Travel
Inverness is accessible by regular and competitively priced flights to Inverness National Airport. You can also choose to take a train, bus or drive. If travelling from the South of the UK, it is possible to catch a “Sleeper Service” train to Inverness, which allows the traveller to sleep the journey away in a comfortable bed. The staff do however recommend a drive up to Inverness to experience the breathtaking scenery along the way – we added almost an hour onto our car journey because of all the breaks for photographs we took along the way – it was totally worth it though!
For attendees coming from south of the border, or even the very south of Scotland by car, then the most direct route to Inverness is via the very scenic A9 which provides some quite spectacular views along the way.
Especially for those of you coming from England, we would recommend a route that gets you to the M6 initially; this could be from the M1 or M5 depending on whether you’re coming from the direction of London or the south-west respectively. From the M6, you join the M74 just past Carlisle, and then onto the M80 via the M73 outside Glasgow to finally meet with the A9 not too far from Stirling. From here the A9 is a straight run through to Inverness.
The hotel has 50 free parking spaces for those wishing to drive up, and even though they are allocated on a first come first served basis, there is additional parking in various places within Inverness.
Please remember; if you are using a satnav, the hotel post code will direct you to the front of the hotel. The car park is situated at the back, on Bank Street which is alongside the river.
The Hotel Address is:
33 Church Street
Inverness
Inverness-shire
IV1 1DX
Scotland
Rail travel to ScotiaCon is really quite simple, and mainly governed by just where in the UK you’re coming from!
Aside from the usual manner of rail travel, one of our forum members also proposed a very cool idea – the Caledonian Sleeper service. The sleeper service leaves from London Euston, but stops at Watford, Crewe and Preston along the way. Tickets are available via ScotRail.
As can be seen from Google Maps once you have reach Inverness Rail Station (station code INV) then it’s less than a 5 minute walk to the hotel. With a 16-25 railcard, if you book in advance, it’s possible to get return tickets from £20 to £45.
Please Note: The location shown on the map for the hotel is its alternative street level entrance which leads directly into the hotel main lobby.
Believe it or not, but Inverness has a national airport located just 15 minutes drive north-east of the city. Flights to Inverness Airport leave from most large UK cities including London, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol.
The airport itself offers car rental (via Hertz rent-a-car) but there is also a half hourly bus service between Inverness airport and Inverness.
In our research we found the cheapest carriers to make the short flight to be Flybe and Easyjet however better deals may be available with other carriers depending on how far in advance tickets are booked. Return tickets can be bought in advance for as little as £30!
The final method for getting to ScotiaCon, by bus, is just as easy as any of the other and could very well be the cheapest option for anyone travelling by themselves. Both National Express and Mega Bus offer services from all over the country, including internally within Scotland, directly to Inverness for very low prices, which of course get even lower with student cards and the like. These bus services can cost you under £5.
