I'm visiting the UK, London specifically, and wanted to see a bit more of the country while I'm there. I've been thinking of taking the LNER train from London to Edinburgh, spend a 3-4 hours there and then head back on the same train. I'm only going to be here a week so I'm trying to fit in a lot.
Really big on seeing castle and cultural stuff I'm also going to take first class since I'm a very tall dude, 6'5", and I nervous about getting a tiny coach seat.
I've never been to the UK before so I'm unsure if this is a "interesting" way to see the UK. I just really want to see as much of the country as possible.
Am I barking up the wrong tree here? I've never really been on a passenger train for a long trip so I'm drawn to that as well. This is in addition to taking a tour out to stonehenge and going to a soccer match.
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the trip from london to edinburgh is pretty nice in itself especially when you get to the north of england, it's a bit more wild and windswept up there, the view is nice
first class on lner is pretty nice. seating is 2+1 so make sure you prebook the 1 side but first is never really crowded anyway
if you are trying to fit in a lot of castles and stuff then train is really your only option unless you can drive. most of the best and/or most famous castles e.g. bodiam (see e.g. monty python and the holy grail), corfe (classic romantic ruin, inspiration for the famous five books), arundel (inspiration for gormenghast) are reachable by train + sometimes followed by a bus ride or long walk/cycle
keep in mind that the more rural the area, the more infrequent the public transport, plan ahead wherever possible
if you go the websites of national trust or english heritage (charities that care for historical buildings) and look at the pages for the various properties they will usually have transport information. example for bodiam castle https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/sussex/bodiam-castle
Just took a cruise and Edinburgh was one of the destinations. FYI if you want to go to the castle, tickets sell out days in advance. We got fricked over because of it, this was in summer though.
The Royal Mile feels fake as hell and it appears to me as a tourist containment zone. If you wanna do something free the Royal Gallery of Scotland as hundred's of Renaissance paintings,mostly italian. They even have some medieval wood-relief type paintings. One of the biggest paintings is a scene from a hunt that is more or less Edinburgh's founding myth.
The castle is overpriced shit. Go up Arthur's Seat in Holyrood Park instead. It's free and has the best view of the city and surrounding hills.
Edinburgh is not worth 4 days
maybe 3 at most
this is a small city with little interesting to do other than museums and the castle, unless you want to travel around Lothian
>the Royal Mile feels fake as hell and it appears to me as a tourist containment zone
correct, tourshits shop on royal mile and locals shop on Prince's Street
>locals shop on Prince's Street
Princes Street is dead and has been for a few years now, half the shops have shut down and will only get worse. Same with George St and Rose St, just about being propped up by tourists out on the lash. Aside from primark and a few shoe shops, everyone just goes to St James Quarter or whatever part of town they live in.
I was amazed at how dead princes street was recently. There’s just… nothing there. Shouldn’t surprise me as all British centres are dying but still
Some good pubs in Edinburgh and acceptable slop is easy to find too
>I've been thinking of taking the LNER train from London to Edinburgh, spend a 3-4 hours there and then head back on the same train.
I'd say 1 in 3 chance either train is delayed, runs late or is cancelled.
if you're okay with ages spent on a train then you should be okay. the scenery is mediocre for the mot part. if you can get a table seat you should have enough legroom in standard class.
depending on what you want to see in london, and if you can hire a car, i would suggest you leave london for most of your week. the UK is very different to london, but its going to be challenging to get to a decent number of good places by public transport in your timeframe.
i'd suggest;
the lake district
cornwall
the yorkshire dales
north west wales, especially cardigan bay
north west scotland, especially the islands but its probably out of your timeframe
northumberland, i.e. alnwick
anyway enjoy your trip, expect everything to be expensive and half broken, the weather dreadful and the people cynical (but genuine)
Don't do a 4 1/2 hour train journey to Edinburgh just to have a few hours there then take a 4 1/2 hour train back to London in the same day. It sounds like hell and not worth it at the prices you will pay for that. If you insist then there are overnight trains. Also I live close enough to Luton that a £20 flight to Edinburgh is way better than any shitty train that will be
>1 in 3 chance either train is delayed, runs late or is cancelled.
