Edinburgh Day Trips: Real Journey Times
Waverley puts most of central Scotland inside an hour
That is the whole case for basing yourself in Edinburgh. Stirling is 40 to 50 minutes, Glasgow 44 to 50, Linlithgow about 20, Dalmeny for the Forth bridges about 20, Tweedbank for the Borders about 55. The two that break the pattern are St Andrews, which has no railway station at all, and Loch Ness, which is a 12.5-hour coach day whatever the brochure implies. Get those two right and nothing else on this page will catch you out.
Journey times, from the right station
| Destination | Route | Time each way |
|---|---|---|
| South Queensferry and the Forth Bridges | ScotRail to Dalmeny, then 15 min walk | about 20 min |
| Linlithgow Palace | direct train from Waverley | about 20 min |
| Stirling Castle | direct train, roughly every 30 min | 40-50 min |
| Glasgow | direct train, roughly every 15 min | 44-50 min |
| Rosslyn Chapel | Lothian bus 37 from the city centre | 45-60 min |
| Melrose and Abbotsford | Borders Railway to Tweedbank | about 55 min |
| St Andrews | Waverley to Leuchars, then X59 or X60 bus | about 1h30 door to door |
| Loch Ness | all-day coach from Edinburgh Bus Station | 12.5 hours round trip |
St Andrews: there is no train to it
The nearest railway station is Leuchars, six miles out. Two honest routings exist. ScotRail from Waverley to Leuchars runs roughly every 30 minutes on weekdays and takes 1h00 to 1h10, then the X59 or X60 bus covers the last 12 to 15 minutes, so about 1h30 door to door. Or take a Stagecoach X58, X59 or X60 direct from Edinburgh Bus Station at St Andrew Square, which runs 1h15 to 2h00 depending on the service. The university publishes both options on its own travel page .
What you get: the Old Course, the free-to-view ruined cathedral and castle, Castle Sands, West Sands, and a genuine university town. Elie, Anstruther and Crail are the East Neuk fishing villages further round the coast, and they need a car or a patient bus day.
Stirling and Glasgow, the two easy full days
Stirling Castle costs £18.50 online against £20.50 walk-up, concession £15.00 and £16.50, child 7 to 15 £11.00 and £12.50, which undercuts Edinburgh Castle in both channels. The Royal Palace is entered from the Lion’s Den on a one-way system, and the Wallace Monument and Bannockburn are both nearby. Prices at Stirling Castle , or you can book a Stirling and Highlands day tour that bundles the Kelpies and a distillery stop.
Glasgow is 44 to 50 minutes and badly underrated as a day out from here. Kelvingrove, the Riverside Museum and the Burrell Collection are all free. It is Victorian, industrial and mercantile where Edinburgh is medieval and Georgian, and it reads as a different country rather than a smaller version of the same one.
The coast and the bridges
South Queensferry takes 20 minutes to Dalmeny and then a 15-minute walk down into the village. All three Forth bridges are visible from the shore for nothing: the 1890 rail cantilever, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2015, the 1964 road bridge and the 2017 Queensferry Crossing. Maid of the Forth sails from Hawes Pier roughly Easter to October, £18.00 adult and £10.50 child for a 1.5-hour cruise, or £21.00 and £12.00 for the three-hour Inchcolm Island landing with the island’s admission charged separately. Sailings at Maid of the Forth .
North Berwick on the East Lothian coast gives you the Scottish Seabird Centre at £13.50 adult and £9.00 child 3 to 15, and boat trips from April to September at £32 adult and £15 for 16 and under, running an hour and a quarter around the Lamb, Craigleith and the Bass Rock. Landings on the Bass Rock itself run late April to September and depend on the weather. Tantallon Castle is a short hop along the coast. Current sailings at the Scottish Seabird Centre .
The Borders and the Pentlands
The Borders Railway to Tweedbank takes about 55 minutes. Abbotsford, Walter Scott’s house, is roughly a mile from the station, and Melrose a short bus beyond it. Melrose Abbey is £7.50 adult, £6.00 concession, £4.50 child, and is partly under conservation: much of the site is open and the bell-tower climb still runs, but some high-level masonry areas are closed, there is no accessible route to Robert the Bruce’s heart, and the museum shuts 12 noon to 2pm.
The Pentland Hills Regional Park is the closest hill country, about 30 minutes by car or bus to Flotterstone or Balerno. Harlaw Reservoir, Glencorse and Threipmuir are the reservoirs, and Scald Law is the highest top. This is open moorland with weather that turns, so treat it as hill walking rather than a park stroll. Two practical notes on the map here: Penicuik is a town of around 16,000 people, and Flotterstone is a visitor centre and inn rather than a settlement.
Loch Ness, with the arithmetic shown
155 to 170 miles and three and a half to four hours’ drive each way. No fast railway reaches the loch; the nearest railhead is Inverness, itself about three and a half hours from Edinburgh on a scenic but slow line. The standard commercial answer is an all-day coach bundling Glencoe, Fort William and Loch Ness. Rabbie’s departs at 08:00 from Edinburgh Bus Station, gates J and K at St Andrew Square, and is back around 20:30, which is 12.5 hours, in small groups of up to 16. Timberbush runs the same shape. Seats generally cost £45 to £75 and want four to six weeks’ notice in summer; you can compare Highlands day tours before you book.
Subtract the driving and you are left with one to two hours at the water. The scenery on the way, especially Glencoe, is the real product. If your schedule has any give in it, this works far better as an overnight in Inverness or Fort William, which is covered in the Edinburgh multi day trips guide .
Two things that sit inside the city rather than outside it: Holyrood Park is a ten-minute walk from the Royal Mile, and the Scotch Whisky Experience is on Castlehill at the top of the same street. Keep both in your walking days. Last practical tip: if the Inchcolm landing is the plan, book it rather than turning up, because the sailing season runs only roughly Easter to October and the island’s admission is charged on top of the £21.00 fare.