In this guide
💡 The Short Version: Stirling is the easy trip: 41 minutes by train. St Andrews is 53 minutes to Leuchars and a short bus, Glasgow about 47 minutes by train or 1 hour 19 minutes by Citylink at a £10 day return, and North Berwick 35 minutes. Rosslyn Chapel is 45 to 60 minutes on bus 37. Loch Ness and Glencoe are a 12 to 12½ hour coach tour from £42.75, because the bus alone to Fort William is 4 hours 24 minutes each way. Skye needs three days. Rail fares are in the ScotRail app; all ScotRail fares are frozen until 31 March 2027. Or book a tour: the Highlands dayad is £57.80, the St Andrews and Fife dayad £60 and the Loch Lomond, Stirling and Kelpies dayad £49.30. A tour replaces the connections and fits several stops into one day (GetYourGuide).
The day trips compared
Journey times are from ScotRail, Citylink and the operators. Tour prices are GetYourGuide’s lowest “from” prices for one adult. Check rail fares in the ScotRail app.
| Trip | Getting there on your own | One way | Tour from | What to know |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stirling Castle | Train from Waverley | 41 to 49 minutes | £40 half day, £45 full | The castle is £18.50 online; GOOD25 takes 25% off if you come by train |
| St Andrews | Train to Leuchars and a bus, or a direct bus | 53 minutes plus a bus; bus about 1½ hours | £57 | The castle is £10; the cathedral is shut Tuesday to Thursday in winter |
| Rosslyn Chapel | Lothian bus 37 | 45 to 60 minutes | £46 | £12 for a timed 90-minute slot; no photography |
| Loch Ness and Glencoe | Citylink to Fort William | 4 hours 24 minutes | £42.75 | A 12-hour day; the castle and cruise are extras |
| Glasgow | Train; Citylink 900 | About 47 minutes; 1 hour 19 minutes | No Edinburgh tour | Citylink day return £10; Kelvingrove is free |
| The Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel | Train to Falkirk Grahamston | 33 minutes on average | £40 | The Kelpies tour is £9; the Wheel boat £17.95 |
| North Berwick | Train; East Coast Buses X5 | 35 minutes | £45 | Seabird Centre £13.50; Tantallon Castle £7.50 |
| Loch Lomond and the Trossachs | A tour | £40 | Usually combined with Stirling and the Kelpies | |
| Outlander locations | A tour; Midhope has no public transport | £46.55 | Midhope Castle is £9.50 | |
| South Queensferry | Train to Dalmeny | 19 minutes on average | £14.40 for a cruise | Cruises leave from Hawes Pier |
| Northumbria | A tour | £53.55 | England; Holy Island across a causeway | |
| The Isle of Skye | Not practical | 6 hours 25 minutes from Glasgow by bus | £180 for 3 days | Not a day trip |
Trains, buses and the rules that apply to every trip
- ScotRail: peak fares were abolished on 1 September 2025, so Anytime tickets cost the old off-peak price and are valid at any time. All ScotRail fares are frozen until 31 March 2027, and buying from ScotRail itself carries no booking fee. Advance tickets are not sold between Edinburgh and Glasgow. Up to four children travel for £1 each with a paying adult on Kids for a Quid.
- Fife rail works, 10 to 27 October 2026: no trains run between Markinch and Dundee from 20 to 23 October, which affects St Andrews. The St Andrews guide has the dates.
- Historic Scotland sites: tours do not include entry unless the listing says so. Historic Scotland takes 25% off standard admission at several of its sites if you book online with the code GOOD25 and arrive by train, bus or bike.
- Explorer Pass: £48 in summer and £38 in winter, from 1 November, for 14 days. Holders cannot pre-book Stirling Castle in February and March 2027. The pass sums show when it pays.
- Pick-up points: Citylink and Rabbie’s use Edinburgh Bus Station, St Andrew Square (gates J and K for Rabbie’s), and Timberbush leaves from Castle Terrace outside the NCP car park.
When a tour is worth it
A coach tour earns its price where there is no train or the day has several stops.
- The Highlands. The bus to Fort William is 4 hours 24 minutes each way, so a car or a tour is the only practical choice. Loch Ness and Glencoe compares the tours.
- Loch Lomond with Stirling and the Kelpies. One 9-hour tour from £45 covers three stops that need three transport changes alone.
- The Outlander sites. Midhope Castle has no public transport, and the other locations are in four directions.
