Backpack & Budget : Scooting Around Scotland

The Scottish Youth Hostel Assn. has organized a variety of economical guided and do-it-yourself tour packages for 1994. And for those who plan on getting to Scotland by train, there’s more good news: BritRail (which sells tickets for unlimited rail travel in England, Scotland and Wales) will not raise its rates for next year, and will allow travelers more time to use their Flexipasses.

For only about $165, travelers can buy do-it-yourself Explore Scotland packages. They include vouchers for six nights of dormitory accommodations in any of Scotland’s 83 youth hostels, plus a pass valid for seven days of unlimited coach travel on Scottish Citylink Coaches.

The packages allow travelers to roam around the Scottish mainland and the Isle of Skye. Participants also receive a Scottish Youth Hostel handbook, a map, a Scotpass Discount Card and a ticket valid for free entry to many historic monuments and castles.

Scottish Wayfarer Packages include vouchers for seven or 14 nights of youth hostel accommodations, plus unlimited use of second-class rail services in Scotland and free sailings on most of Caledonian MacBrayne’s west coast ferries. Eight-day versions cost about $240; the 15-day packages are about $380. Participants also are eligible for one-third discounts on P&O; sailings to the Orkney Islands, and some bus services.

Both packages are effective from April through October. More information is available from the Scottish Youth Hostel Assn., 7 Glebe Crescent, Stirling FK8 2JA, Scotland. You can also visit the SYHA office in Edinburgh at 161 Warrender Park Road.

Travelers may want to check out SYHA’s 1994 Breakaway Holidays, which include guided tours. Walkers can follow Scotland’s first official long-distance footpath: the 95-mile, eight-night West Highland Way. Walking tours, starting in Glasgow and finishing at Glen Nevis, will be conducted weekly between April 30 and Sept. 24. Cost of the package, including all meals, is about $485.

Guided wildlife and nature weeks are available at hostels of the Hebrides Islands. Seven-night packages, which include all meals, are offered monthly between April and October for about $310.

Cyclists can take seven-night guided tours of the Hebrides, monthly between May and August, for about $200. This rate includes all meals. If you don’t have a bike, you can rent one.

A popular way for backpackers to travel between British hostels has been the Slow Coach, a bus that provides a circular service between London, Windsor, Bath, Stratford, the Lake District, Edinburgh, York and Cambridge for about $100. Passengers can take up to two months to complete their journey. In Edinburgh, tickets are sold at the SYHA’s Warrender Park Road office. In London, tickets are sold at YHA Travel, 14 Southampton St., WC2, near the Covent Garden tube station.

BritRail offers maximum flexibility because its train passes allow travelers to move in any direction they want. Travelers between the ages of 16 and 25 are eligible for youth rates for standard-class travel. Costs of the 1994 Britrail Youth Pass are eight days for $179, 15 days for $269, 22 days for $339 and one month for $395.

Britrail Flexipasses allow you to travel a specific number of days within a one-month period. The Youth Flexipass for four days of travel is $155, for eight days $219. A pass good for 15 days of travel within a two-month period is $309.