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Edinburgh city break suggestions.

Sloop John B

And any old music will do…
Mr. and Mrs. Sloop ( both half century plus 5-10%) head to Edinburgh in June for 4 days.

To avoid “you mean you went to Edinburgh and didn’t see x” and “Don’t tell me you wasted your money on y” and “oh there’s this wonderful restaurant z”.

What are the x,y and z of Edinburgh?

We’re staying pretty central (I hope!) Rothesay Tce.

A little local knowledge augmented by some tourist knowledge would be most appreciated.

.sjb
 
If you feel energetic, go to the top of Arthurs seat. The views will make it worthwhile. If you have a car , you can drive to near the summit.

any energy left. climb to the top of Scott monument. this on Princes street. again, fantastic views from top.

If you are in to Castles etc, then edinburghs version will have lots for you.

in to gardens etc? bottom of New Town has lovely Botanic gardens. bit of a walk to get there, but loads of buses.

Avoid the royal mile shops. cheap and tacky.

Some nice little pubs down the alleys off it though.

National museum of Scotland, in chambers street ( central ) is great.

musically, there will be lots going on. jazz bar in chambers st ( again ) 7 nights. if thats your thing

enjoy it. its great.
 
If you are a Royalist the Royal yacht is permanently berthed in Leith and open to the public.
Whilst there book a table at the Vintners Arms.
Some festival activities may have started, especially bookish things.
If you like Rebus there are official Rankin tours taking in the hostelries and other places mentioned throughout the canon.
 
I can recommend the Britannia - a bus ride away at Leith. If you like beer, they do a decent pint of IPA at the Oxford Bar. Sadly, H&S did for the pie machine a few years ago so the food choices are plain or cheese & onion but the Rebus references are there. Also, in the lounge they still make up a proper coal fire, but probably not in June.
The Real Mary King’s Close trip is worth it, although it’ll be busy in June but you’ll see some of Old Edinburgh. Personally, I like to walk the steep stairs (Fleshmarket Close etc) but be prepared to encounter (possibly) more homeless people than you’re used to.
 
All the above esp Holyrood Park and Arthur's Seat. You are staying close to Lothian Road so have a wander around there and look into the Caley Picture House for a pint. Then go to some West Port and the Grassmarket pubs for a pint. Then up Victoria St to the High St for a pint. Then to the Royal Museum and the Jazz Cellar in Chambers Street for guess what, a pint. After all that hard work you need to rest in a good ale house before heading home.
 
Go visit Cramond Island if the weather is good! Craigmillar Castle also worth a visit. If you have time to take a train and want to see beautiful coastal towns, go to Dunbar and North Berwick (google 'Bass Rock'). I would avoid Princes Street altogether, though Calton Hill (towards the eastern side of Princes Street) is worth a visit for the evening views over the old town. Man I miss that city. 5 unforgettable years of my life.
 
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Plenty of decent bars on/just off George Street

The Dome is lovey; a touch pricy. The Queens Arms further down is a great real ale pub and they serve a number of Stewart Brewing's beers. Just 2 doors down from them is Cote Brasserie; very good eating :) As is All Bar One (more or less opposite the Dome) and Wagamama, top end of George Street

http://www.queensarmsedinburgh.com/
https://www.cote.co.uk/restaurant/details/edinburgh

If you've not sorted accommodation out yet; I'd highly recommend Ibis Royal Mile; great location and a lovely hotel. Basic, but good brekkie and ideal for walking to/from places in Edinburgh

Also; if you've not done it, Camera Obscura is very interesting :)

https://www.camera-obscura.co.uk/
 
A stroll up Charlton Hill is great for views, and there's an interesting mix of cafes, galleries, bars, etc. (google map link)

Stockbridge is a nice area to wander around. Lots of good 2nd/charity shops.
There's a well regarded farmers market Sunday a.m.

C/mocktails in Harvey Nichols (link) cocktail bar, which is on the top floor with great city views.

At Portobello there's a pleasant beach, and the best 2nd hand shops for a genuine thrifty Scottish experience.

The Scottish national gallery of modern art (link) is excellent. There's a handy free bus linking it to the Scottish national gallery (link) in the city centre.

Current food favs are Kalpna for Indian (link) - masala dosa or thali highly recommended - and Wahaca for Mexican (link) (retracted as out of date)
 
we just come back from 3 days there about two weeks ago. This is our second short break there.

We drove there the slow route from London (taking 3 days to get there) and ditched the hire car as soon as we got to Edinburgh

Hatfield to Edinburgh (full route) by uh_simon, on Flickr


I recommend you get the full monty open top bus tickets. At first they might seem pricey, but they proved to be good value for money for us. You can get a ticket that includes entry to Edinburgh Castle, Britannia and the Palace at Holyrood. the 3 bridges boat tour (which is included in one of the tickets it nice). The bus is brilliantly useful for getting to and from places, and the commentary is really good so you get the history.

We really enjoyed the Palace at Holyrood and Britannia but wasn't overly taken by the Castle. It is worth a look at the parliament if it is open and it is free entry.

If you like Gin you can do a tour of the Edinburgh distillery: it is fun and interesting https://www.edinburghgin.com/distilleries-and-tours#

If you are interested in Whisky and can't get to a distillery. the Whisky experience near the castle: https://www.scotchwhiskyexperience.co.uk/tour-experiences we did the platinum tour which includes a meal. the tour is excellent.

