By train
- Edinburgh Waverley station is about 4.5 hours from London. The main service is LNER, with trains leaving up to every 30’ at peak times. Booking in advance is recommended and cheaper.
- Lumo can be cheaper, with 5 runs a day.
- Caledonian Sleeper runs a sleeper train every night.
- London is well connected to Europe via the Eurostar. Websites such as Rail Europe and Omino assist with finding and booking train connections across Europe. Interrail, for anyone living in Europe, and Eurail, for anyone living outside of Europe, offer multi-day train passes.
By plane
- Edinburgh Airport has direct connections to many European cities, North America, Doha in the Middle East, and Beijing in China.
- To reach the City center from Edinburgh Airport, you can either take the Airlink 100 bus (£8 for a return ticket), or the Tram (£9.50 for a return ticket) to the City Center. Embark at the station “Haymarket” for the conference center, or at the station “Princes Street” for the City Center. On the bus and at the tram ticket machine, you can pay contactless, or using Apple Pay, or Google Pay.
- Glasgow Airport is about 2 hours away from Edinburgh by public transport (Airport Bus and Train). It has a direct connection to Dubai as well as many European cities.
- If you cannot fly directly to Scotland, you can consider changing once at a major European Hub.
Local Transport
Edinburgh is a very compact and walkable city. It is not unlikely that you will not need public transport for your entire stay, besides the connection to and from the Airport. Edinburgh has an extensive Bus network that is operated by Lothian Buses. You can pay contactless, or using Apple Pay, or Google Pay, when entering the bus. There is an automated daily cap so that you will always pay the lowest fare. To use the Tram you need to buy a ticket before you board. You can pay contactless, or using Apple Pay, or Google Pay at the ticket machines at every station. Uber works as a ride-hailing app in Edinburgh.