Scotland to Amsterdam
 

Planning a trip to Scotland, and have booked our (award) flights. Flying into EDI, but home from AMS. So we need to get from Scotland to Amsterdam. Aside from just hopping a non-stop KLM flight, what options do we have? Anything unique? Are there any charter jet options? In the US this would be something like JetSuite X. What about trains or boats, or cars or any other mode of transit?

Thanks

Not far, so you could find a charter jet. Great Circle Mapper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Airport
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edinburgh_Airport

Ferries

• https://www.directferries.com/ferrie...to_england.htm
• https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.c...rts-say-642042
• https://nltimes.nl/2019/08/21/scotla...te-netherlands
• https://www.supplychainmovement.com/...tch-eemshaven/

Train would be via London on Eurostar. Eurostar train now goes to Amsterdam.
https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/u-k-...ostar-faq.html

Depending on how much time you´d be willing to spend for the journey (and which season or rather how "sensitive" you are regarding weather/temps) I´d choose the ferry between Newcastle and Amsterdam (Ijmuiden).
There are no ferries to the Netherlands from north of Newcastle so you need to get there either by train/coach/car.
Additional info: https://www.dfds.com/en-gb/passenger...n/bus-transfer
The ferries are overnight leaving Newcastle 5pm arriving Amsterdam 9.45am.
Ferry operator is DFDS (if you decide in favour the ferry crossing I´d recomend to book on their website since there´s no advantage via OTA´s)
Link: https://www.dfds.com/en-gb/passenger...stle-amsterdam

In comparison going by train all the way via London (change of train+railway station required) the overall travel time may not be much different from a ferry crossing ex Newcastle.
You can either choose to travel to London over night by sleeper or daytime train and continue from London by Eurostar.
Unless you find a really good deal I´d expect the train only trip to be generally more expensive ...

Btw.: The proposed ferry link Rosyth,Scotland to Eemshaven,Netherlands has not materialized so far

Second the boat option - I always enjoy overnight ferry crossings, and it's less than an hour and a half from Edinburgh Waverley to Newcastle, with three train companies competing for your business. Newcastle is definitely worth a stop-off, too, even if it's just to get the views down the Tyne.

Personally, if I were flying, I'd be every bit as happy with easyJet as I would with KLM.

The ferry Newcastle to Amsterdam (actually to IJmuiden, about 40 min bus ride from Amsterdam) is an interesting way to travel if you have the time. It's perfectly comfortable, especially if you get a nice cabin. Don't go expecting luxury! Good summary of the service from the Seat61 website.

It departs early evening (about 5-6pm usually) which would combine well with a leisurely departure from Edinburgh and a few hours exploring Newcastle, then dinner on board.

If you were in Newcastle, I wouldn't hesitate to recommend it. Starting from Edinburgh, you'd have to be looking for a slow travel experience to recommend it over the direct flight.

An interesting way might be to take the sleeper train from Scotland to London and then transfer onto a Eurostar, either direct to Amsterdam or changing in Brussels (depending on your itinerary and prices).


I have taken the Newcastle - Ijmuiden ferry many times and would say:

It is a ferry that wants to be a cruise ship, but isn't anywhere close!
The prices onboard are ridiculously high! We take our own food, and book a cabin with Breakfast included (as a family we prefer the bigger cabin anyway).

There are a number of private jet charter operators that will take you from EDI to AMS. Give NetJets a call, but there are others.

Train and Ferry are out, due to time. I looked hard at the ferry option, but we just dont have enough total days to be able to dedicate 1 of them to a ferry ride.

Net jets is probably too pricey for us.
I looked at LoganAir, but no direct flights to AMS. Are there any other smaller carriers like Loganair ?

Right now I am trying to talk my wife into a Loganair beach landing experience......

Well, regarding regional airlines you're almost out if luck ...
From EDI (or GLA) there's no regional carrier serving AMS.
Loganair only serves AMS from Londonderry ...
Which does limit options to flyBE who do not offer non-stop flights to AMS from Scotland but they do offer frequent and reasonably timed (and priced) connections via MAN (up to 5 daily flights IIRC).

Since BMI went south there's little left (Eastern Aw./Loganair/flyBE)

Just stumbled upon a new flight option:

Since you are looking for "regional" airline options it might not include only prop operators ... :
Despite being a so-called "LCC" Transavia (HV - part of KLM) just commenced serving Edinburgh - Rotterdam four times a week.
Rotterdam is just about 60 kms south of Amsterdam and both cities are very well connected by frequent train service.
So, that might be a viable option if schedules fit.
Transavia flies B737 (not the "Max", though;))
Flight schedule EDI-RTM :
monday 14.50 - 17.10
thursday 20.15 - 22.35
friday 20.35 - 22.55
sunday 13.15 - 15.35
Times are local (UK = GMT / The Netherlands = GMT+1)

I've no idea why OP would want to fly Transavia for the sake of it rather than easyJet or KLM. It's certainly not an 'exotic' airline by any means. I suppose trying out RTM airport might be of interest, however, and price may be good.

It might be anything but exotic - for you - but for someone from the U.S. it might be an interesting airline to experience.
Most likely an American would have never heard of it before.
... and aside from that he might even collect a few miles depending on which frequent flyer program he´s with.
Transavia is certainly a much smaller company than Easyjet/Ryanair/Wizzair/etc.
A flight between EDI and RTM takes just a bit more than an hour anyway and it is certainly bearable flying HV without too much discomfort ...

The ferry runs mostly through the night, so there isn't much waste in terms of daylight hours, if you ask me.

The way I read it is you have to be onboard around 16:00 - Train from Edinburgh to NewCastle is ~2hours. plus an hour on each end for transit to../ from stations (I know it won't really take that long, but you have to PLAN for it taking that long, So, Ferry at 16:00. 4 hours to get to Ferry, leave hotel at noon, yeah, thats a full day no matter what way you cut it.

737 - no matter the operator, ehh... Love collecting different carriers, but in the end its a LCC 733.

Too bad there is no propeller plane options.

n/t 12345