Edinburgh mid August 4 days

Hhi, pylecats,

First question is whether you are aware that Edinburgh will be packed with people in August 1-25 for the Fringe Festival. This means higher hotel prices, hard to find lodging and all the other inconveniences of a crowded city. https://www.edfringe.com/experience/what-is-the-edinburgh-festival-fringe/

Have you already booked your flight and your lodging? And are you going to be anyplace else besides Edinburgh?

As Mardee has suggested, hopefully you have your lodging booked.

Have you looked at a guide book on Edinburgh? Stop by your library or a bookstore and take a look at books by Rick Steves, Fodors, Lonely Planet and more.

Do a search on this website and you will get loads of ideas.

Lots of day tour companies out of Edinburgh. Rabbie's is frequently recommended by posters here. Also, Google Maps and the Citymapper app will give you directions for DIY tours in the area.

We did the Real Mary King's Close tour a decade or so ago. It was interesting and about what one would expect. No idea what it costs now, so can’t say if it’s worth the cost. On the same trip we took the bus to near Craigmiller castle, then walked to it. It was a nice castle to walk around on our own.

Yes
We are aware of festivals going on. Unfortunately are time in Scotland was dictated by a sporting event. We book flights and Hotel last September 2024.

Hi Pylecats,
We just spent 4 nights in Edinburgh this past March. We used Timberbush Tours for our day trip (not to the Highlands but they did have a tour there leaving at same time as ours). Timberbush was really great and would definitely use them again. We did the Scottish Whiskey Experience, which is right next to the Edinburgh Castle. Tickets were prebooked (even in March) so I would suggest purchasing ahead of time. I really enjoyed the tour with one hiccup--our Canadian tour guide gave us a bit too much of a hard time for being American. That was a bit weird and I had to pull him aside at the end to chat about it. We had a good chat, he understood he overstepped but something that was a little surprising (we were the only two americans on the tour.) I would still recommend as I think this was really a one off incident (lots fresh in his mind) for an otherwise good tour guide. We also prebooked the Castle and even in March, times were filled up. We chose not to visit the Close so no thoughts on that. And we did not do the Hop on Hop off bus as we enjoyed strolling all around.

As regards HoHo tours there are 4 or 5 companies in the city now. As a UK resident who has been to the City many times it isn't something I need to do.
However they are not equal.
If you buy the Royal Edinburgh Ticket from Edinburgh Bus Tours they have a permanent allocation of Castle tickets so you have guaranteed entry even if the Castle website is sold out. EBT are part of Lothian Transport so are the incumbent operator. Whether that is a key selling point is for you to judge.
I personally don't see the harm in doing a Ho Ho to get an overview of a city, pretty much any city.

Take a look at Rabbies. They offer numerous one day and multi day tours out of Edinburgh. All are in 16 passenger vans.

I've taken tours with them in the past and have a few booked for the next few months.

The hop on hop off bus isn't bad however between the Fringe Festival and the Militray Tatoo, I have to wonder how bad traffic will be.

Hi: we just spent 4 nights in Edinburgh the 2nd week in June. Myself, husband & 24 yr old son. Here are some of the things we enjoyed in no particular order:

Secrets of the Royal Mile tour with Mercat Tours. Did this our 1st afternoon in Edinburgh & gave us a good introduction to the city.

The Real Mary King's Close Tour. We all really enjoyed this, our guide was in the character of Mary King's daughter.

We did 2 whisky tastings: Johnnie Walker Journey of Flavour & The Scotch Whisky Experience. The Johnnie Walker tour we chose had tastings of various whisky cocktails & the Scotch Whisky Experience was a more traditional tasting. Both were enjoyable, but we enjoyed Johnnie Walker better due to the cocktails rather than just the whisky.

Food Tour with Secret Food Tours. Guide was great & we walked all around the city tasting various foods & learning a bit of history.

Edinburgh Castle. We pre-purchased entry tickets only, no tour or audio guide. If I had to do it again, I would at least get the audio guide. It was pretty crowded, but not overwhelming in June.

Palace of Holyrood House. My husband & I toured the Palace with the audio guide & really enjoyed it. Walked up & bought tickets in the morning, not crowded at all. But probably different in August!

Son hiked up Arthur's Seat while we toured the Palace. He enjoyed it but said it would have been too steep for my husband's knee issues.

After Edinburgh, we took a Rabbie's 3 day Isle of Skye tour, which we also enjoyed. I'm sure their day tours are just as good. I really wanted to take their day tour to see the Kelpies & Falkirk Wheel, but we just didn't have enough time. We'll have to come back!

Enjoy your trip!

I visited in April 2025. I used Timberbush and Heart of Scotland for day trips. Both companies were fine - good commentary, interesting itinerary, safe driving.

Both had numbers quotas to meet for tours. As a single, this is always something I encounter. One of my Heart of Scotland tours was canceled due to low demand and with Timberbush I booked 2 spots (with their knowledge) to assure the tour would run; they needed 6 people for the tour I wanted. I do understand the need for minimum numbers, but it is frustrating to have a cancellation. I was notified by Heart of Scotland far enough in advance to make alternate plans. The company referred me to Timbrrbush, so all worked out in the end.

I was told here on this board that Rabbies will run a tour for only 1 person - don’t know if that is correct as I haven’t verified, but I will do for future trips where they operate.

Adding - I saw the Castle years ago and was disappointed. My research for this year’s trip didn’t suggest changes from my memories. I did visit Holyrood this time - I enjoyed that very much. Preference depends on what want interests the traveler holds, I’m sure. Very different sites.

Hi, pylecats, I'm glad you have your hotel booked!

Like ORDtraveler, I was another one not particularly enamored of Edinburgh Castle. It's great to see from the outside, but the inside was kind of meh (especially considering the price). I would suggest visiting the Palace of Holyroodhouse, as that is lovely. Check the website, though, as sometimes they close for various reasons.

Another option is Stirling Castle, which has a lot of history and I found it fascinating. The town of Stirling is also pretty interesting and very historic, and you could easily spend a half day here. The castle has free guided tours, which I highly recommend, as the guides are very good. You can get there quite easily by train from Edinburgh in about 40 minutes.

And I second (or third) the recommendation for Rabbies tours. Here is a link to all their day tours out of Edinburgh: https://www.rabbies.com/en-gb/tours/scotland/from-edinburgh/day-tours