Where to stay in or around Fife / Alloa?

[Progressive]

Hello all,

In a few weeks time I am being seconded to a site in Longannet in Central Scotland. I'll be looking for digs / house share but to tide me over I'll need some temporary lodgings.

Has anyone got any recommendations for decent (local) areas? I don't mind up to about 20 minute commute.

Cheers,

[Robert Burns]

Longannet isn't a town,

Longannet is the name of the power station.

How far you want to travel. If its 20 mins then is it by car or walking

[Progressive]

Oh, I wasn't aware of that. 20 minutes drive is do-able. I assume that puts Falkirk in reach.

Are there any particularly good or bad (to avoid) areas in the vicinity?

[Robert Burns]

High Valleyfield, Stay away. Falkirk is a decent town. and its not hard to get othe power station, jump on the motorway and your there.

[sherman]

I know my dad used to commute quite easily from linlithgow to Longannet

[MondeoMan1981]

Falkirk or Dunfermline.

[Billy_rfc]

You could do stirling in 20 minutes as well so plenty of options available.

[TheD]

I stay in Alloa for my sins. If you like going out at night I would go for Stirling, Falkirk or Dunfermline. You might find it cheaper though in a surrounding town or village. It really depends on what you do when not working.

[cstrachan]

I used to B&B in Alloa and there is not many places to Stay, Stirling / Bannockburn has wider choice and more to do of an evening. Drop me a PM if you end up looking at places in Stirling and I can advise on location etc.

[question]

Stirling looks like a good option. I don't somewhere soulless (as I found with other 'contractor towns'). I was put off Grangemouth due to this. I'm only young so the Uni town that is Stirling is attractive.

What about Dunfermline? How does that compare with Stirling and Falkirk?

[Robert Burns]

Stay away from Grangemouth, i live here. Its a town thats not got much to offer. I always travel out of Grangemouth for nights out, better off at Falkirk.

Dunfermline i would say is on par with Falkirk with things to do. Stirling is better than them for things to do. Not saying Falkirk or Dunfermline are bad, just i find a better night life in Stirling than Falkirk or Dunfermline.

Edited by Robert Burns on Monday 7th March 18:08

[question]

Thanks for the input. I'm edging towards Stirling at the minute. I'll be hotel-ing it for the first 3 weeks so I'll have a good look around when I get up there.

Next challenge will be actually finding digs. I think a house / flat share will be in the cards.

[andrew_huxtable]

I think the main benefit Dunfermline has over Stirling or Falkirk is that it is very easy to get into Edinburgh via the trains, or even Glasgow via the bus. The express bus to Glasgow is a little over 50 mins. Dunfermlines night life is ok, got a couple of nice pubs and the mighty pars to go and support if you like football

[robinh20mrv]

Stirling IMHO,
Younger and more trendy crowd, more up market, and i suspect a touch safer!
Dump-fermiline can be rough of a evening as can flak-kirk.

[alfa pint]

robinh20mrv said:

Stirling IMHO,
Younger and more trendy crowd, more up market, and i suspect a touch safer!
Dump-fermiline can be rough of a evening as can flak-kirk.

Stirling is definitely the nicest of the towns there. Falkirk is a huge town, but not particularly pleasant (got a number of mates there). Linlithgow is probably the nicest town in W Lothian, but not without its council house mongs. Dunfermline is another dump, but is close to Edinburgh and has a reasonable nightlife on the weekends.

If it was me, I'd still go for Stirling. Some nice places to eat and drink, dense enough town to have enough going on in terms of clubs. University is on the outskirts, so town isn't that studenty either.

[cstrachan]

Stirling really only feels studenty on a Thursday night, or it used to, I am too old to be out on a school night these days

If you want the student life then a quick trip to Bridge of Allan will sort you out.

[neelyp]

andrew_huxtable said:

I think the main benefit Dunfermline has over Stirling or Falkirk is that it is very easy to get into Edinburgh via the trains, or even Glasgow via the bus. The express bus to Glasgow is a little over 50 mins. Dunfermlines night life is ok, got a couple of nice pubs and the mighty pars to go and support if you like football

It may surprise you to learn that the great iron horse has reached the distant wastelands of Stirlingshire.

Half an hour to Edinburgh or Glasgow from Falkirk High, trains approx every 15mins during the week.

I think Stirling, while probably the nicest place in the area to stay, may not have a glut of available housing due to it being a studenty place. Falkirk is an alright place to stay, same with Dunfermline I suppose.

[andrew_huxtable]

neelyp said:

It may surprise you to learn that the great iron horse has reached the distant wastelands of Stirlingshire.

Half an hour to Edinburgh or Glasgow from Falkirk High, trains approx every 15mins during the week.

I think Stirling, while probably the nicest place in the area to stay, may not have a glut of available housing due to it being a studenty place. Falkirk is an alright place to stay, same with Dunfermline I suppose.

Yeah but then he would have to be a Falkirk fan........

[paul555sti]

Kincardine is give or take a mile the village that longannet is attached to. My friend rents properties in kincardine to contractors at longannet. I could speak to him to see if he has anything available at the moment?

[karona]

If your commute is by car stay away from Dunfermline and Stirling, the minute the wind gets stronger than a mild spring zephyr they shut the Forth Road Bridge and everyone and their dog has to go via Kincardine, resulting in huge queues. Newmills (Fife) is quite nice, Valleyfield is utterly ste, Alloa and the villages along the foothills are pretty respectable too.