For accommodation this time we stayed at the http://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/un...splay4DGGeneric_Jun5LocalSearch6EDICAHI7EN8i1 Hilton carlton which has a top notch location at reasonable prices.

Last time we stayed a little out of the centre and found the hills got to us and we resorted to taking taxis to get to/from centre.

As for eating you have everything available to you. If you want up market (appropriately expensive) you cant go wrong with Restaurant Number One in the Balmoral Hotel - the food is stunningly good if Michelin star is your thing https://www.roccofortehotels.com/ho...lmoral-hotel/restaurants-and-bars/number-one/

Also upmarket we recommend Martin Wishart in Leith: https://restaurantmartinwishart.co.uk/ again its Michelin Star but the food it stunning. His lunch menu at £32/person is good value.

A little more rustic but also by an excellent and well known chef (Tom Kitchin) is the Scran and Scallie pub in Stockbridge (you can get a 29 bus almost from Princes to the pub): https://scranandscallie.com/

There is also Castle Terrace restaurant in the centre - same team as the Scran and Scallie; again excellent fine dining: https://castleterracerestaurant.com/

We walked into and had a fine lunch (some of the best pasta I have eaten) at https://www.olivieros.co.uk/ on Grass Market we thought it excellent value and would have no hesitation in returning.
There are also some nice pubs on Grassmarket.

In terms of places to avoid re eating: we had an awful meal in Wahaca, and the quality of the Burgers in Byron leaves a lot to be desired.

There are many great pubs and amongt others we really enjoyed the atmosphere in https://www.ensignewartpub.co.uk/ near the castle (also good for lunch). They have a good range of gins and the live music can be good. We spent a lot of time in the Tron, we liked the atmosphere and the beer and the staff https://www.thetronedinburgh.co.uk/

Personally, I'd avoid any of the big chains All-bar-One, Wetherpoons etc in Edinburgh IMO there are much nicer. After our recent trip we concluded pints were in general more expensive than London.

As for shopping yes the shops on the Royal Mile and Princes are tacky, but well worth a visit even if you don't buy anything, they are worth the fun experience at least once. As others have said don't be surprised if you see a lot of rough sleepers and homeless. There is an amazing shop just down from the Castle and somewhere near the Ensign Ewart Pub, which looks like a small shop, but opens out to an astonishing cavern when you get down the first flight of stairs

L1010685 by uh_simon, on Flickr

If there is one thing of all these I would do, and that is the open top bus tickets......
 
Thanks for the correction. That's a shame :-(
Enjoyed many meals there, and every time the food was properly yummy - but most recent was five or six months ago.
This is an example of why up to date travel info is important imo.
The good going bad, and visa versa, can happen very quickly.
An awful lot can happen in half a year!


Glasgow is only a short train journey away :).

:-D Sean has reminded me of some previously omitted advice: watch out for messers.
 
i forgot another interesting trip.

About half way down the royal mile. near the Law courts/chambers, there is an entrance to an amazing 'other world' .

it is basically part of the old town dating from a time of great poverty, which was built over to allow parts of the present royal Mile to be built. fascinating stuff.
 
Thanks for the correction. That's a shame :-(
Enjoyed many meals there, and every time the food was properly yummy - but most recent was five or six months ago.
This is an example of why up to date travel info is important imo.
The good going bad, and visa versa, can happen very quickly.
An awful lot can happen in half a year!

To be honest we wondered whether it was a "slow sunday thing" - not sure we'd try the Edinburgh branch again, but we would probably go to the one in Covent Garden again.
 
You can’t go wrong just walking and seeing- it’s a small walkable city. Rothesay terrace is a short stroll from both branches of the Gallery of Modern Art. One tip is to download the Transport for Edinburgh App and the accompanying T for E Tickets App onto a mobile device.
You can then hold an all day bus and tram ticket on your phone or just buy one on a bus. The other app will show you all bus routes and bus positions in real time. It will also tell you how to get anywhere, locating bus stops and the right bus. There are so many buses in Edinburgh, it’s like a conveyor belt.
 
I don't normally use my car much in Edinburgh. 20MPH speed limits, traffic queues, Princes Street no-go for cars etc.....

Edinburgh buses are a very good way to get around. £4 day ticket great value. "My Edinburgh Bus" app very useful as already mentioned.

Royal Scottish Museum in Chambers Street well worth a visit especially if the weather gods are not so kind to you.

Holyrood Palace and the Parliament (Fri-Mon), Clarinda's tearoom all at foot of Royal Mile are other suggestions.

Lots of good suggestions in previous posts, it all depends on what is going to interest you.
 
You can’t go wrong just walking and seeing- it’s a small walkable city.

We did just that a few weeks ago. The national gallery was awesome (we made a frantic sprint to grab a 2nd look at a Rembrandt self portrait) and you could spend a good couple of days in the national museum. The national gallery of modern art has some good stuff - the special exhibition was a bit pricey but tbh we'd enjoyed so much great stuff essentially foc (bar voluntary donations) elsewhere we didn't begrudge coughing up for that. Botanical gardens good, the glasshouse is great on a chilly day ;-). Royal Mile is a bit cheesy but fun in its own way, and the new parliament buildings are bit challenging on the eye, but the architecture all around the city is fab. Lovely place.

I thought the pubic transport was excellent too, even the taxis seemed very reasonable (cheaper than the bus or trams for a group of 5 like we were). City centre pubs all good as were the cafe's we tried. We're already thinking of 'next time'!
 


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