My husband and I will be visiting Edinburgh the first week in May. I'm trying to decide between Rick's audio walking tour or the Hop on Hop Off bus tour. Thoughts? Thank you!
Edinburgh is an easy walking city. Self guided tours are easy to do. The Castle would be number one. High St and Prince St have many of the sites to see. There is the Royal Mile. There are also Pub tours. Edinburgh has many nooks and crannies and tiny alleys that are fun to explore. Just read info from Rick's site, the books and watch his video, and you could use his audio tour. Visit Scotland, Historic Scotland and Secret Scotland are great online sites.
We like the HOHO buses when we first arrive as they are great for getting your bearings. Then we walk, walk, walk!
We booked the two hour Rabbies tour which was fantastic. Booked in advanced. The day we went only one other couple in the van, so was like having a private tour guide to ourselves for £12.
Hint about the walking tour: was really challenging navigating crowds and traffic while trying to listen. Better to listen to ahead of time in hotel room and make notes in his walking tours section of book; take book with you. The maps in books were really helpful. Lonely Planet book has great walking tours too, with a fabulous pop out map.
We bought additional walking tour books at Waterstones on Princes Street (has really nice tourist focused section about Scotland and its cities/regions). These UK produced books became our souvenirs.