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Edinburgh City Guide

PHOTOS COMING SOON

By far the best guide is Time Out Edinburgh, which has a section on Glasgow as well.  We also had the Frommer’s Edinburgh and Glasgow.

*Recommended guide book is Time Out Edinburgh. It is a nice, portable size and has excellent color maps. It is thorough and well designed and has a small chapter on Glasgow in case you’re planning a day trip. Frommer’s Edinburgh and Glasgow is good, particularly if you’ll be spending more time in Glasgow, but is not as comprehensive as Time Out.

*Upon arrival visit the large Tourist Information Centre adjacent to the main train station. You may also find various maps or booklets with valuable coupons inside (our hotel also had a lot of coupons in the lobby).

 *A walk around Dean Village and Stockbridge is highly recommended. The Time Out guide has a walking tour laid out and a pretty good map. Dean Village has had a lot of gentrification, and if we lived in Edinburgh it would be our choice. From Dean Village you can walk along the river into Stockbridge, which is filled with thrift shops, pubs, restaurants and other stores.

*Public transportation is very good and affordable. For a few pounds a day you can buy a bus ticket valid for the entire day. If you are staying in the heart of the city and not exploring areas on the outskirts, the city is perfectly walkable and the day ticket might not be necessary.

*We stayed at Glenalmond House, which had great reviews on TripAdvisor. The hearty Scottish breakfast was very good, and our room was clean, quiet, and comfortable. It is in a residential neighborhood just about a mile south of the city centre (without luggage and when it wasn’t pouring rain we walked all the way into the centre), right in front of a bus stop (note that if you heading over on the bus it will be on your same side). The prices are reduced in winter, and we received an additional 20% reduction for staying for 3+ nights, making it a terrific value (in November 2009 we paid 60 pounds per night minus 20%, prices still effective in 2011). There are other hotels on the same street.

* Hop on Hop off tours are a good way to get a sense of the history and layout of the city. The tickets are valid for 24 hours (rather than for one day, so we started our ticket late afternoon but were able to use it again until the same time the following day) and can be used for all the different tour buses. They look like they are run by competitor companies, but they are linked. Some tours have live guides, others have recordings, and some packages include tickets for attractions like Ediburgh Castle and the Royal Yacht Britannia.

*You can easily spend a couple of days walking along the Royal Mile, enjoying the architecture and all the museums. Check out the goings-on at the Scottish Storytelling Centre.   Every day has something new happening, including a lot of live music. The cafe is well-priced and has good refreshments.

*Walking Tours: There are a lot of different walks around Edinburgh. In winter they don’t run as frequently, so we were unable to make the Literary Pub Crawl  (but the pouring rain didn’t really motivate us anyway). After mixed reviews we also decided to skip The Witchery Tours (and we also skipped a meal at the high priced Witchery restaurant, which is probably overrated). We did fork over the big bucks for a slightly kitschy, but nevertheless entertaining and informative tour of The Real Mary King’s Close. We could not find any discount coupons for this. You’ll also see lots of flyers for walking tours posted around town, and university students hand out leaflets along the Royal Mile. We can’t vouch for how good the tours are, but many of the student-led ones are by donation, so you don’t risk more than a bit of your time to check them out.

*Excursions outside the city. There are several reputable tour companies that offer day trips to the Highlands, St. Andrews, and other places within an easy reach of Edinburgh. They also offer overnight trips that are well-priced. If you don’t want to bother with a rental car or pay the high price of petrol, or if you are traveling alone, these tours are ideal. You can book them in advance from home, by phone, or at the Tourist Information Centre (we used a variety of these methods, and all were good – we did find online and printed discount coupons).   Some of the companies offering day trips or overnight tours from Edinburgh (and from Glasgow)

Rabbies http://www.rabbies.com/

MacBackpackers http://macbackpackerstours.com/

Timberbush Tours http://www.timberbush-tours.co.uk/

*St. Andrews is a pleasant college town and a golfer’s paradise. It is very difficult to reach via public transport, but all the day tour companies offer an excursion there.

*We decided against a one day tour of the Highlands. We read many unhappy reviews of a long time spent on the van or coach with little time for sightseeing. Since it rained every day of our trip, it also wasn’t good weather for viewing nature. The Highlands are better seen by taking more time there and spending a night somewhere.

*There are so many museums and places to visit that we won’t make too many specific recommendations except to note that the National Gallery Complex is wonderful and open late on Thursdays (and always FREE!). The Portrait Gallery is undergoing an extensive renovation and will remain closed until the end of 2011.

*We only spent a short time in the National Museum of Scotland since its renovations had not yet been completed and we knew we would eventually return. But it is a grand collection, and the renovations are impressive. 

*If you’re a fan of Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson or Sir Walter Scott, then a stop at the Writer’s Museum (free) will reward you with artifacts from their lives .

*We enjoyed casual dining and views at The Outsider Restaurant, 15 George IV Bridge. In Stockbridge we had a truly outsdanding meal at The Stockbridge Tap.