Edinburgh sites

is the pubic transportation free?

no

https://www.lothianbuses.com/using-the-bus/visitor-guide/

Edinburgh has some good museums, but people are interested in different things. I believe the National Museum of Scotland would appeal to most folks. It's modern, and everything is beautifully displayed.

Edinburgh Castle is probably the most popular pay-to-enter sight in the city. I don't find much of interest in most castles, so I skipped it. My travel mate enjoyed it but said it was very crowded. She went early. Perhaps others here will have comments on the smartest timing for Edinburgh Castle.

Edinburgh is a rare city where folks have found the hop-on/hop-off buses worthwhile. For one thing, they help you deal with the city's hills.

I enjoyed my side trip to Rosslyn Chapel (not castle--chapel !!) by local bus, but there's more than enough to fill two days right in Edinburgh.

Rick lists his sightseeing highlights for major destinations like Edinburgh right on this website:

Edinburgh sightseeing suggestions << Click on At a Glance

As someone already said, the public transport isn't free but is pretty easy to use. We took the bus to Rosslyn and it was easy to pay just tapping my credit card on the bus. The system even remembers how many times you've paid with that card that day and automatically caps to whatever is the all day rate (2 pounds per ride max per day of 5 pounds). We went to see the Royal Yacht Britannia using the Edinburgh tram which has just this summer been extended to Lieth. You buy your ticket at a self serve kiosk on the platform.

The National Museum is excellent and admission is free.

Across the street is Greyfriars church and cemetery. If you go inside they will sell you a map for 50p that has the graves that JK Rowling took as inspiration for the names in the Harry Potter book.

The yacht was worth the trip. Bonuses for us were they give half price entry to veterans (even US) as long as you have some proof. We ate in the lunch/tea room on the ship and it was excellent. Tram stop Ocean Terminal.
Rosslyn chapel is interesting even it you aren't a Davinci Code fan. Take the #37 bus (we picked it up on Princes st stop PJ). It takes about 45 minutes and you want to get off at the Rosslyn Hotel (officially stop Original Rosslyn Hotel though we missed that sign).

Edinburgh castle itself isn't that wonderful but the view from there is worth it to go.
I'd skip Holyrood house unless you want to go to the gift shop and buy royal family souvenirs like tea cups and stuff corgis.
Lots of places to walk in the city including the Princes Street gardens.

For food our two favorites were Makars Gourmet Mash bar (they have an excellent website with menu and easy to make reservations which you may well need). For lunches or tea we went to Deacon's House Cafe on the Royal Mile across the street from Deacon Brodies Tavern. It's down a short close or hallway with indoor and outdoor seating. Casual but excellent food.

Have fun. Its a wonderful city.

We enjoyed climbing Arthur’s Seat and then we went in Holyrood House in the same area.

Is there a city in the world with free public transport?
Not being snarky, but curious?

Luxembourg has free transit in the entire country, and the CBD of Portland, Oregon had free transit from 1975 until 2012.

Manchester, England has three free public bus routes which cover the whole of the CBD.

Tallinn, Estonia also has free city wide transit, also Dunkirk in France (in both cities for residents only).

The country of Malta made all transit free (except 3 express routes) for residents in October 2022, and for anyone else who buys a 15 Euro smartcard

I suspect cj-traveller was thinking about the cost of public transport in Edinburgh, which at £2 per ride isn't nominal, especially since Edinburgh's not that large a city.

I suspect cj-traveller was thinking about the cost of public transport in Edinburgh, which at £2 per ride isn't nominal, especially since Edinburgh's not that large a city.

But you have a daily contactless cap of £4.80 in Edinburgh- so your 3rd ride onwards each day is free. If you arrive in the city by train the price on each day you use the train is further reduced to £4.50 by adding plus bus to your train fare, or to £2.95 if you have a railcard.

So say you do a day trip to Stirling. the Falkirk Wheel, St Andrews or Galashiels by train use a plus bus add on that day, not contactless capping, if you are determined to squeeze costs to a bare minimum.

£4.80 is less than the cost of two take out coffees. Given the cost of hotels in the city and your airfare that is the least of your costs, and utterly insignificant.

The parts of Edinburgh which tourists confine themselves to may be small, but Edinburgh is a big city.

Any resident of Scotland only pays on buses (including long distance coaches) between the ages of 22 and 60.

Edinburgh Castle, Arthur's Seat hike, Calton Hill, St Giles cathedral, Royal Mile shopping, parliament building,

Thanks, isn31c.

Why not have a look at Rick Steves's suggestions, available for free right here on the site:
https://www.ricksteves.com/europe/scotland/edinburgh

We loved the National Museum of Scotland. It has so many interesting exhibits. I would describe it as a mix of science, nature, world history and Scottish history. Dolly the cloned sheep is here!

We took a guided tour of the Royal Mile with Mercat Tours, which I highly recommend. You learn the history of the Royal Mile; it isn't just about gift shops and restaurants. Our tour included tickets to Edinburgh Castle and an introductory tour which I believe makes Edinburgh Castle more enjoyable. And the views of the city are outstanding!

We also loved the Royal Botanic Gardens. The different gardens and flowers are outstanding! The amazing rock gardens, azalea forest and giant blue poppies are some highlights.

For dinner, I recommend Dishoom, Makars Mash Bar, Ka Pao, Cafe Royal and Mussel Inn. The National Museum and Botanic Gardens have cafes that serve delicious lunches if you are there around lunch time.

I love castles so I was at Edinburgh castle at opening time. It will be busy pretty much all day due to all the bus tours that stop there, but I found early worked as afterwards I just wandered down the royal mile and popped into the places that interested me, such as St. Giles cathedral, and ended my day with a visit to Holyrood which I quite enjoyed due to the rather tragic history of Mary Queen of Scots. There was also an art display there at the time, and it featured a DaVinci sketch I thought was amazing. Calton Hill is right beside Holyrood, and you can walk up it for a great view of the city. Other places around the castle are the Walter Scott monument, and a Victorian House where you can see how what life was like back then. A visit to the royal yacht Britannia is also worth the bus ride, as is a day trip to Roslyn Chapel. One of the most fun things I did in the evening was a ghosts and torture tour of the underground area of Edinburgh.

We took a guided tour of the Royal Mile with Mercat Tours, which I
highly recommend. You learn the history of the Royal Mile; it isn't
just about gift shops and restaurants. Our tour included tickets to
Edinburgh Castle and an introductory tour which I believe makes
Edinburgh Castle more enjoyable. And the views of the city are
outstanding!

I was going to write the same thing. A tour of the history of the Royal Mile opens it up so you see beyond the touristy gift shops and restaurants. https://www.mercattours.com/tours/history-walks/view-tour/secrets-of-edinburghs-royal-mile

Allan, I chose Mercat Tours because of your recommendation! The tour was well worth it, and we enjoyed learning about Edinburgh Castle as much as the Royal Mile. I know some people think the castle is boring but it was not boring for us, and I think that is primarily because of the introductory tour.

Other free public transport cities include Lausanne and Basel Switzerland.