HOW TO GET HERE
The Riccarton campus is situated to the west of Edinburgh near Currie,
between the A70 and A71.
Some basic information about how to get here is below.
There is also a university web page with directions
here
(but a lot of the university page is either out of date or not very helpful - if anything on this page is out of date or could be improved, let me know:
).
Further information about public transport is at
Traveline Scotland.
Maps
Map of West Edinburgh,
the campus is near the village of Hermiston.
Old but useful maps of the campus:
black and white
colour.
Useless and incomprehensible
University Map.
By Car
Join the Edinburgh City Bypass and leave it at the Calder junction
onto the A71 westbound (signposted
Heriot-Watt University).
Then follow signs for the university.
NB a new park and ride bus scheme has recently opened just near
the entrance to the university.
This is not shown on the map, so the road layout is a bit different to
the map, but the signs will still get you here.
The main entrance to the university is still the big roundabout
on Riccarton Mains Rd.
There are no restrictions or charges at the moment on parking in the
main visitors car park, which is on the right as you enter the campus
from the big roundabout at the main entrance.
By Train
See here for
train information.
Arriving by the East Coast line at the main Waverley Station in the city
centre, walk up the steps to Princes Street and walk west along Princes
Street until you reach a bus stop where Lothian Buses 25, or 34, see below,
is indicated. Arriving
from the West, it is slightly quicker to alight at Haymarket Station,
walk 100m east towards a large road junction (Haymarket), turn right
and cross the Dalry road to reach a Lothian Buses 25 bus stop. Local trains between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central via Shotts stop
at Curriehill Station which is a fifteen to twenty-minute walk from the campus.
By Bus
Lothian Buses
services 25, 34 and 45 run between the city centre and the James Watt
Centre on the campus.
All these bus routes terminate at the campus, so you can simply sit on the
bus until it is clearly no longer going anywhere.
Exact fare must be tendered - at present (September 2011) the fare
is £1.30 from the city centre, on any route, or you can get a day ticket for £3.50 which you can use repeatedly, on any route.
The 25 runs along Princes Street (by Waverley Station)
and also serves Haymarket Station
(approximately 10 minutes after Waverley Station).
The journey time to Riccarton is approximately 35 minutes from
Waverley Station and 25 minutes from Haymarket Station.
Between 8.00 and 18.30 the 25 runs roughly every 10 minutes.
After that it is every half hour.
The 34 also runs between Princes Street (by Waverley Station) and
Riccarton Campus.
The journey time to Riccarton is approximately 40 minutes from
Waverley Station.
The 45 runs from St Andrew Square (close to the Bus Station), via
the Mound and Tollcross (Tollcross is about 10 minutes after
St Andrew Square) to Riccarton Campus, Mondays to Fridays only.
The journey time to Riccarton is approximately 40 to 45 minutes from
St Andrew Sq and 30 minutes from Tollcross.
Late buses are also available: The N25 leaves from Waverley
Steps on Princes Street and runs via Haymarket.
Bus timetables and up-to-date information can be obtained
from Lothian Buses
(click on 'Find your bus' then 'timetables').
By Taxi
A taxi from the City Centre costs about £14; normal tipping
rate in the UK is 10%, but personally I don't tip taxi drivers.
By Air
From Edinburgh International Airport (Turnhouse) airport the most
convenient way is by taxi, approximate cost £12, approximate time
10 minutes. From Glasgow International Airport, there are some
buses direct to the centre of Edinburgh (to St Andrew's Square
Bus station, walk outside and turn left into St Andrew's Square to
catch the 25 to Riccarton). Alternatively take a bus or taxi to
Glasgow (Buchanan St.) Station and catch a train to Edinburgh (Haymarket).
By Bike
For some basic information about alternative routes here by bike,
see:
basic information.
For OS maps of the Union canal see:
Heriot-Watt approach
city centre start.
My preferred route is to come out along the Union canal - the above 'basic information' link has information about this route, and some other suggestions
(and some photos of the canal towpath).
The canal starts at Lochrin Basin, near Tollcross and Lothian road in
the city centre (for an OS map, see the above link), and heads out past
Harrison Park, Slateford, Kingsknowe, Wester-Hailes and then crosses the
Edinburgh bypass and continues on westwards to Falkirk. If you are not
starting in the city centre you could trace out the route of the canal
from the above link and find a suitable place to join it.
The other link above shows an OS map of the approach to the university.
For this, probably the best route is:
-
leave the canal at bridge number 10a (the third bridge after the
aqueduct over the bypass, a relatively new bridge with white railings -
on the old bridges the numbers are etched onto the keystones, on 10a the
number is etched fairly unobtrusively on the left buttress;
this bridge is immediately west of the blue 18 on the OS map);
-
turn left, then first right into Hermiston village;
-
turn left half way through the village along a path (signposted
Heriot-Watt) out to the A71;
-
cross the A71 at the lights, then continue straight ahead, following the
cycle tracks and signs, past the exit from the 'park and ride' and then
right along a cycle track just before the traffic lights;
-
following this you then turn left to emerge onto Research Avenue North
(top right of the
black and white map);
-
turning right (west) on Research Avenue North you get to the north-south
track marked on the map at a zebra crossing - after that, follow the
map!
Accommodation on Campus
If you have booked accommodation on
Campus, the Reception Desk in the James Watt Centre is staffed 24 hrs.
General Information on Public Transport in Scotland.
There are some
pages on travel in
Scotland maintained elsewhere. See also Traveline Scotland.
Last updated: September 2011
Please send comments and suggestions to: