Travel in the UK: Cities

Travel - see all our background pages

The possibilities

The UK is full of energetic cities with rich cultural heritage. We love to advise Alpine Exploratory clients about extending their UK trip to take in such places as Edinburgh, Manchester and Glasgow. Visiting a city can be an invigourating contrast and a way to celebrate a succcesful trip to the mountains.

Clients receive our detailed Travel Notes on booking; as well as directions to and from the following cities relevant to each route, we include brief hotel lists that we maintain as we pass through on our recces. Please tell us how many days you have to spare, and we'll advise.

We describe our UK cities:
England: Manchester
Scotland: Edinburgh and Glasgow

Alpine Exploratory UK trip Arrival and departure airports for the best experience
Coast to Coast	Manchester	Manchester
Great Glen Way	Glasgow	Inverness
Hebridean Way	Barra	Stornoway
Lake District Tour	Manchester	Manchester
Pennine Way	Manchester	Edinburgh
West Highland Way	Glasgow	Edinburgh

Alpine Exploratory in the UK

Holidays

England

For our treks in Northern England, Manchester is the key city. Fly here instead of London for a shorter train ride to the start.

About Manchester
Recognisably the UK's second city after London, Manchester has much of the bustle in a compact city centre. The industrial revolution started here, the original Lowell, Massachusetts. Mills and warehouses have become offices and apartments. Manchester pulls people in from across the North and was Alpine Exploratory's local capital during our years based in Settle.

Scotland

Our treks in Scotland are convenient for both Edinburgh and Glasgow; in fact the West Highland Way starts from a suburb of Glasgow, Milngavie. The two cities are linked by regular trains taking one hour.

About Edinburgh
Scotland's capital but smaller than Glasgow, Edinburgh is first on the list for tourists because of its sheer look: the quality of architecture and the situation on seven hills. August is the big festival month and sees the streets surging. At Alpine Exploratory we love having our base here. Edinburgh Airport is surprisingly well-linked to North America and Europe.

About Glasgow
Glasgow with Manchester and Birmingham is a formerly industrial city spread over a large area. The subway is the only one in the UK outside London. We like to explore widely in Glasgow from West to East, linking busy high streets (shops, restaurants) with the grand central buildings. The underground helps show the pattern of economic ups and downs either side of the Clyde.

The contrast between city and countryside, here in Richmond on the Coast to Coast trail

Coast to Coast

Travel - our main page for these travel aspects
Guided and self-guided holidays - see our full range