We, my husband and I plan to fly into Belfast, and see Northern Ireland, including Royal Port Rush, Giants Causeway, etc. then we want to take a ferry over to Cairnyan,Scotland to Glasgow, Edinburg, St Andrew’s, then on up through Inverness to Thurso. We then plan to ferry to storm nests for a day to so and then back to fly out of Edinburg, We plan to arrive in Belfast October 1,2023 and leave Edinburg October 13, 2023. We need advice about trains and Ubers or other ground transportation to the villages along the way.
Travel within Northern Irland and Scotland
Public transport in Northern Ireland is provided by Translink under their various brands; NI railways, Ulsterbus, Goldliner, Metro.
The rail network is rather limited so using bus and coach services gives a lot more options.
A map of the network is here
The best ticket for their services is likely to be a zone 4 i-link card for each of you. These are contactless cards that you can load a day ticket to that covers all public transport within NI for £16.50 for a day, they can be ordered online to be posted to you or bought on arrival from various locations including the Airport.
No booking is necessary or available on any train or bus services.
For NI - Scotland by ferry there are coach and rail options, My recommendation is a local operator Hannon Coach who run a through coach from Belfast - Glasgow that drives on the ferry so your luggage just gets loaded at one end in Belfast and off at the bus station in Glasgow.
https://hannoncoach.com/belfast-to-glasgow-with-hannon-coach/
More departures are offered by Translink/Scottish Citylink but these run as seperate legs with you boarding the ferry on foot as the coach does not make the crossing, another will be waiting at the port.
https://www.translink.co.uk/UsingTranslink/coachandsailtoscotland
The rail-sail involves making your own way (there is a local bus) to the ferryport, boarding the ferry on foot, transfer to a coach from Cairnryan port to Ayr rail station and train to Glasgow from there.
It can be booked at Stena Line (the ferry operator for all 3 options) https://www.stenaline.co.uk/rail-and-sail/to-britain
https://www.scotrail.co.uk/tickets/combined-tickets-travel-passes/spirit-of-scotland
Might give you some ideas.
Reply
Enter your username or e-mail address. We'll send you an e-mail with instructions to reset your password.