2 days in Edinburgh

Unless you like something specific, I would just follow the 2 Day Itinerary Rick has in his book on Great Britain (pg 738-739.) Seems reasonable to me.

Personally, I always want to visit the Castle every time I visit Edinburgh. The Museum of Scotland is very good. I like to get over to New Town and visit the Georgian House.

I also visit Blackwell's to pick up Scottish mysteries and other local books. It's on Princes Street.

If you are interested in Science, the Dynamic Earth gives the Scottish view of many topics you'll see in US museums.

I like to have lunch in the Grassmarket and catch some music at Sandy Bells.

Pam

We spent two days in Edinburgh last September. On the first day we hiked up to Edinburgh Castle at the top of the Royal Mile. After spending a considerable amount of time there (lots to see--be sure and stay for the one o'clock gun) we strolled down towards Hollyrood Palace, stopping to explore St. Giles Cathedral (lovely!) and to look into some of the shops. Unfortunately we took so long that we just missed the last admission to the Palace so had to postpone it until day 2. On our second day we climbed Calton Hill (great views and not as strenuous as climbing Arthur's Seat) and took the 100+ steps to the top of the Nelson Monument, after which we walked over to Hollyrood. We were lucky enough to have a late afternoon departure the next day, so we had time to visit the Royal Botanic Garden (which was lovely!) before heading to the airport. If the Garden strikes your fancy you could substitute it for the Calton Hill climb, or, if you don't want to spend as much time at the Castle as we did, you could do Hollyrood on the same day.

Roselyn Chapel is a must! You can reach it via the Lothian Bus service 37 line. An afternoon well worth it. A food tour in the evening lets you experience the taste of Scotland. A pub crawl is also very entertaining, we took the Literary Pub crawl, it was awesome.