TRAIN OR BUS
From England, two main rail lines link London to Scotland.
The most popular and fastest route is the one departing
King's Cross Station
in
London to Edinburgh's
Waverley Station,
going by way of Newcastle. This is the
so-called
East Coast Mainline.
Trains cross from England into Scotland at Ber-
wick-upon-Tweed. But future attention is on the
West Coast Mainline,
where
trains leave
Euston Station
in London for Glasgow's
Central Station,
by way of
Carlisle. The line has been upgraded once for faster trains and there has been some
talk (but no money) of building a high-speed line like the ones you see in France or
Japan, cutting the travel time from London to Glasgow to about 2 hours. Most of the
current trains still take at least 4 hours to reach the heart of Scotland's main city
centers. Fares vary quite widely but advance reservations for non-flexible tickets are
the cheapest and as low as about £10 each way. Bought on the day or for a ticket
offering travel any time with no restrictions, the price will be considerably more
expensive.
The journey from London to Glasgow and Edinburgh by bus or coach can take up
to 12 long hours, although express buses can make the trip in fewer than 10 hours.
National Express
(
&
0870/580-8080;
www.nationalexpress.com) runs buses
daily (typically 9:30am, noon, and 11pm for direct services) from London's Victoria
3
