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Scotland Golf and Edinburgh

Posted by (Slidell, LA) on

Hi Fellow Travelers

Let me start by saying I have been to Edinburgh with family 10 years ago and for a day in May of this year. I am planning a golf trip with my son to Scotland in July. Most of the time will be in St. Andrews, but I have built in a couple of extra days to explore Edinburgh. I was there with a friend in May for 8 days, again a golf trip that started before COVID and was cancelled twice, but they held our Old Couse tee times for three years. Since he had never been to the UK or even Europe, on one of our off days we took the bus from St. Andrews to Leuchars (10 minutes), and the train from there to Waverly Station in Edinburgh, which was just a little over an hour. We spent the day (7.5 hours) on the Hop On Hop Off bus tour which covered most of the biggies and got back to Leuchars at 19:30 that night. We also had part of the day before flying home to go into town but were tired and chose not to.

My son has never been over there either and I was thinking about a similar day with him, but my wife just decided she would like to join us and wasn't too excited about the short day there. She has been there with me before and has her own agenda that is different from what I described. Have any of you made this trip and added on a couple of days in Edinburgh on the front or back end of the trip, and if so, how much did you see, and how did you go about it? As we did in May, we will be staying at the Hilton Doubletree Airport before we depart for home.

By the way, if any of you are renting a car at the airport in Edinburgh from National or Enterprise, the car return location is literally across the street from the Doubletree, and it's a great place to stay the night before your flight home. That allowed me to save the cost of an extra rental day and the next morning take their complimentary shuttle to the terminal five minutes away. Thank you for your comments.

Jim

Posted by
28247 posts

I spent 6 or 7 days in Edinburgh in 2019 (also a few nights in Dundee, during which I went to St. Andrews). I know the HO/HO in Edinburgh is one of the rare ones people like, partly because the city is quite hilly, so walking can be a bit tiring. I am a big walker, so that's how I got around the city except for a trip out to Leith (and actually I think I walked one way). You can burn a full day walking the Royal Mile if you pop into all the closes, etc.

The city has a lot of good museums. The National Museum of Scotland is modern and has broad coverage. There would be something there of interest to everyone in your family, and items are beautifully displayed and explained. Much of my time was spent in the local art musuems.

I didn't go to the Royal Yacht Britannica out in Leith (there's bus service to get you close, I assume), but others have found it very interesting. I did go to Rosslyn Chapel, which is about a 40-minute bus ride from Edinburgh. It's intriguingly over-decorated. There's an audio guide to explain what you're seeing. The chapel plays a role in The DaVinci Code, but it is quirky enough to be of interest to those who haven't read the book, as long as they are into quirky architecture.

I'm not into castles so I skipped Edinburgh Castle. It's extremely popular and is often really mobbed. Perhaps someone else can suggest what might be a good time of day to tackle that. I think my travel mate went first thing in the morning, and she mentioned how crowded it was.

Posted by
7206 posts

Most recently we spent 3 nights at the beginning of the trip and 1 night at the end of the trip in Edinburgh. On a previous trip, in addition to Edinburgh Castle we took busses to Rosslyn Chapel and Craigmiller Castle. On the recent trip we did take the bus to see HMY Britannia. We picked up the bus at Canongate in front of the church and it goes directly to the terminal. From that bus stop the yacht is about a five minutes walk. Because one in our party had some mobility issues we pretty much stayed to the Royal Mile area, the Bobby statue, and St. Giles. A couple of us also walked the path by Dean Village.

We did have a rental car on this trip too and places we visited within an hour from Edinburgh included Stirling and its castle, Doune Castle (seen in Outlander), Locharron Woolen Mill in Selkirk, Robert Small’s printing works in Innerleithen, the Forth railroad bridge built in 1890, the Kelpies, Falkirk wheel,and the Melrose, Dryburgh, Kelso, and Jedburgh Abbey ruins. We did not have the rental while staying in Edinburgh.

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