Taking the train from south queensferry to edinburgh

[threetowner14]

Edinburgh is normally busy with tourists during the summer , a large majority of who will be staying in Edinburgh or surrounding areas .The trains you are looking at that time of day will be used by commuters travelling across the river to Fife,not many tourists choose to stay on the Fife side

I don't know if you are aware that the Castle and the Old Town which is the area around it , including the Royal mile down to the Palace of Holyrood,are rather hilly, and its a fairly steep incline up from Princes St.but then of course its all downhill on the way back

[roothy123]

Wow, I'm impressed. We docked at So. Queensferry last year on our cruise, and I was very lucky to have good directions, plus a ride to Edinburgh (long story). However, these directions would have been even better, as I had planned to take the train before the ride materialized.

 

As for timing, I can tell you that we were there one day before the Fringe (think that's also the Tatoo, but not positive) last year and while things were definitely hopping, it seemed that public transportation was doing OK. Then again, I didn't take the train, so...

 

I didn't see the shuttle buses when we were there, but someone on our cruise said that they WERE there.

 

I did check out the first steps "up" near the Hawes Inn, and I can tell you that they're not hard to find - and I am the kind of person who wants very, very detailed information before I set out on my DIY adventures!

 

I had heard there was a public bus to Edinburgh too, but personally, if doing it again, I would just take the train. There is also a little boat that visits South Queensferry, but again, I'd take the train - especially if you're there any time around the Tatoo!

 

Anyway, I'd like to say, "great job" to the original poster for giving such great info. We were bummed last year when we learned we'd be coming into South Queensferry rather than Rosyth, but it worked out fine, and So. Queensferry is also a very nice place. I didn't have much energy to explore it after our day in Edinburgh, but would have liked to...

[tartanexile81]

Wow, I'm impressed. We docked at So. Queensferry last year on our cruise, and I was very lucky to have good directions, plus a ride to Edinburgh (long story). However, these directions would have been even better, as I had planned to take the train before the ride materialized.

 

As for timing, I can tell you that we were there one day before the Fringe (think that's also the Tatoo, but not positive) last year and while things were definitely hopping, it seemed that public transportation was doing OK. Then again, I didn't take the train, so...

 

I didn't see the shuttle buses when we were there, but someone on our cruise said that they WERE there.

 

I did check out the first steps "up" near the Hawes Inn, and I can tell you that they're not hard to find - and I am the kind of person who wants very, very detailed information before I set out on my DIY adventures!

 

I had heard there was a public bus to Edinburgh too, but personally, if doing it again, I would just take the train. There is also a little boat that visits South Queensferry, but again, I'd take the train - especially if you're there any time around the Tatoo!

 

Anyway, I'd like to say, "great job" to the original poster for giving such great info. We were bummed last year when we learned we'd be coming into South Queensferry rather than Rosyth, but it worked out fine, and So. Queensferry is also a very nice place. I didn't have much energy to explore it after our day in Edinburgh, but would have liked to...

 

Roothy,

Glad you enjoyed your trip to Edinburgh. Like threetowner said, most people on the train to Dalmeny will be commuters but with the size of ships which come into South Queensferry there can be a lot of cruisers too trying to get back late afternoon and that combined with the regular travellers during rush hour can out a bit of pressure on the trains. However, I've always managed to get on the train even at the busiest days and times

 

The shuttle buses are white and look a bit anonymous so it's quite possible they were there but you didn't spot them. The local bus ( 40a) is a bit of a walk away but it takes you through the village so it's quite interesting and certainly a level walk unlike the 110 steps to the station - as you know! The only thing I'd say is that the boat that takes people on tours on the Forth doesn't run from South Queensferry on cruise days so you didn't miss out there. Hope you get back to Edinburgh one day and maybe get to see the tattoo or an event at the amazing Fringe.

[Renmar]

Princess have been dropping the prices of the round Britain so anyone looking to book or get friends to travel with them prices start at £399pp.

