MelanieZ: I've been to just about every castle in the region. A few of the best are Fraser , Craigie

Will be flying into Aberdeen in June and need to know the best way to get to our destination in Ballater. My husband is not fond of getting off of a long flight from the states and driving a car(neither one of us has ever driven on the opposite side of car and road) to Ballater. We will be in Ballater for 6 days before we venture down to Edinburgh. We have not decided how we are getting from Ballater to Edinburgh either. Our resort in Ballater is one mile from town and we're not sure if we can even get a car in Ballater. From my research discount car rental salt lake city it's not looking good. I would like to drive to Edinburgh, discount car rental salt lake city Any suggestions?
It's over 40 miles and a taxi would be somewhat expensive. You could take the bus - airport bus into Aberdeen then 201 to Ballater but that would take 3 hours and still wouldn't put you where you want to be. Hiring a car is not a good idea and in any case you'd have several days of it sitting there doing nothing except creating debt.
But you most definitely 100% will need a car if staying there. Ballater is a tiny town -- you'll need to get a car in Aberdeen. A bit better planning would have had you flying into Scotland a day early, resting up and collecting a car the next day after a good night's rest.
If you are just going to Edinburgh, you should drop the car back in A'deen and take the train down. But there is soooooooo much to see/do enroute, I'd drive it myself and drop the car when I got to EDI and take public transport into the city.
We hopefully will not need to go back to Aberdeen as we are staying in Edinburgh for a few days and on to London from there.. We won't be needing a car while in Edinburgh as everything is within walking discount car rental salt lake city distance from our hotel. From there we are taking an East Coast train to London. Am I mistaken in thinking there are no car rentals in Ballater? I think the taxi from Aberdeen airport to Ballater may be the best option as you stated alanRow.
There may be a small local car hire firm in Ballater (I've never seen one though) but if so it would not allow one way rentals so you could not take the car to Edinburgh (or drop it in Aberdeen). I do think there is a small local garage/car hire firm in Banchory - but again you could not leave the car in either Aberdeen or Edinburgh. Banchory is about 40 minutes from Ballater.
" We won't be needing a car while in Edinburgh as everything is within walking distance from our hotel. " You wouldn't need a car there even for the sites that are not walking distance. Edinburgh isn't your problem, Ballater and Deeside is
janisj, are you saying we definately need a car for Ballater? We were thinking discount car rental salt lake city about hiring a bike for a day or so to go sightseeing. I assumed we could walk into town on a daily basis if we wanted to. We dont plan on venturing too far from the resort, which is Craigendarroch! Im glad to hear its a good place!
The town has enough of interest for maybe one afternoon. We are talking a small place - probably discount car rental salt lake city less than 1500 total population, w/ nothing but a few shops and restaurants. It is in a beautiful area -- but to see anything in the area easily . . . Balmoral, the Castle Trail, Braemar, anything much, you'll need wheels. discount car rental salt lake city And I don' t mean bicycles
If you just mean to chill and not see anything you won't need a car. But you can't 'sightsee' w/o one. The nearest 'site' is Balmoral which is about 10 miles up the road. Everything else is miles away.
So maybe we should get a car from the Aberdeen airport and keep it for the time we are in Ballater and drive it to Edinburgh and drop it when we get there? Are there many roundabout's or challenging driving situations between Aberdeen and Ballater and Ballater discount car rental salt lake city to Edinburgh? I feel pretty confident in my driving abilities, but it's a whole different ballgame there.
The driving is super easy - for the most part. Unfortunately the only 'complicated' bits are from the airport to the A93. The A93 is the road that travels along the river Dee and goes to Ballater. No problem along the A93 at all. But to get from the airport discount car rental salt lake city to the A93 is pretty complicated for a newbie. Several roundabouts. Total trip is between 90 mins and 2 hours, but 99% of the 'issues' are in the first 6 or 7 miles.
Then, for the trip from Ballater to Edinburgh - you won't have any trouble because you'd be totally used to the car/driving. You can drop the car at EDI airport and not have to drive IN Edinburgh at all.
We stayed 3 nights in Ballater last week (unfortunately coinciding with some fairly nasty weather). Janis is right when she says it's a small place - there really is very little to see in the village, apart from the Old Railway Station museum which has an interesting display related to Quenn Victoria's trips to the area.
