Hertz offers a large section of vehicles including 4x4. Available in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee and Prestwick Airport. Click for online quotation
	Thrifty Car Rental offers a wide range of vehicles from a variety of manufacturers. Available in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Aberdeen (Airports & City Centres) plus Dundee Airport and Perth. Click for online quotation
	Ebookers work in conjunction with various international car rental companies. Available in Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Inverness. Voted Best Car Rental Website 2005 by TravelMole Click for online quotation
	EasyCar rental is available in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Inverness, Aberdeen & Prestwick Airport. Click for online quotation

Travel Insurance

Online quotations can be obtained from:

• American Express Travel Insurance
• Ebookers
• Travel Insurance Online
• Cheap4ferries

Air travel

	Opodo offer flights worldwide. You can also book city breaks, hotels and car rental through their web site.
	Ebookers operate in conjunction with British Airways, Quantas, American Airlines, Emirates & Cathay Pacific to offer flights worldwide. Car hire, hotels and insurance can also be arranged through their web site.

For international and domestic flights, see:

• British Airways online searchable timetable. Tickets from London Heathrow or Gatwick to Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow, also to Inverness (more expensive). Flight connections to the islands of Barra, Benbecula, Islay, Lewis, Orkney and Shetland. GO FLY (part of BA) operates flights from Stansted to Edinburgh.
• EasyJet operates daily cheap flights from Gatwick (London), Luton Airport (about 30 miles north of London) direct to Inverness, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen. Single journey tickets allow flexibility to fly into one part of the country and fly out of another.
• RYANAIR operates cheap flights from Stansted (near London) to Prestwick (south of Glasgow).
• KLM UK is another company which is offering flights from London City Airport to Edinburgh, or from Stansted to Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow.
• bmi (British Midland Airways Ltd) has a variety of cheap flights (domestic and international).
• Highland Airways operate an Island Hopper Service linking Inverness - Stornoway (isle of Lewis) - Benbecula, and Inverness - Shetland.
• Air Scotland - low cost airline
• EUjet - cheap flights
• flybe - low cost flights
• Flyglobespan - Scotland's low fares airline
• Also see cheapflights.co.uk and cheapflights.com (for US residents)

English Airports (based around London): Gatwick - Heathrow - Stansted

Main Airports in Scotland:

• Edinburgh Airport (7 miles from the city centre). See BAA's official website and Joe Curry's unofficial guide. Coaches every 10-20 minutes. Taxis and car hire available.
• Glasgow Airport ( 8 miles from the city centre). Coaches every 20 minutes direct to city centre. Coach service to railway station 2 miles away. Frequent coach service to Edinburgh. Taxis and car hire available.
• Prestwick Airport. 30 miles south of Glasgow on the Ayrshire coast. Coaches every hour to Glasgow. Trains every 30 minutes to Glasgow. Discount on rail tickets. Taxis and car hire available.
• Aberdeen Airport (at Dyce 7 miles from city centre). See BAA's official website and Joe Curry's unofficial guide. Regular coach service at peak times. Dyce railway station is a short distance away by taxi. Taxis and car hire available.
• Inverness Airport (at Dalcross, 8 miles from Inverness, 7 miles from Nairn). Frequent bus service to/from Inverness Monday-Saturday (approx. every 90 minutes). Train stations at Inverness and Nairn. Taxis and car hire available.
• Dundee Airport - flights by ScotAirways to/from London City. Also private planes.

Other airports in Scotland include:

• Stornoway (Isle of Lewis)
• Balivanich (Isle of Benbecula)
• Isle of Barra
• Isle of Islay
• Kirkwall (Orkney)
• Sumburgh (Shetland)
• Lerwick (Shetland)
• Campbeltown
• Wick

For more info on these, visit the Highlands and Islands Airports official web site.

Flights between Scotland and Europe include:

• Ryanair flies from Glasgow Prestwick to Girona (Barcelona), Bergamo (Milan), Ciampno (Rome), Beauvais (Paris), Charleroi (Brussels), Hahn (Frankfurt), Skavsta (Stockholm), Torp (Oslo), Gothenburg.
• Germanwings flies from Edinburgh to Cologne.

Ferry travel

Most ferries in western Scotland are operated by Caledonian MacBrayne based in Gourock. They sail to 23 islands off the west coast and have special tickets for multiple journeys (Island Hopscotch and Island Rover tickets).

Ferries to Orkney and Shetland from the Scottish mainland are run by Northlink Orkney & Shetland Ferries Limited.

Ferries between the various islands of the Orkney group are run by Orkney Ferries Ltd. in Kirkwall - Telephone: 01856 872044 / Fax: 01856 872921.

Ferries between Scotland and Ireland:

• P&O: between Larne (in Ireland) and Cairnryan (in Scotland)
• Stena Line from Stranraer (Scotland) to Belfast (Northern Ireland).

Ferries to/from Europe:

For discount rates, visit Cheap4ferries

• Superfast Ferries operate a ferry service between Zeebrugge (Belgium) and Rosyth (Fife, eastern Scotland). Voyage time is 17 - 18 hours. This is the only ferry between Scotland and Continental Europe.
  Rosyth is less than 30 minutes drive from Edinburgh, 35 minutes from Perth, 1 hour from Glasgow, 2 hours from Aberdeen and 3 hours from Inverness.
• P&O North Sea Ferries operate ferry links from Holland and Belgium to Hull (northern England) from where it is a 6 hour drive to Edinburgh.
• DFDS Seaways operate ferries to Newcastle (northern England) from where it is a 3 hour drive to Edinburgh.
• For all the different European ferry routes, visit ferrybooker.com.

Rail travel

The main railway lines within Scotland operated by First Scotrail are:

• Between Edinburgh and Glasgow
• From Glasgow south to Dumfries
• From Glasgow south to Stranraer (via the following places on the west coast: Wemyss Bay, Largs, Ardrossan, Irvine, Troon, Prestwick, Ayr, Girvan).
• From Glasgow north to Oban
• From Glasgow north to Fort William and on to Mallaig
• From Edinburgh north to Inverness (via Stirling, Perth, Pitlochry, Blair Atholl and Aviemore)
• From Edinburgh north to Inverness (via the east coast stations of Dundee, Aberdeen and Nairn)
• From Inverness north to Thurso
• From Inverness west to Kyle of Lochalsh

Sleeper trains are available from London to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Fort William, Inverness and Aberdeen.
See the official UK railways website with timetables.
You can now book train tickets online via thetrainline.com.
Savings within Scotland can be made with TravelPass & Rover tickets - click here for details.

Eurostar operates trains between London and Europe.

Coach travel

• National Express (all UK)
• Scottish Citylink
• Megabus - a new budget double decker bus service operating between Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee, Perth, Aberdeen and Inverness.
• travelinescotland.com is the official public transport guide with online timetables and a journey planner.

Online Maps

To calculate driving distances, use the RAC route planner or MSN Maps UK.

Searchable online maps:

• Streetmap.co.uk
• UK Multimap.com
• Ordnance Survey Get-a-Map

Maps for your journey can be purchased via Amazon UK

Weather

Web sites providing useful weather information include:

• The BBC
• The official UK Meteorological Office
• Weather Online (inc. current & annual figures, etc.)
• Online Weather
• UK forecasts by Yahoo

Useful info

• Visit the official UK Government Foreign Office web site for all information about Visa Requirements.
• www.i-uk.com: UK Government web site
• Although aimed at Americans moving to live in the UK, the uk-yankee.com is also useful for tourists with practical tips including articles on cultural differences, electrical goods, money, etc.