 

Sure as heck not for our August 27 cruise.

 

Theo

[insidecabin]

23 May, 4 June down to £399, Aug 3 £619, rest are £599 for now, keep an eye out for further drops unless they fill up.

 

the £399 are new bookings only and probably past pax only rates. Insides only the discount on that few remaining other cabins is much lower only around £100.

 

Yesterday there were 120 insides and 60 other cabins on the 4 June before the deal was announced.

[konatyme]

Thank you for the reply about the trains. We'll plan on using the train to get into Edinburgh & will buy the regular return fare. I realize the walk up to the castle is steep, but we enjoy walking!

[jrzgrl]

Hi Theo,

I was at South Queensferry on Wednesday and there were three shuttle buses running on a constant loop all day till late afternoon. They leave from pretty much the top of the pier and you will see the operator standing there with his board. You pay at the bus and it leaves as soon as it fills up, taking you to Charlotte Square. It comes back from there as well and as you can see from the photo it is £10 or $15 return, which will certainly be less than it is on Ruby.

 

From Charlotte Square you could get on the green hop-on, hop-off bus, or walk a few minutes down to Princes Street which is the main thoroughfare. If you're walking to the castle, you would need to head along Princes Street then turn right at this junction at the art gallery and go up the Mound to the Royal Mile.

 

Rhona

 

 

 

This may be a silly question, but does "return" mean a one way trip or is it round trip?

[tartanexile81]

Return means both ways so it's a cost of £10 for going into Edinburgh and coming back. If you only want to use the shuttle one way, it is £5.

 

I also have a thread which shows you where the bus drops off in Edinburgh and how to get to the Royal Mile from there.

[southwestgal]

We used the train on our recent British Isles cruise on the Ruby Princess. What a pleasure to avoid the buses with everyone coughing and sneezing and get on clean, fast trains.

 

When we got to Dalmeny station, the train was pulling up so didn't get a ticket from the machine. Instead we planned on buying it from the Conductor onboard the train. However, the Conductor never made it to our car and we arrived in Edinburgh never having purchased a ticket.

 

You need a ticket to exit the station. For those of you who are not familiar with this situation, there is a ticket office on the platform side prior to exiting. Just follow the "ticket" signs (and usually a few other people) where you will come to a manned ticket office. Purchase your return tickets (you will receive separate tickets for each way of the journey) and you will then have the ticket necessary to exit the station. Remember to use the ticket marked "out" when leaving the station. There are train schedules in the ticket office that you can grab. make sure you take the correct one.

 

Easy peasy and no worries about having a chip and pin credit card to use the ticket machine at Dalmeny.

 

We loved the train. However, if it was pouring raining that day I would probably seriously consider the shuttle bus as you will probably get soaked and muddy during the walk.

[kellyclayt]

This great information is very much appreciated :)

[Fblack]

Here's a thought on the shuttle bus situation. At least when we went with Celebrity Cruises. They had one shuttle bus. And it was not a large bus. More like an airport shuttle bus. Maybe 20+/- seats. So it was a mess. Maybe things are better now and they are using bigger and more buses. In fact we took a City bus back to the ship.

[tartanexile81]

I'm a volunteer down at the port and I actually started a thread explaining about the shuttle bus at South Queensferry which is now very good. This year there have been no Celebrity ships but Ruby Princess has been visiting fortnightly and Princess offers an Edinburgh on your own. However there is also a local shuttle bus which is a much cheaper option and if you'd like to know more about it, check out this thread which I also started.

