Accessibility
Located in the north of the United Kingdom, Scotland is less then one hour from London, one and a half hour from Amsterdam, Brussels and Düsseldorf and just two hours from Paris or Berlin by air.
By Air
Edinburgh Airport: www.edinburghairport.com
Edinburgh Airport is situated just 35 minutes away from the city centre. The airport lies on the A8 road, and can be reached by the M8 motorway and the M9 motorway. The airport is also within access from the M90 motorway via the Queensferry Crossing. It has no dedicated railway station. However, it is served by the nearby Edinburgh Gateway station, which serves as an interchange with Edinburgh Trams services to the airport. The tram line also connects the airport to the nearby Edinburgh Park railway station. The airport is also served by Edinburgh Trams, a light rail link. The system runs from the airport and travels across the western suburbs of Edinburgh, terminating in the city centre.
Glasgow Airport: www.glasgowairport.com
Glasgow Airport is situated 75 minutes away from Edinburgh city centre. The airport lies on the M8 motorway as well. Glasgow has no railway station and the nearest station is Paisley Gilmour Street – just over one mile from the terminal. From here, you can take the McGill’s 757 bus service. By train Edinburgh is about one and a half hour traveling by train. Getting to Glasgow airport by bus has never been easier thanks to the connections running through Buchanan Bus Station, which links services from all over the country and provides a simple route to Glasgow Airport from other parts of Scotland. When you travel to Glasgow Airport via bus, it stops right outside the main terminal building, so there won’t be any awkward changes where you need to move your bags from one bus to another. You can plan your journey to Glasgow airport at Traveline Scotland.
Dundee Airport: www.hial.co.uk/dundee-airport
Dundee Airport is situated 75 minutes away from Edinburgh city centre on the A90 motorway. Once approached there is a drop off zone for all customers and onsite parking is only a five minute walk from the Terminal Building. The train station in Dundee is only about a five minute taxi ride away from the airport and onward links are available to many destinations within Tayside from the station including Edinburgh. Taking a train to Edinburg will take you about two hours, before reaching the Edinburgh Waverley station. More details are available here
By Train
www.nationalrail.co.uk
Edinburgh is easy to reach by train, in fact, the Great North Eastern Railway (GNER) line is the fastest intercity railway in the UK, with a journey time of just under 5 hours between Edinburgh (Waverley) and London (King's Cross). ScotRail operate an overnight service, the Caledonian Sleeper, between London (Euston) and Edinburgh 7 nights a week. Edinburgh has two stations - Haymarket (map) and Waverley (map). The main station is Edinburgh Waverley which is located in the city centre, sandwiched betweeen the New and Old towns. This has recently been renovated with limited public parking, making it very difficult for drivers to stay for any length of time. Visitors arriving from London for the first time often make the mistake of getting off at Haymarket, the smaller station in the West end. There is about a mile's distance between the two stations. Edinburgh Waverley train station has great rail links to other major cities too. York, Newcastle, Inverness and Aberdeen are all about 2 hours away by train, and Glasgow is just 50 minutes away on the First ScotRail shuttle service which leaves Waverley train station every 15 minutes.
By Car
Because Edinburgh is located at the heart of the Scottish motorway network, it can be surprisingly quick and easy to get here by car. If you're travelling from the north of Scotland, for example, Edinburgh is only 3 hours from Inverness and just over 2 hours from Aberdeen. Journey times from England are just as good; you can get here from Birmingham in about 5.5 hours, from Manchester and York in about 4 hours, and the city is just 2.5 hours from Newcastle. Edinburgh has excellent road connections to other parts of Scotland and the rest of the UK. There are motorway links via the M8 to Glasgow and the west of Scotland; the M9 to Stirling and central Scotland; the M90 to Fife and Perth (with further links via the A9 to Inverness and the Highlands and the A90 to Dundee, Aberdeen and the north-east).
From the south and east there is a choice of routes. The A1 via Newcastle and Berwick is the main east coast route from the south, connecting south of Newcastle with the M1. More scenic and possibly less busy routes from the Newcastle area northwards to Edinburgh include the A697 and A68. Travelers from the north-west of England taking the M6 to Carlisle then have the choice of continuing to Edinburgh on the M74 (and then either the M8 or the A702, via Biggar) or alternatively taking the quieter and more scenic A7 through the Scottish Borders.