Nights and legs bought
Scotland by Rail, Eight Nights, Three Bases
Every bed and every train seat paid for before you leave, and not one day planned for you. Three bases, two long rail legs between them, and eight days that are entirely your own once you have got off the train.
- the first nights and the ride inbought
- every night of the tripbought
- the movement between placesbought
- meals beyond breakfastopen
- the days themselvesopen
What this band is for
You want the structure without the schedule. The beds exist, the trains are booked, and after that nothing has an opinion about your morning.
from$1,860per person, based on two sharing, land only
This figure buys 8 nights out of 8, and every leg between them.
Flights are quoted separately, because an airfare folded into a package makes the word from untrue by the following week. How a figure is built.
The five questions
What is bought before you leave, item by item
- Eight nights across three hotels, each one held in your name before you leave
- Every rail leg between the bases, with seat reservations rather than open tickets, because the good trains fill and an open ticket is a standing ticket
- Breakfast at all three hotels
- A written itinerary with the addresses, the platform times and every reference number in day order
What is open, and who arranges it
- All eight days. Nobody meets you and nothing is scheduled
- Every meal but breakfast
- Any day trip you decide on once you are there. The office will book the two that genuinely sell out if you ask before you go, at no charge, and will otherwise tell you which ones can be walked up to on the morning
What the open part asks of you
- You carry your own bags between platforms, and one of the changes has stairs
- Scottish weather does not consult the itinerary. Waterproofs are not optional in any month
- Sunday services are thinner than the timetable you looked at in July
- The open days are the point, and they are also work: you will spend an evening deciding what tomorrow is
What it costs to change it or drop it, and whose rule that is
- A hotel night on this trip can usually be moved or released later than you expect, and each of the three has its own rule
- The rail legs are the rigid part: reserved seats on the cheaper fares are typically not refundable, and the fare rules go in your proposal in full
- Note. Because the days are not bought, dropping one costs nothing at all. That is the trade this band makes
What is not final until we confirm
- The three hotels by name and street
- The rail services with times, and whether your seats face forward, which you may care about more than you expect
- Which two day trips are worth holding early
- The total, the deposit, and the separate cancellation rule for each element