I just got Rick's Scotland book and have just started our trip planning. We will probably follow his two week itinerary for the most part and I just finished reading about Edinburgh. We will most likely fly in to Edinburgh but I haven't looked at flights yet so not sure how early we will arrive on our first day. After reading his chapter we most definitely want to do Edinburgh Castle (using Rick's guide as a self guided tour), Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Royal Yacht Britannia. We would also do the Royal Mile following Rick's walk and New Town following his walk as well. In the past when I have used his walks for other cities I always take the time to enter churches, etc along the walks he suggests so I take my time on these not just jumping from one spot to the next. With all of this on our potential itinerary, realistically how many days would we need in Edinburgh? I know the Yacht is a bus ride away so I am thinking that would take a half day. Can we realistically do the Castle and Palace in the same day if we use his self guided tours and not a set tour or is that too much? Even if we arrive on our first day early in the day, I am not sure we would want to do something heavy that day. Maybe one of the walks or part of one of the walks. We may also consider doing a hop on hop off bus here as well. We did that in London a couple of years ago and found it helpful. Thanks in advance for your advice!
Posted by
RIchmond, BC,Canada
935 posts
I spent six days in Edinburgh, but that included a couple guided day trips. You can do the royal mile with the castle and Holyrood in one day if you start at the castle at opening time. I spent a couple hours there, then wandered down the royal mile and eventually got to Holyrood late afternoon. Go out to the Britannia in the morning, then return to wander around the base of the castle, along with the park, and Walter Scott memorial, and walk up Calton Hill for a great view of the city. Edinburgh is very walkable so I did not use the HOHO bus. I think four days would be enough to see the main sights, but I highly recommend doing a day tour to Rosslyn Chapel so you may want to fit that in, also.
Posted by
SoCal
1167 posts
I'll add that a walk along the Water of Leith walkway is a wonderful thing, especially if you include the Colinton Tunnel. Not sure why more tourist guides don't mention it at length.
Posted by
Wisconsin
466 posts
You'll definitely spend a couple hours touring the Royal Yacht Britannia. We were there last week. We took the bus, #10, catching it on Princes Street, at a stop not far from the train station. Touring the Britannia, with the audio guides, was fabulous! We wanted to have high tea there but decided to save it until after we'd toured the ship, and by then it was too crowded. You definitely should plan for a half day for Britannia. Our visit was in the afternoon, on a day when we'd toured Edinburgh Castle in the morning.
We also loved our self-guided tour of Holyroodhouse using the audio guides provided. For an extra 5 pounds, you can purchase a combo ticket that includes the Kings Gallery (formerly Queens Gallery). The current exhibition features fashion in the Georgian era (clothing, accessories, hairstyles, etc.). Holyroodhouse Palace and the Kings Gallery combined is a half day experience.
Posted by
alameda, ca, usa
2689 posts
I spent 5 days in Edinburgh and that felt about right, though I loved it so much I could gladly have stayed a few more days! I was out and exploring by noon my first day and made good use of it--visited the Dovecot Tapestry Studio, then walked a bit of the Royal Mile down to Holyrood and toured that, then explored the old Calton cemetery on the way back to my hotel near Waverly. I had visited the Castle on a previous trip. You could probably do both the Palace and Castle in one day, allow at least 2-3 hours at each, but allow yourself time to walk the Royal Mile, something I did several times during my stay, you'll want to explore the side streets as well...so much to see, Edinburgh is just full of wonderful things.
The Britannia was one of my favorite sites to visit--easy 20 minute trip on the tram from St Andrews Square, lets you off right in front of the mall that serves as the tourist center for the yacht. Allow a couple of hours for that, and I did get to have lunch in the Royal Deck Tearoom--I waited til around 1 pm, had to wait perhaps 20 minutes and even though I was solo they gave me a table with a lovely view. The food was excellent.
I had considered a day trip by train to Glasgow but was loving Edinburgh so much I stayed there, but I did take a Rabbie's small group tour of the West Highlands, Lochs and Castles--highly recommend their tours if you want to have an easy & very enjoyable day out seeing other parts of Scotland.