Any tips on getting reasonable prices on the sleeper for a weekend in Scotland?
Preferably with a bed rather than a seat.

Cheapest I'm finding is just shy of £250 return London to Aviemore. By the time I figure in a train from Bristol to London, it's far cheaper and probably less time to drive.

Do they take bikes too?

I had a good look around for my trip next week and couldn't find anything cheap. I ended up with the budget option of a coach and a prayer (that they'll let me on with my bike).
Got a return overnight coach from London Victoria (15 mins train from my house) and departing at 11pm to Aviemore for £50 total. Journey time is approx 12 hours so not far off the sleeper train time.
I got one of those plastic bike CTC bags from wiggle for £7 and plan on putting the bike in that for the coach journey and then wrapping it around the dry bag in my Mountain Lion harness for the duration of the trip and using it as a protective groundsheet for my Lunar Solo.
I hope that as i'll only have a small rucksack and i'll offer to load the bike myself, the driver will take pity on me. I've found a few online reports that seem encouraging.

Very difficult. I've been trying to find a cheap sleeper to Corrour and/or Fort William for ages but it seems impossible.

Apparently the Fort William branch has smaller trains so cheap tickets are harder to find, so Aviemore MIGHT be an option. However, the "bargain berths" which you might hear people mentioning no longer exist. Tickets go on sale 3 months in advance on a Friday so try a Friday morning for your best bet, and if you can avoid weekends that will probably help too.

None of that helped me, we've pretty much dropped the idea as we can't get anything for less than £250 however hard we try.

I had an appalling nights sleep on the Edinburgh sleeper a few weeks ago. Probably won't be bothering again.

Unfortunately seems like trains are pretty backwards for bike travel which is a shame as they're convenient. I looked at flying too (Easyjet from Gatwick). Was around £120 inc train transfers but then you have the hassle of dealing with a bike bag.

I did one way to Fort William from West Midlands a few weeks ago and it was about £190 first class, but it was on my list of things to do before I die. Now it's done I wouldn't bother again, but I slept well :)

I fear the only way with bikes and trains is to play the system. A folding bike or a bike bag or use only the operators that are less bothered; that's Arriva and London Midland for me. Anything else is not impossible, but fraught with stress. You can't hook a guard's van to modern rolling stock and why would they want to lose seats for the odd few cyclists?

I've had a bike on quite a few trains (couple of dozen or so) over the course of the last 3 years. Booking ahead always seems to work. If looking at longer journeys, try split booking. When I travelled Edinburgh-Penzance I saved almost £100 by splitting the journey at Exeter.

Scotrail let you book the bike space on-line. I'm not sure anyone else does that.

Bike spaces in the East Coast trains are in the "guards compartment" behind the driver. It's laid out for 6 bikes but it's pretty big and they are normally very open to squeezing more on.

For that sleeper trip, would it be any cheaper to book the sleeper to Edinburgh then transfer to the seated coach?

Sleazy jet will fly me from Bristol to Inverness for £150 making the sleeper a non starter.
I spoke to the info desk at Inverness airport and they think they can store a bike bag for a couple of days too(they're getting back to me to confirm).
I could also be back in time for tea on the Sunday. :D

flatfishy wrote:Any tips on getting reasonable prices on the sleeper for a weekend in Scotland?
Preferably with a bed rather than a seat.

Cheapest I'm finding is just shy of £250 return London to Aviemore. By the time I figure in a train from Bristol to London, it's far cheaper and probably less time to drive.

Do they take bikes too?

Used the sleeper a couple of weeks ago, cost me £98 return from Euston to Inverness on the weds night before the bank holiday (using a seat), was gonna be double that for a cabin. We found the nice big bike storage area (although I think only 6 or so places, so in booking is pretty essential). You can get cheaper I hear, but it involves being very very early on the booking.

Driving was gonna be faster, but not cheaper (33mpg = 21p per mile, and I use tyres up at a rate of 1.66p/mile (£250 x 4 tyres over 15,000miles), and I could sleep on the train :D

I do not advise mega-bus, I've done that to Scotland before and it was miserable.

I have given up trying to sort sleeper tickets, for the date I needed to come back I was told they wont be stopping any english stations and would have to change at Euston. Seems a bit daft when we live in sheffield.

Have you looked at splitting the journey? Sleeper to Edinburgh. Then Edinburgh to Aviemore, which sometimes has singles for about £11 if one specifies the travel time

You can get Bargain Berths, but iirc, in practice you need to book quite far in advance. Saves a heap of money though. Not sure if there are any issues with taking bikes with one of these tickets... FAQ doesn't say.

We are based in Aviemore and would/could do pickups from Inverness airport and also store bike bags and other in a safe place while your here.

Get in touch

Andy

If I get something organised I'll be in touch Andy.