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2046842&highlight=edinburgh+shuttle

[newgrange]

When I was last in Edinburgh, we got this hop-on hop-off bus that stopped at the cruise terminal. Some people from a cruise joined it there.

http://edinburghtour.com/assets/documents/Majestic-Tour-8pp-Leaflet_Summer-2014.pdf

[tartanexile81]

You can do the hoho at Leith but not at South Queensferry where the bigger ships come in. Actually it is much better to get a #22 bus from Ocean terminal at Leith to Edinburgh City Centre. Cost = £1.50

[pj-atsea]

Thank you for posting these photo,s . We just did this trek from the train at Dalmeny down to the port. Since we took a taxi into Edinburgh, we did not know what to expect when we got off the train at Dalmeny. When we found that path through the woods, we were certain that we had gone the wrong way! Pj

[tartanexile81]

Thank you for posting these photo,s . We just did this trek from the train at Dalmeny down to the port. Since we took a taxi into Edinburgh, we did not know what to expect when we got off the train at Dalmeny. When we found that path through the woods, we were certain that we had gone the wrong way! Pj

 

Yes it must have been tricky when you hadn't done the walk up. It's certainly not a big opening and probably not easy to spot. I've had a look at my photos but don't have one for the start of the path at the South end so the next time I'm around there I'll do one and add it.

[baggal]

We used the train on our recent British Isles cruise on the Ruby Princess. What a pleasure to avoid the buses with everyone coughing and sneezing and get on clean, fast trains.

 

When we got to Dalmeny station, the train was pulling up so didn't get a ticket from the machine. Instead we planned on buying it from the Conductor onboard the train. However, the Conductor never made it to our car and we arrived in Edinburgh never having purchased a ticket.

 

You need a ticket to exit the station. For those of you who are not familiar with this situation, there is a ticket office on the platform side prior to exiting. Just follow the "ticket" signs (and usually a few other people) where you will come to a manned ticket office. Purchase your return tickets (you will receive separate tickets for each way of the journey) and you will then have the ticket necessary to exit the station. Remember to use the ticket marked "out" when leaving the station. There are train schedules in the ticket office that you can grab. make sure you take the correct one.

 

Easy peasy and no worries about having a chip and pin credit card to use the ticket machine at Dalmeny.

 

We loved the train. However, if it was pouring raining that day I would probably seriously consider the shuttle bus as you will probably get soaked and muddy during the walk.

 

Nobody ever coughs and sneezes on a train?

[tartanexile81]

Someone mentioned recently that they were confused when they arrived at Dalmeny Station and didn't know how to get back to the pier, so here are a couple of photos. I hope they're helpful for those of you who perhaps do a cruise excursion into Edinburgh and aren't sure what to do when you get back to the station.

 

You walk down the slope on the same side as the platform. Cross the road at the bottom towards the bus stop and you will see the sign which points towards the pier. The path starts behind the bus shelter. You then need to reverse the earlier photos walking downhill rather than uphill.

 

 

 

[roothy123]

Sigh..I'm remembering our wonderful day in Edinburgh last August.

 

If anyone has downloaded "Google Earth" on their computer (not just Google maps with streetview, but Google Earth) last year I found it helpful to pull up South Queensferry and take a look before I actually got there. You cannot actually see the infamous steps up to Dalmeny, but at least you can get an idea of the area around the Hawes Inn, and I believe it shows the road going up along the firth as well. You can see the pier that you will be tendered to. It runs out into the water next to the bridge. Might help a little to check it out. To get a street view, grab the yellow "man" in the upper right hand corner and drag him onto the road in front of the river, by the bridge. You need to put the man on a blue line, and then when you're taken to a street view of that location, you can zoom in/out, swirl around to see other views, or double click on the yellow line to go farther along on the street for views. On Google Earth, I started at the Hawes Inn and followed the road around toward the back until I found the "Dalmeny Station" sign, where I could see the beginning of the steps a little ways away.

Edited August 4, 2014 by roothy123

[sbwmail]

When I was last in Edinburgh, we got this hop-on hop-off bus that stopped at the cruise terminal. Some people from a cruise joined it there.

http://edinburghtour.com/assets/documents/Majestic-Tour-8pp-Leaflet_Summer-2014.pdf

 

Do you remember if they took credit cards?

[jdavid]

Do you remember if they took credit cards?