- Rosslyn with the Borders. A tour adds Melrose Abbey for £46 to £48 with the Chapel’s entry extra, so the bus is the cheaper way to the Chapel alone.
Not worth a tour: Stirling Castle alone, where the train is 41 minutes and the ticket £18.50, Glasgow, North Berwick and St Andrews, unless you want the fishing villages of Fife.
The trips
Stirling Castle
Train 41 to 49 minutes · castle £18.50 online · tours from £45
The castle on its rock above the town, with the Great Hall and the Royal Palace, is half a mile uphill from the station. The Stirling Castle guide has the tickets, the car-free discount and the Loch Lomond tours that stop there.
Stirling Castle on its rock. Photo: Sgmiller4038, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0.
St Andrews
Train to Leuchars 53 minutes, then a bus · castle £10 online · tour from £57
The home of golf has a ruined castle and cathedral on the coast. The St Andrews guide has the Leuchars bus, the cathedral’s winter closure on Tuesday to Thursday and the Fife tours.
Rosslyn Chapel
Bus 37 for 45 to 60 minutes · £12 timed ticket
The 15th-century chapel of the Da Vinci Code is seven miles south of the city. The Rosslyn Chapel guide has the slots, the carvings and the tours that include it.
Loch Ness and Glencoe
12 to 12½ hours · tours from £42.75 · Rabbie’s £69
The Highlands in a day, mostly from a coach seat. The Loch Ness and Glencoe guide compares the tours and covers the Glenfinnan Viaduct and the Jacobite steam train.
A peak in Glen Coe. Photo: Nigel Thompson, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Other trips
Glasgow
Train about 47 minutes · Citylink 900 in 1 hour 19 minutes, £10 day return · no Edinburgh tour
ScotRail runs from Waverley to Glasgow Queen Street about every 15 minutes through the day; the fastest take about 47 minutes. Citylink’s 900 runs 24 hours a day, up to every 12 minutes at peak, and a day return is £10, bought online, in the app, at a travel centre or from the driver. The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum is free, with free organ recitals every day, and opens at 11am on Sundays (Glasgow Life). GetYourGuide has no tour that starts in Edinburgh for Glasgow.
The Kelpies and the Falkirk Wheel
Train to Falkirk Grahamston 33 minutes on average · Kelpies tour £9 · Wheel boat £17.95
The Kelpies are two 30-metre horse-head sculptures in The Helix park near Falkirk. The 25-minute Kelpies tour goes inside one of them: adult £9, concession £8 and child £3.50. The Falkirk Wheel is a rotating boat lift, and its boat trip takes about an hour: adult £17.95, concession £16.50 (not valid June to September) and child £9.80, with tickets needed for every passenger including children under 5. The Wheel is open 9:45am to 5:30pm, and it advises booking ahead because coach parties fill the boats. The Kelpies are a stop on the Loch Lomond tours, and the half-day Kelpies and Stirling tourad is from £40.
The Kelpies at The Helix, Falkirk. Photo: Steven Straiton, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0.
North Berwick
Train 35 minutes · Seabird Centre £13.50 · Tantallon Castle £7.50
A seaside town in East Lothian, 15 minutes’ walk from the station to the Scottish Seabird Centre, downhill there and uphill back. The Centre’s Discovery Experience is £13.50 for an adult (child £9, concession £11.25, family £38.50) and takes 25% off with a same-day ScotRail or East Coast Buses ticket. Its wildlife boat trips run from late March to early October: the Seabird Catamaran Cruise is £32 for an adult and the Three Islands Seabird Seafari £39, and waterproofs are not provided. Tantallon Castle is £7.50 online and £8.50 in person, open 9.30am to 5pm from April to September and 10am to 4pm from October to March. East Coast Buses’ X5 is the express bus. A tour, East Lothian Highlightsad, is £45 for 9 hours with Archerfield Walled Garden, Preston Mill, North Berwick and Tantallon Castle.
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs
Tours from £40 · 5 to 9 hours
The tours combine Loch Lomond, the Trossachs, Stirling Castle and the Kelpies. Timberbushad is from £48.45, Rabbie’sad from £60, Highland Explorerad from £49.30, and Stewart.Toursad from £45 with the admission fees included. The Stirling Castle guide compares them.
