Travel Friend In Edinburgh Scotland

Tara, you might want to try the Travel Partners section on the Graffiti Wall. BTW it's pretty easy to get around Edinburgh. There are also lots of great histories of Scotland. If you're looking for something brief, you might try A Traveler's History of Scotland by Andrew Fisher. Also, check out the website Undiscovered Scotland for more background. If you like to learn your history via historical novels search out Nigel Tranter. He has several books that are pretty accurate and tell a good story. As for guides, the professionals in Scotland are the Blue Badge Guides. http://guide.visitscotland.com/vs/guide/5,en,SCH1/objectId,TOU56904Svs,curr,GBP,season,at1,selectedEntry,home/home.html Pam

I just read this in a post from Audrey in the "To the West" section on the Helpline in the thread about how to find a local family to stay with and thought it might be helpful... "Rent a Local Friend" (look for it on Tripadvisor), where you can rent a local for a day!"

Hi Tara, I don't what time of year you'll be visiting Edinburgh, but the main festivals, (The Royal Tattoo, The International Festival, and many more, etc, etc ), start in May and run through September, in different weeks. Some overlap. It will be hard to get a place to stay, even in Glasgow, which is about 45 mins by train, if you get there without solid reservations during that time. It is an incredible place to visit at any time, though. The International Festival is outrageously fun! You have to see it to believe it. Very hard to get lost walking around as you have the water, (The Firth of Forth), the spire of the Hub, the castle, and Arthur's seat to guide you.
Also, the cannon fires off six days a week at 13:00 hours, so you always know when it's time to have a pint and lunch. I have put a link to the military tattoo page, as it has some good suggestions for walking tours that my wife and I used when we were there. You can print the directions out. www.edintattoo.co.uk/coming-to-the-tattoo/walks-and-tours

tara, What time of year will you be travelling in Edinburgh and how many days are you planning to spend there? As someone else mentioned, if you'll be there during the Edinburgh Festival / Fringe Festival, it would be a REALLY good idea to pre-book accommodations. One other point to note is that room prices increase somewhat during the Festivals. If you were planning to attend the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, you'll note from the website that it only takes place in August (2012 is Aug. 5-27 I believe - info will be on the website that was provided in a previous reply). The performance is well worth seeing (IMO, of course). Regarding a Guide to provide you with tours in the area, you'll likely find lots of good suggestions in Guidebooks. You might consider taking a day tour with one of the local companies to the Highlands and Loch Ness. It will be a long day, but that will provide a Guide as well as transportation to have a look at parts of Scotland outside of Edinburgh. One of the Bus companies that provides "Hop On / Hop Off" tours also stops at the docks where the Royal Yacht Brittania is moored. That will take at least four hours to tour and you shouldn't need a Guide with that (I believe there are AudioGuides available although I didn't use one). Good luck with your planning and happy travels!

Thank you everyone for your replies. You have given some great suggestions. I am currently looking into all of them. Please keep them coming. I can use all the practical help I can get.