Edinburgh, UK
A castle on a volcano, the Fringe in August, and Hogmanay's three-day New Year party.
Best time to visit
Weather by month
Cost
Serves travellers at Backpacker→Premium level. Typically around $170 a day on the ground.
Ranges are typical costs, not quotes. Check the real price before you book.
What's on
Edinburgh Fringe August
3,000+ shows across the city
Hogmanay December
Torchlight procession and street party
Worth knowing
Cards everywhere, including buses and market stalls. Scottish banks issue their own notes; they are legal to spend across the UK but shops in England sometimes hesitate over them.
money · editorial
Midwinter daylight is under seven hours and the weather rearranges itself hourly, so layers and a waterproof beat any forecast. The castle esplanade is a building site for weeks around the summer Tattoo.
know before · editorial
August is the Fringe. The city roughly doubles in size, beds are taken months ahead and everything costs more. If the festival is not why you are coming, come another month.
when not to go · editorial
Old Town is cobbled, vertical and closest to the castle. New Town is Georgian, flatter and quieter after dark. Leith is the old docks, twenty minutes out, residential, and where the serious eating is. Bruntsfield and Marchmont are student-leaning and further from the noise.
where to stay · editorial
Walk. The Old Town and the New Town are ten minutes apart and both are steep. Buses and the tram handle Leith and the outskirts; a car in the centre is parking tickets and one-way systems.
getting around · editorial
Edinburgh Airport, with a tram or bus into the centre in about half an hour. From London the train takes roughly four and a half hours and puts you at Waverley, in the middle of town, which is the better arrival.
getting there · editorial
Quests
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Edinburgh Castle
On a volcanic plug. The gun fires at one in the afternoon, every day.
Royal Mile
From the castle down to Holyrood, straight and downhill. Turn into the side closes.
Calton Hill
A Parthenon left unfinished for lack of money, and the best view in the city.
Dean Village
A mill village inside the city, at the bottom of a valley.
Palace of Holyroodhouse
The official residence in Scotland, at the foot of the street and the foot of the volcano.
Greyfriars Kirkyard
A sixteenth-century graveyard that supplied half the names in a certain book.
See
Climb Arthur's Seat
Eat
Eat haggis once, with neeps and tatties
Haggis with neeps and tatties
Order it without asking what is inside. Ask afterwards.
A single malt chosen by region
Islay is smoke, Speyside is fruit. Choose on purpose.
Cranachan
Toasted oats, raspberry, cream and whisky. The national pudding.
Moment
Walk into a Fringe show you did not choose
Bagpipes on the Royal Mile at dusk
It is not for tourists. Or it is, and it works anyway.
A whole day of sideways rain without complaining
The city is built for it. Go into somewhere and wait.
Trail
Arthur's Seat
An extinct volcano of 251 metres inside the city. An hour to the top, and always wind.