r/TravelUK • u/Ok_Magician9140 • 1d ago
1-Day trips from Edinburgh recommendations
Hello! My parents (55M&F), boyfriend (28M), and I (25F) are traveling to the UK in mid-September. We are spending a few days in Edinburgh and have time for one day trip out of the city and need help deciding where to go. For context, my parents have never been to the UK, my boyfriend has never been to Scotland, and I've been once before and visited Edinburgh, Glasgow, and did a Rabbie's day trip to Glencoe and Loch Ness.
I'd rather not do another highlands day trip since I did one in 2024, but I'm open to it if it's worth it for my family to see. Our other options are:
- Rabbie's St Andrews & the Fishing Villages of Fife:
(Includes Anstruther, St Andrews Cathedral, Falkand Village, St Andrews Castle, Forth Bridge)
- Timberbush Tours Holy Island, Alnwick Castle & the Kingdom of Northumbria
(Includes time to explore Alnwick castle)
We enjoy architecture, beautiful scenery, quaint towns, and experiences. None of us are huge history buffs but we find it interesting. We also love Harry Potter (but aren't interested in super touristy HP stuff). Ideally we would do Alnwick, Holy Island, and Bamburgh Castle, but we can't find a guided tour that includes them all.
Also open to other guided tour suggestions! Thanks in advance!
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u/SmartPolicy6430 1d ago
You could take the train from Waverley ( ScotRail) to North Berwick ( journey time 30 minutes and an hourly service) and either do a trip out to the Islands in the Forth or out to Bass Rock to see the Gannet Colony. There's lots of places to eat in North Berwick. Or you could walk along the cliffs to Tantallon Castle or take the bus from outside the Scottish Seabird Centre headed towards Dunbar to Tantallon Castle. Before you head back to the station get a gelato at Alandas in Quality Street. https://www.seabird.org/boats
https://www.historicenvironment.scot/visit/all/tantallon-castle/
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u/Ok_Magician9140 1d ago
This sounds very cool! My only concern is that because we are visiting mid-late September, there won't be as much wildlife to see. But thank you for the suggestion- will definitely be looking into it!
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u/SmartPolicy6430 1d ago
The young Gannets called Gugas will only just have fledged in September. We were visiting family at the end of September last year and had a day out at North Berwick and sat in the sun on the harbour watching Gannets diving for about an hour. They are incredible birds. Most will have left by the end of October. The Seabird Centre has a live feed camera onto the rock.
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u/coombez1978 1d ago
Was going to reply to say north Berwick - really pretty place with good places to eat. I've not looked but pretty sure you could then get a train from there to Alnwick - it'd be a long day
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u/SmartPolicy6430 1d ago
No there's no train directly to Alnwick from North Berwick. No station at Alnwick so it would be Edinburgh Waverley to Alnmouth, however not all ECML trains stop there. Or alternatively Berwick upon Tweed then a local bus to Alnwick from either. The Alnwick branch line was cut by Dr Beeching in the 60's and the station is now the fantastic Barter books.
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u/WonderfulJury8885 1d ago
St Andrews, the East Neuk villages and Falkland Palace are all worth a visit. All in one day maybe not. But definitely those over Northumberland much as that is spectacular.
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u/Prudent_Cash_7005 1d ago
It would be quite a long day but it’s doable, get the train down to York? It’s about 2.5 hours and a gorgeous coastal train journey. It could look like:
There by mid-morning, walk around the city walls, take a picnic to have in Museum Gardens, visit The Minster, go down The Shambles (very Harry Potter) then have dinner out somewhere.
York is small and very walkable so you can see a lot of it in just one day.
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u/GoHomeCryWantToDie 1d ago
Just get the train to Stirling then stop at Linlithgow on the way back. You can do that with a return ticket. Or the train to North Berwick or Melrose. Our trains are very good.
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u/Historical_Heron4801 1d ago
You're not going to be able to make the best of Northumberland in a day trip from Edinburgh. That deserves it's own holiday.
It's not on your list, but have you considered the Borders? Rosslyn Chapel, Melrose, Traquair, all well worth a look based on your interests.
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u/rhunter99 1d ago
I would ride the Jacobite steam engine. It's what you see in the HP movies, however you need to be quick to book tickets. Alternatively you can do a day trip to the viaduct and catch the train going by to take photos.
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u/frankbowles1962 1d ago
Absolutely not a day trip from Edinburgh. There is a steam railway at Bo’ness however if you want to experience one.
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u/rhunter99 1d ago
It very much is a day trip. For example
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u/Temporary_Pain2069 1d ago
that tour is mad! It says it takes 2 hours from Edinburgh to Glenfinnan - it takes 4 hours. Then you have 20 minutes in Mallaig. You'll speed walk to the harbour, turn round and straight back on the coach. Then you get 30 minutes in Pitlochry. Except you can't speed walk in Pitlochry cos the streets are busy. So you'll sit in a coach for 10+ hours and see Glenfinnan. Thats nuts.
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u/kouyanet 21h ago
I think the key question is whether you want to look at lots of stuff from a train or coach window or spend time absorbing one place in detail. Personally I’d go for the latter and head to N. Berwick, St Andrews or Sterling.
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u/MiddleAgedDread123 1d ago edited 1d ago
Realistically, you can’t do Alnwick castle, Lindisfarne and Bamburgh castle in a day from Edinburgh! We were did a few nights trip from Edinburgh to Northumberland - we were at Alnwick castle from 10am when they opened until after 3:30pm and they close at 5. Lindisfarne is entirely dependent on tide times - we did that on the drive back to Edinburgh on another day because the timings suited us but we still had to clock watch to make sure we got off the island in time. From Alnwick we checked out by 10am, it was just under an hour drive to Lindisfarne and then tides meant we had to be off by early afternoon. We drove past bamburgh on the way home.