Finally saw Edinburgh the right way - I hired a guide

I haven't been to Edinburgh, but I'm a huge fan of hiring local guides when I travel to Europe. For me, it has almost always been worth the expense. Even though I generally read quite a bit about places before I visit them, it helps to have a local's knowledge/understanding/context for what I am seeing. Most guides are open to me asking about their life experiences, and I have heard some rather fascinating stories (like one guide's experience of the fall of the Berlin Wall as an 11-yr-old girl living in East Berlin in a committed socialist family). They often show me things I otherwise would have never seen. They give good recommendations for restaurants and experiences to explore on my own.

Bob, just curious: on a full day outing like this, how are meals handled? Do you eat with the guide? Do you buy his or her lunch? Do you take a break for lunch and meet up again later?

Hi Jane. I treated him to lunch. We could stop for as long or short as we wanted. When I suggested a quick takeaway, he found us a great place and lunch took 20 minutes. I’m guessing they are all pretty flexible about the number of breaks etc. if you take more breaks you just see less. Breakfast and dinner were on our own, but he provided some great dinner recommendations that lasted us for several days.

Hope that helps,

Bob

Yes, it does. Thanks.

Bob, thanks so much for taking the time to write and post this great tip and recommendation. Very helpful!

I love using a guide. You are so right that it can make all the difference. Enjoy the rest of your holiday. We were just in Scotland last month and LOVED it.

Thanks for the suggestion and the information. What kind of things did you tell him you wanted to see and hear? Now that you've been there, I'd love to hear what you'd suggest.

I have not tried Rick's audio walking tours, so I cannot comment on them. However, I have experienced audio guides before at certain tourist destinations and some are pretty good (HMS Belfast London comes to mind) and some harder to follow (I remember being very confused on my audio tour of Ellis Island in NY).

But with all of them, there is still a certain amount of searching around you have to do with your eyes or points in the tour were I find I get lost or out of sync with the guide (and then I find myself talking in a loud voice to my tour mates asking for help). Plus you can't ask questions or go off script.

This was my first experience with a personal guide and it was mind blowing how much better/time efficient it was to have someone pointing, adding context, telling us where to walk, and loaded with historical information to adequately answer your questions. For example, our guide took us into several public buildings during our route just to show us paintings or maps they had on the walls that either gave us historical context of life in the city long ago or to explain the geography of what we were seeing. No audio guide is going to give you that.

Bob