Outlander locations
Tours £46.55 to £91 · 8 to 10 hours
Doune Castle is Castle Leoch, Culross is Cranesmuir, Falkland stands in for Inverness, and Midhope Castle is Jamie’s home Lallybroch. Linlithgow Palace and Blackness Castle also appear in the series. Doune is £10 online and Linlithgow £10, Blackness is £7.50, Culross Palace £14 and Midhope £9.50, which allows the grounds but not the interior, and has no public transport. Gray Line’s Outlander Experiencead is £46.55 for 10 hours with entrance fees included, Highland Explorer’s Filming Locations Explorerad is £67, Rabbie’s Adventure Day Tour with Entryad is £91, and Timberbush’s Outlander, Palaces and Jacobitesad is £62.
South Queensferry and the Forth Bridges
Train to Dalmeny 19 minutes on average · cruises from £14.40
Forth Boat Tours’ Three Bridges cruise is 1½ hours from Hawes Pier at South Queensferry, and its Inchcolm Island cruise takes 3½ hours including a landing of at least 90 minutes. GetYourGuide lists the Firth of Forth Three Bridges cruisead from £18 (2,775 reviews), the Maid of the Forth cruisead from £14.40, and the Inchcolm Island landing tripad from £29.50. Lothian Country’s bus 43 also runs to Queensferry.
Northumbria and Holy Island
Tour from £53.55 · 9 hours · England
Timberbush’s Holy Island, Alnwick Castle & Northumbriaad (1,613 reviews) crosses the border to Lindisfarne, reached by a causeway, with its priory ruins and castle, passes Bamburgh and stops at Alnwick, where the castle and gardens were used in the Harry Potter films. Entry to Lindisfarne Priory and Alnwick Castle is an optional extra.
Glenfinnan and the Highlands
12-hour coach day · £45 to £57
The Glenfinnan Viaduct is the Harry Potter bridge, and tours stop at it instead of Loch Ness. The Jacobite steam train crosses it between Fort William and Mallaig. The Loch Ness and Glencoe guide has the three tours and the train’s dates.
The Isle of Skye
Not a day trip · 3-day tours from £180
The quickest Citylink journey from Glasgow to Skye is 6 hours 25 minutes, and from Inverness 3 hours 11 minutes. The shortest tours from Edinburgh are three days: Rabbie’s is £225 per adult, Timberbush’s from £220, and GetYourGuide’s 3-Day Isle of Skye and The Highlands Tourad from £180 (3,033 reviews).
Before you choose a day
| Where | Limited or closed |
|---|---|
| ScotRail | Fife engineering works 10 to 27 October 2026; fares frozen until 31 March 2027 |
| The Jacobite | The 2026 morning service ends on 23 October |
| Explorer Pass | Winter price of £38 from 1 November; Stirling Castle cannot be pre-booked in February and March 2027 |
| St Andrews Cathedral | Closed Tuesday to Thursday from October to March |
| Urquhart Castle | Closes at 4.30pm from 1 November to 31 March |
| North Berwick | Seabird Centre boat trips end in early October |
Edinburgh Airport to the city and Edinburgh public transport cover the first and last day. What to book before you go to Edinburgh has the city tickets, and where to stay in Edinburgh compares the areas, with hotels near the Royal Mile for the Old Town.
Common questions
What is the easiest day trip from Edinburgh?
Stirling by train: 41 minutes at the fastest, up to 84 trains a day, with the castle half a mile uphill from the station. Glasgow is about 47 minutes by train and North Berwick 35.
Which day trips from Edinburgh need a tour or a car?
Loch Ness and Glencoe, because the bus alone to Fort William takes 4 hours 24 minutes each way, and Midhope Castle, which has no public transport. The Highlands day is 12 to 12½ hours from £42.75. Loch Lomond and the Outlander sites are also usually done on a tour.
Can you visit the Isle of Skye as a day trip from Edinburgh?
No. The quickest Citylink journey from Glasgow to Skye is 6 hours 25 minutes. The shortest tours from Edinburgh are three days, from £180 on GetYourGuide.
How much is a day trip from Edinburgh?
A coach tour starts at £40 for a half day and £42.75 for a full-day Highlands tour. By yourself, a Citylink day return to Glasgow is £10; rail fares are in the ScotRail app and all ScotRail fares are frozen until 31 March 2027.
Do day tours from Edinburgh include entry to the castles?
Mostly not. Entry to Stirling Castle, Urquhart Castle and Doune Castle is usually an optional extra. Book the Historic Scotland sites directly, where the car-free code GOOD25 takes 25% off if you arrive by train or bus.
