Travelling to Magnify

Important Note: On Thursday 16th September Pope Benedict XVI is intending to visit Edinburgh for a few hours.  This will cause travel delays in and around the city.  The Magnify event team strongly suggest that delegates leave plenty of time for travel to the city that day. Information on what roads will be closed when can be found here.

Edinburgh is a vibrant, historic city that is easily navigated. There are many options getting into Edinburgh, but once you arrive you will find it is a very walkable city with a good public transportation system.

The venue for Magnify is St Paul’s and St George’s Church (often called Ps&Gs by the locals) which is located near the centre of Edinburgh on the corner of York Place and Broughton Street. You can get exact directions on Google Maps. The full address of the venue is: 46 York Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3HP.  Click here for a mobile friendly map of the venue and the surrounding area.  Registration for Magnify will open at 17:30 on Thursday 16th September; the opening meeting will start at 20:00.  Please plan to arrive early on in the registration period before the meeting as there will be many people to welcome and register. The closing meeting for Magnify will end around 22:00 on Saturday 18th.

Plane
Train
Bus
Car
Ferry

By Air:

Edinburgh is served primarily by Edinburgh International Airport, though Glasgow and Prestwick airports are a viable alternative. Destinations with direct flights to Edinburgh include Dublin, Paris, Zurich, Amsterdam, Brussels, all London airports and many other UK airports.

If you are flying from within Europe you can find low-cost flight options on www.skyscanner.net which is a search engine for European low-cost airlines.

Edinburgh International Airport is 8 miles (12km) west of the city centre. Journey time into the central city is about 25 minutes.

Airlink 100 – frequent bus service between Edinburgh Airport and the city centre, with designated stops en route. Approx cost is £3.50 single / £6.00 return. www.flybybus.com 



Edinburgh Shuttle – frequent, on-demand mini-coach service between Edinburgh Airport and the city centre. Departs every 10 - 20 minutes to any address within the city centre zone. www.edinburghshuttle.com 



Taxi – approximately £15-£20, approximate journey time 30 minutes (unless in rush-hour). Alternatively use the frequent Airlink bus, operated by Lothian Region Transport, £3.30 single or £5 return, journey time 30 minutes. www.edinburghairport.com


Glasgow Airport is about an hour's drive from Edinburgh, with frequent rail and bus transfers. www.glasgowairport.com


Prestwick Airport is about 2 hours away from Edinburgh by bus or train. For further information about bus and train options to Edinburgh from Prestwick Airport see www.gpia.co.uk.

If you plan to fly into one of the three airports listed above and are planning to rent a car at the airport, please see the section below on coming in by car.

By Rail:

Edinburgh Waverley Station has direct rail links to other major cities. York, Newcastle, Inverness and Aberdeen are all about 2 hours away by train, and Glasgow is less than an hour away. Here are some links if you are booking rail:


By Coach:

The following are the main options for bus travel to Edinburgh from other parts of the UK.

By Car:

If you do plan to drive to Edinburgh, or to rent a car while you are there, it is important to bear in mind that parking is difficult and there is no free parking in the city centre.

Driving From the UK
For accurate driving directions you can go to Google Maps and plan your route. Here are some estimated drive times (in hours) to Edinburgh:

By Ferry:

Driving or Rail from Ireland or Mainland Europe: If you are coming into the UK by ferry and you have a car, please see the “Driving from the UK” section above for information on driving once you get into the UK.

If you are coming by ferry as a passenger, please see the “Arriving by Rail” and “Arriving by Coach” sections.

Below are listed some ferry services from Northern Europe to the UK. There are several other ferry companies that operate from western France and Northern Spain that have not been listed here. It’s worth noting that in many cases the cost of the ferry is as much or more than the cost of flights.

• DFDS Seaways – regular ferry service Amsterdam (IJmuiden) to Newcastle. From Newcastle there is frequent rail service to Edinburgh. www.dfdsseaways.co.uk
• StenaLine Ferries –  regular ferry service Belfast to Stranraer. They also operate crossings to Harwich from Hook of Holland. www.stenaline.co.uk
• P&O Ferries – regular ferry service Larne to Troon. www.poirishsea.com 
• Norfolk Line Ferries – regular ferry service from Bruges (Zeebrugge) to Rosyth. Rosyth is approximately a 30 minute drive from Edinburgh. For bus and rail links from Rosyth to Edinburgh visit www.scotrail.co.uk/content/zebrugge.html.