>Don't do a 4 1/2 hour train journey to Edinburgh just to have a few hours there then take a 4 1/2 hour train back to London in the same day. It sounds like hell and not worth it at the prices you will pay for that.
in standard class maybe. in first we don't generally have to deal with the yelling Black folk and so on. it makes long journeys much more bearable. i do london-scotland trips occasionally for work and it's great. i enjoy the free booze, read, sleep for a bit and generally not give a shit about what the rest of the world is doing for a few hours
>If you insist then there are overnight trains.
do you mean the sleeper? now that really is a waste of time
>Also I live close enough to Luton that a £20 flight to Edinburgh is way better than any shitty train that will be
you mean on easyjet? you're having a right laugh there anon
aren't you so cool, want to be my friend?
no
>Really big on seeing castle and cultural stuff
>This is in addition to taking a tour out to stonehenge
There is Windsor castle right next to London, I think you can go in and do tours but sometimes the pedos are in so they may cancel public admission into the castle. the rest of the town is still quite nice. There are many different bus tours that run from central London that go out to stonehenge + 1 or 2 other places usually Bath, Oxford or Windsor in the same day and then back to central London. Never done it, sounds like a long day with a lot of driving and not much time anywhere
Thanks for the suggestions, I'm going be be in the UK for a week so overnight in Edinburgh wasn't something I thought about doing at first but now I'm seriously considering it based on these suggestions.
Go to York and spend three days there at least.
Don't do it, if you're an American you'll get jealous of high-speed rail and start wondering why you can't have it as well
There's no high speed rail in the UK, the transit is expensive and inefficient.
He was being sarcastic
it's OK as long as you travel with an Interrail 1st class pass. then you get free food and drinks on LNER and Avanti.
just London will easily take you the whole week.
Edinburgh is too big to see in half a day.
if you just wanted to go around seeing landmarks outside of london then renting a car is probably a lot easier.
>Edinburgh is too big to see in half a day.
nah definitely do a day trip there from london, the cool dude above let us know he does it regularly for his one hour business meetings so it's totally fine
lol you're a sour little c**t aren't you anon
The UK is a small country, but it's not THAT small.
Going from London to Edinburgh is about the same as going from LA to north of Sacramento or from Chicago to Lexington KY
Do a detour to Fort William and Mallaig
what's good to do in London? seems miserable
>seems miserable
It is
Any "musn't miss" restaurant recommendations for London? Near City Center, Westminster, or Canary Wharf? Going to be there in about a month and looking for something great to eat. Trying to stick with traditional British food, but perhaps a more high-end take on it. Price is not an option if the food is excellent quality. I'm a solo traveler though, so no huge portions/shareables. I've made reservations for one of my nights there already at a place called Vicinity near the Tower of London, with an excellent view of Tower Bridge. What else would you guys suggest? I'm open to Indian as well. How's Dishoom?
>Vicinity
Never heard of it but a quick google brings up pretty shitty reviews and pictures of tourist trap slop. Avoid it, there's a million good places to eat in London. Dishoom is good enough, it's a chain but actually good food and consistent across the branches. If price really isn't an option then the Michelin guide is reliable for London, moreso than in other cities I've found. You could also check out some of the quick videos by Topjaw on instagram where they interview some of the best chefs in London and rest of the UK about their favourite/most underrated/best value places to eat in London. St. John is probably your best bet for high-end traditional British food.
>Trying to stick with traditional British food, but perhaps a more high-end take on it.
you will have some trouble finding this in central london. i am sure there is some, but really traditional british food tends to be regional. if you visit around spring/summer there are lots of food festivals which make good day trips. an example is the isle of wight garlic festival which as the name suggests offers weird things made with garlic e.g. garlic ice cream, garlic beer etc.
>How's Dishoom?
i went there occasionally with my team when i was working in central london a couple of years ago. where i worked was walking distance from the shoreditch location. it's pretty good but be aware you will probably have to book ahead.
>traditional British food
Pubs will have you sorted, I don't know of any other restaurants serving English food though I'm sure some exist
British """food""" is trash. Just eat curry.
Curry is trash.
You can travel to Stirling to see the William Wallace Tower. It's about 30-45 minutes NW of Edinburgh. Then there's Falkirk which is close by. Go see the Kelpies there. Plus both sites are wrapped up in William Wallace history if that's your thing.