You absolutely do need a car to see this area. We just used Ballater as a base to visit the surrounding castles, distilleries and mountain scenery and I'd have to say that's pretty much all it's good for - not really a destination in it's own right.
We were rather disappointed by the sparse choice of affordable restaurants in the village, though discount car rental salt lake city we did eat one night at the Hilton Craigendarroch mentioned above (it was OK - good service but little atmosphere in the Clubhouse restaurant - the other on-site restaurant was too formal for our tastes).
Gordon, which castles did you visit? I've been looking at a few around discount car rental salt lake city Ballater that interest me. Balmoral is not one of them however, as you can't really see much on the inside. Well, everything you did there is pretty much what is on our agenda while there(6 days). discount car rental salt lake city It's our "chill" time before we head south to bigger cities. Any tips on the best points of your visit would be great! We did reserve a car at the Aberdeen airport, so I hope my jetlag will not come into play too bad!
Melanie - we only visited Crathes castle while in the area (which was excellent). We didn't go to Balmoral as the weather was unpredicable and, as you correctly mentiond, it's mainly the grounds that are accessible to visitors. There are many other castles discount car rental salt lake city in the area of course (Castle Fraser, Drum Castle, discount car rental salt lake city Braemar, Craigiever to name but a few).
A great (but long) day out from Ballater we did was to drive over to Aviemore and go up the top of Cairngorm mountain on the funicular railway. Plenty of snow at the top when we were there 2 weeks ago. On a clear day the views are amazing. Be advised that some of the roads over the mountain passes are narrow (single discount car rental salt lake city track in places), twisty and demand skill and attention.
Just curious by the way how Janis correctly guessed you were staying at the Craigendarroch Hilton (which I'd never even heard of until we visited Ballater). There are many hotels and B B's in and around Ballater - is there something particular about Craigendarroch that attracts overseas discount car rental salt lake city visitors?
MelanieZ: I've been to just about every castle in the region. A few of the best are Fraser discount car rental salt lake city , Craigievar (one of my VERY favorites but maybe not for a first timer w/ limited time), Dunnottar , Crathes (the castle is very nice but the garden is almost incomparable), Drum, Braemar, Balmoral (Maybe not usually a 'must' but is is practically next door to where you are staying), Fyvie, Corgarff , Huntly, Haddo House, Kildrummy, Leith Hall, Tolquhon . . .and others.
Gordon- discount car rental salt lake city Janisj is correct. We have a Hilton timeshare and received enough bonus points when we purchased it for a European vacation. There are 3 Hilton discount car rental salt lake city resorts in Scotland and the Craigendarroch seemed to suit our needs best.
Thank you both for your input! I will take it all to heart! We also go south to Edinburgh, London, Amsterdam, and Cologne discount car rental salt lake city Germany! So, any experiences discount car rental salt lake city there would be appreciated also! We have more of a desire to do as the locals do and relax and enjoy rather than rush around doing the touristy discount car rental salt lake city things. The castles are the exception in Scotland. The only touristy thing I would like to do in London is the Tower.
I have one other suggestion. You could hire a private driver. There's a guy in Westhill does it, for example. You could mx and match, not worry about driving but still have some flexibility about what you see and where you go. And they can either take you to Aberdeen to catch a train to Edinburgh or take you all the way.
Yes, a driver/guide would be great. But you are there 6 days so having a driver for at least 5 days plus to/from Aberdeen discount car rental salt lake city or Edinburgh would cost quite a bit. Might be worth it if you really don't want to drive.
But w/o a driver they'd sort of stuck in Ballater, which while a nice place its not really worth more than a morning or afternoon walk around. That's why they'd probably discount car rental salt lake city want a driver for several days.
ira, it was suggested, but we are not willing to give up an already booked and paid for night at the resort in Ballater. In hindsight, that would have been a great idea. I've watched discount car rental salt lake city a few videos regarding roundabouts and general driving in the U.K. and I think I can manage. From directions on mapquest, there are only 2 roundabouts I may encounter after leaving the airport. Plus, we get there on a Sunday and I'm hoping the traffic will be light. Fingers crossed!