Stu1: Made a draft plan, looking at catching fast train from London to Edinburgh, is it a nice way to see the country? It’s about 4.5 hours or better to fly?. Have planned 3 nights there, first day explore the city , next day take 12 hour tour to the highlands and Loch Ness then day 3 explore the rest of the city. The underground tours look amazing.

I traveled extensively by rail during my aforementioned trip in 2022, can highly recommend this as a mode of travel and a good way to enjoy the sights without the hassle of driving. I caught trains through to Edinburgh with stops in Kidderminster and York (to visit the National Railway Museum) on the way up.

Caught a local train from Edinburgh Waverley Station across the famous Forth Rail Bridge and back again before parking up at the Stag Head Pub in South Queensferry for the Edinburgh part of my trip. It's just outside the city proper and my room had the benefit of a magnificent view of the Forth Bridge out my window (and a pub downstairs!).

In Edinburgh itself, did the Underground Vaults Tour through Get Your Guide and, again, can highly recommend that. Tour was led by a talented young woman, dressed in a period cloak, and was very theatrical in her delivery of the information. The vaults you visit under South Bridge were/are apparently owned by an ex-Scottish rugby player, and are reputedly haunted. Ghosts must have had the day off when I visited, but it really was a brilliant couple of hours seeing what was beneath the city and learning some history.

The tour departs from the Royal Mile, lots of tourist/souvenir shops along there happy to assist you to lighten your wallet. Also on the Mile is the Burger And Beers Grillhouse, I stopped there for lunch on one of my days, have a burger called The Frying Scotsman which features a Haggis Fritter, very nice if you're not up to trying authentic Haggis! It's a "wait to be seated" place with table service, they have an app as well. Again, can recommend.

Caught the train back to London over the course of a day, I pre-booked and paid for all my rail tickets before leaving NZ, there's several websites that allow you to do this. I used the popular "split ticket" method for most of my journeys, rather than direct tickets from A to B. Normally works out cheaper and gives you the benefit of short (or longer if you wish) stopovers at stations along the way. I found that to be quite fun as many of the stations are quite impressive to view and explore.