 

We took the bus from SQF two weeks ago. I would not call it a Hop on Hop off. We got off the tender, walked up the pier and several taxis and buses were waiting. I believe it was 10 Euros per person for a return ticket. The trip was about 15 minutes and drops folks off at Charlotte Square (about a ten minute walk to Royal Mile). We then walked first to Castle. If you plan to do Castle I would suggest that you go right there. We arrived at 9:45 am but when we left at 12:45, there was a huge line to get in. There is a Hop on Hop off bus in Edinburgh but we did not use it as you can only do so much. After the Castle we did not have time to complete the Royal mile. We left the Mile at about 330 to walk back to Charlotte's Square. The bus leaves on the half hour and hour with the last at 4:30 p.m. Ours left at 3:45 pm because it was full. We got back to Pier at 4:10 and had a 67 minute wait to get on tender. The day was very windy and Princess could only use one tender at a time and it was very slow. Some folks who got back at 5 waited up to two hours. It was a cool day and windy so was not pleasant. However, there was only a 50/50 chance of getting into Edinburgh so I am not complaining. We could not dock at Invergordon the day before.

 

TIP: You can buy your Castle Admission tickets from the Hop on Hop off bus if you see one outside the Castle. They are plentiful. I suggest buying the ticket from them and will really save time at the Palace Ticket Office. I am sure they accepted Credit Cards. They all do.

[tartanexile81]

We took the bus from SQF two weeks ago. I would not call it a Hop on Hop off. We got off the tender, walked up the pier and several taxis and buses were waiting. I believe it was 10 Euros per person for a return ticket. quote]

 

It is not a hop-on, hop-off bus from the pier but a shuttle bus but the reason it cropped up was because someone didn't know there were 3 ports for Edinburgh. The person who mentioned hop-on, hop-off bus was giving info about the port of Leith where a hoho bus stops and this port gives different options for cruisers. This is actually a thread about the train. The thread about the shuttle bus can be found here

http://cruiseforums.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2046842&highlight=shuttle+bus+south+queensferry

 

As you can see the cost is £10 return and if you're paying in Euros it is Euros 15 return.

Edited August 22, 2014 by tartanexile81

[tartanexile81]

Just giving this thread a bump because the cruise season is about to start fro South Queensferry and questions are cropping up on this board about Edinburgh. Hope this thread helps someone.

[EGCruisers]

Our family of 6 adults and 4 young children will be docking in South Queensferry in July. I am wondering what would be the best mode of transportation to get into Edinburgh. We will have two or three strollers, so going up 110 stairs doesn't sound feasible. Our ship does not depart until 11:00PM. We will certainly not stay in Edinburgh late, but will probably not want to leave the city as early as 4:30, which it sounds like is the latest return shuttle. Does the shuttle run later when there is a ship in port later? Do you think the public bus would be a good option? Is it easier to get to than the train station? What is the cost of a taxi into the city? Are there any taxis that are larger than standard sedans so that we might fit into two taxis rather than three? Thank you!

[insidecabin]

Eurodam 10am- 11pm Sat July 4th.

 

date important as the public transport have different schedule/prices Sat/Sun.

 

For the bus.

recent local knowledge for best stop will help.

I think the police station is the one a shortish(level) walk along the front.

 

can take an hour each way so alternatives may be better.

I don't think it is any cheaper than the train but might give options in the city.

 

Stagecoach run the 40/40A

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/queensferry.aspx

I think a new timetable in May

day Group tickets £10.

https://www.stagecoachbus.com/eastscotland-day-group.aspx

 

.....................

 

First thing would be to ask the guys doing the shuttle for a deal.

(We are there in May I could ask IF I remember)

 

I would probably opt for Taxi up to the train station(1 and some walk) walk down on return

off peak group or kids travel free may work best(<£30 return Total), depending on age(strollers) some may be free anyway.

 

or

large taxi into city need local costing for a private hire pre booked mini bus for 10 or 2 MPV ones or 3 regular ones.

(upto the castle, so it is down hill from there)

Edited April 27, 2015 by insidecabin