5 days in [Edinburgh]--where to go? (updated)

Just focus on Scotland - fly to Edinburgh or Glasgow (or even Inverness).

If you're thinking about Edinburgh for this August you must get your accommodation sorted ASAP. Even now it may be too late or too expensive. If not, go to Glasgow then see if you can get to Skye - that's about it with the time you have. At this late stage accommodation is your biggest challenge.

Thanks to ramblin's tip, I went ahead and booked my accomodations in Edinburgh. So that's going to be my home base for the duration--flying in mid-afternoon on Monday, 8/8 and leaving in the evening of Friday, 8/12. Still not much time, but this should allow me to really enjoy the area.

So, that said: anything you'd consider a must-do/must-see, either within Edinburgh or as a day trip?

If you wanted to spend a day outside Edinburgh you could do a day trip to Stirling via train.

You can also easily get to Glasgow for the day. They have great museums and a very old cathedral.

If you want to get a wee bit of the countryside without doing one of the all day long bus tours of the highlands, think about taking the train to Perthshire. I would recommend Dunkeld, particularly if you'd like to walk in the hills. Dunkeld/Birnam are a couple of hours north on the train from Edinburgh. The town is lovely and has an old cathedral--Dunkeld was once the center of the church. There are lots of paths. You can explore Hermitage Trail or take a walk along the Tay through Birnam Wood. There is sweet little Beatrice Potter garden in Birnam. The train goes to Birnam and you walk across a great bridge over the Tay to get to Dunkeld. Dunkeld has a great pub too, The Taybank.

Another day trip can be St. Andrews. You take the train and then change to a bus or taxi to the last few miles.

There is the new Borders Railway that you can use to see a bit of that area.

There are tons of day tours that the TI can tell you about.

Pam

I spent 6 days in Edinburgh and had no trouble filling them all. I did a day trip down to Rosslyn Chapel and Hadrian's wall. You can easily get to Glasgow on the train, or do day trip to Spirling Castle and Loch Lomond. There's lots to see in the city, too, so I don't think you will be sorry spending your entire time base in Edinburgh. You would waste too much time trying to get down to London, and you wouldn't do it justice with just two or three days.

Cragmillar castle is nice too, as was Mary kings close.

Thanks so much for all of the suggestions and recommendations (and keep them coming)!

Something like a plan is starting to take shape. I've arranged to meet up with a group of local knitters as soon as I arrive, so that will be a lovely, low-key introduction. I plan to spend at least two solid days exploring Edinburgh and I was able to snag a ticket to the Tattoo for one of my evenings. I think I'm going to take an all-day Highlands tour, although I'm going to stick with one that stays relatively close (Loch Lomond, Stirling, and Glen Goyne distillery). I would love to get to Inverness, but just don't have enough time on this trip to do it justice and don't really want to sit through a Loch Ness-focused Highlands tour. And for my last day, I'll either take Pamela's suggestion of Birnam and Dunkeld, a friend's recommendation to check out Dunnottar Castle near Stonehaven, or just spend more time in Edinburgh.

Now if only I knew the itinerary for my time in Ireland... Fortunately, I've been there several times and am staying with a Dublin-based friend, so it's an altogether lower-key affair.

As you've already seen, there's lots to do in Edinburgh and nearby. I thoroughly enjoyed the Hairy Coo tour -- http://thehairycoo.com. I was too late to get on the free one, so I took one that included hairy coos, Stirling Castle and more. I see on the website today that the tours are a bit different from what they were when I went in May.