Edinburgh in 2 & 1/2 days???

No question do Edinburgh for castle and palace (Holyrood)and pub eats and drink for meeting locals. Dublin is disappointing in my opinion when compared with Edinburgh.It could be raining in either city in October.

You should also consider Inverness. I love that city! And there are LOTS of castles- complete and ruins, not to mention whiskey, the firth, the Great Glen, etc. But definetily SCOTLAND!!!!!

I've been to both.

Edinburgh has the better castle and some entertaining (ghoolish) night walks at Merkt Square on the Royal Mile. Edinburgh has a nice art museum and a palace. You can take a day trip to St. Andrews golf course and castle ruins.

Dublin will be a little warmer than Edinburgh, rain in both places is likely.

Dublin has great churches, library and good literary pub crawls. Day trips can be monastic settlement ruins, Newgrange (from the time of the pyramids), or Trim castle (where Braveheart was filmed).

IMO no place is better for hanging out with locals than Ireland. Unfortunately, the best hanging out in any country is in the smaller towns and cities. Both Dublin and Edinburgh are among the friendlier cities but they aren't the same as meeting locals in small towns. Maybe best to find a B&B near the city for your stay.

No question, go to Edinburgh...besides the great castle and palace you are a 1 hr local bus ride to Roslynn Chapel and 1 hr train ride to Stirling with its great castle. Have a great time..Don

Yes, Edinburgh. With 2 and a half days you'll be able to explore a lot and get a taste of Scotland. The castle is terrific, but don't miss New town and the Georgian House. Go to visitscotland.com and click on visitor attractions to read about more castles in the Edinburgh area. I've been meaning to go to Craigmillar Castle for several years. Maybe this year I will. ; )
Pam

Yes, I have been to both Dublin and Edinburgh in October. I can't imagine what someone would have expected Dublin to be that made them come away disappointed. Dublin is wonderful.It has some the best watering holes to be found, and is full of Irish pride and history. I love both cities but if I only had 2.5 days to spend, I'd spend them in Edinburgh. I've been there 5 times and it's not been enough. If you stay in a B&B ask your host to direct you to their local and you'll meet more locals than you would at a pub it town. Better still if it happens to be quiz night. Nice people, a beautiful castle, and a terrific cemetery (Greyfriers), Auld Reeky has it all.

Edinburgh - wonderful city, friendly people. I didn't have a happy experience in Dublin largely due to miserable weather and lousy B & B and (relative to the Scots) unfriendly people. But to me Edinburgh is much the more attractive city in every way.

I have been to both cities in October, and both were absolutely wonderful. That being said, go with Edinburgh. There is so much to see and do. The Edinburgh Castle will take up at least half a day (We took an entire day to do it), the National Galleries are incredible, and if it's a nice day, a leisurely afternoon in Princes Garden is spectacular. The pubs are amazing, and if you're feeling brave, a haunted trip down into the vaults is very entertaining. Also, climb to the top of Calton Hill, it's a GREAT view in the daytime and at night!

Dublin is great (I spent a little less than a week there), but I found that some of my favorite sights were outside of the city whereas in Edinburgh some of my favorite bits of Scotland were right in the city.

Hope this helps!