Coming at you with my first post from Scotland! After spending a week road tripping around Ireland, we hopped on a short flight to Edinburgh, Scotland. We spent one full day in Edinburgh before starting our week-long road trip around Scotland. Even though we only had a day in Edinburgh, it was enough time to fall in love with this charming city! I would highly recommend visiting Edinburgh! It is so beautiful and ended up being my favorite city we visited. Two days in Edinburgh would be preferable, but if you’re short on time (like we were), you can fit several of the main highlights into one day. Here’s how we spent a day in Edinburgh!
Edinburgh Castle
Our first stop of the day was to Edinburgh Castle. On our way here, we walked up the Royal Mile, which was very crowded as they were having a festival of some sort. Make sure you pop into some of the closes off of the Royal Mile – we loved the Advocate’s Close!
Edinburgh Castle is beautiful and the views are incredible! However, it’s a really popular destination, so expect crowds! We started off our visit with a free 30 min tour, which they offer regularly. I would recommend taking the tour if you have time – our guide talked about the history of the city and the castle and pointed out the main sights. The castle has many different buildings/exhibits so it was nice to get an idea of which ones we wanted to visit.
Tip: I purchased tickets online in advance as I read that there can be long lines at the ticket counter. We arrived around 10am (it opens at 9:30am) and walked right in with our pre-purchased tickets. You can buy tickets online here.
Vennel Viewpoint
After spending a few hours at the castle, we walked around the nearby Grassmarket area and ended up at this little lane with a great view of the castle! I believe the location of this exact spot is at Vennel – I’ve tagged it on Google Maps here.
Princes Street Gardens
From Grassmarket and Vennel, we walked over to Princes Street Gardens. The garden is located at the base of the castle and has beautiful views. There were a lot of people out enjoying the day and we had a nice time walking around and checking out the beautiful roses in bloom. This is definitely a nice spot to come and relax on a pretty day in Edinburgh!
Dean Village
From Princes Street Gardens, we continued walking to Dean Village. This area was at the very top of my list of places to visit in Edinburgh. Unsurprisingly, it was our favorite stop of the day! It is the quaintest little village set alongside the water and it looks like it’s straight out of a fairytale!
To get to Dean Village, we followed the directions in this blog post. It was easy to find and we had so much fun walking around! It’s a small area, but is full of charm! There’s also a walkway along the water that you can stroll down – we did for a while and it was lovely. I highly recommend adding Dean Village to your Edinburgh itinerary! It’s a little out of the way, but it’s definitely worth the effort!
After Dean Village, we walked back towards the main heart of the city and grabbed a quick afternoon pick me up from Rose Street Cafe. It was really nice out in the afternoon so we sat outside and enjoyed the sun. Rose Street is a cute street with plenty of shops, restaurants, and pubs.
Then, we walked around for a bit more before grabbing dinner at Dishoom. We ate at Dishoom for the first time when we were in London and I still dream about that meal! It’s a very popular restaurant so you’ll likely have a wait, but it’s worth it – trust me! We put our name down on the list and grabbed a drink at the bar while we waited.
Greyfriars Kirkyard
After dinner, we needed to walk off our food so we headed to Greyfriars Kirkyard. This cemetery is well-known for the story of Greyfriars Bobby – a loyal dog who would allegedly come visit his owner’s grave everyday after his owner passed away. Such a sweet story! There is also a statue in honor of Greyfriars Bobby located a little outside of the cemetery.
Victoria Street
Just outside of the cemetery is Victoria Street. It’s a popular street lined with colorful storefronts that is worth visiting for a photo op! It’s probably best to arrive early in the morning if you want to take photos without cars/people in them.
Then, it was time to head back to our hotel for the night. We stayed at the Travelodge Edinburgh Central. The location was nice (within walking distance to all the sites) and the hotel was affordable, but I would not recommend it. It had a very dorm-like feel and was not particularly pleasant.
If you have more time in Edinburgh, some other sites we wanted to visit were the National Museum of Scotland (it’s free and is supposed to have great views!), the Scotch Whiskey Experience, Circus Lane (apparently the cutest street in the city!), and Calton Hill or Arthur’s Seat for sunrise or sunset!
That’s a wrap on how we spent a day in Edinburgh! As I said before, I would recommend staying at least two days in Edinburgh. However, if you’re tight on time, you can fit several of the major sites into one day, as we did. Edinburgh is such a lovely city and I highly recommend visiting!
2 Comments
Comments are closed.