TOURIST TIPS FOR VISITING EDINBURGH ON FOOT

The Official Guide to Where to Go

https://edinburghtips.com/attractions-sightseeing.html

Otherwise these might be useful for finding events and activities during your stay:

https://edinburgh.org/event

https://edinburghtourist.co.uk/whats-on

The places that I would not miss if I were visiting Edinburgh (on a budget) over two days would be:

a) go to the National Museum (FREE)

b) Walk along the length of the High Street on foot (see recommended stops IN ITINERARY 2 below)

c) Go to the National Gallery (FREE) and (visit the New Town and, certainly, St Andrews Square and walk along to Charlotte Square at the other end of George Street). Itinerary 5 gives you a walk that takes in all the museums.

d) Visit the Botanic Gardens (FREE)

https://www.rbge.org.uk

(Unfortunately the wonderful glasshouses are still closed due to renovation.)

All these places are in walking distance of the house. The n° 9 will take you to the Botanic Gardens, which is a little further away (or bring you back if you have had enough of walking).

If I wanted to see more and was disinclined to walk, I would use either a hop on and off tour or the normal Lothian bus service’s Day Travel Passes.

Tripadvisor Recommendations

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g186525-Activities-c47-Edinburgh_Scotland.html

This link is just for castles:

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attractions-g186525-Activities-c47-t6-Edinburgh_Scotland.html

6 Itineraries

The basic tourist itinerary is to go across the Meadows and continue straight ahead to the High Street and then go up and down it. Our itineraries will give you, we hope, a better view of all that Edinburgh has to offer and are designed taking 3 Sciennes Road as a starting point. If you manage to do all of them, you will have seen, one way or another, practically all the main sights. And you will deserve a medal!

To do the first four itineries will take at least 5 hours and so perhaps aim to do all over the course of a couple of days at least. The first place people usually want to visit is the Castle. You could go to the Castle (and even go down the High Street on your first afternoon or evening here). This corresponds to Intinerary 1 and 2. Save the other itineraries for later in your stay.

For Itinerary 1, rather than go straight to the High Street, go via George Square, the Vennel Steps and from there to the lower end of the Grassmarket and then up to the Castle via Victoria Street. Victoria Street is a street that routinely appears on depictions of Edinburgh.

Once you arrive at the Castle, you can do Itinerary 2 and walk down the “Royal Mile/ High Street” to the Parliament Building and Holyrood Palace at the bottom. Detours via the various closes (something like today’s “gated communities” have been included.

Itinerary 1 and 2 will most probably fill up the first day of a two day visit. However, perhaps you would prefer to do Itinerary 1 on the first evening and leave the other itineraries for the following day.

Once you have go down to the Parliament building, Itinerary 3 will take you from the Parliament to Calton Hill, St Andrews Square, Charlotte Square and Dean Village. This one will take you through the New Town (and a style of life that most of us can only dream of).

Then go on to Itinerary 4 that takes in the Botanic Gardens and Leith and perhaps even Portobello. Protobello is a region that is rapidly gentrifying, there is a huge beach and some unpretentious, pleasant restaurants.

The two other itineraries are the Museum walk (itinerary 5), which will take you to all the major museums (FREE). You could do just this one instead of the other 4. It also takes you to the most of the main tourist sites.

The last itinerary is a set of suggestions for onwards travel to the north. West is best!