Edinburgh - 2 days or 3 to cover the sights

cjmcork

Folks, I'm hoping to head to Edinburgh before the clocks go back - looking to hear from folks that have been - the flight from Cork is ultra early, so I'll be in the city centre for soon after 9am...........the flights back at are after teatime..........so just wondering if I'd get to see most of it in 2 days or 3?

Fysh

cjmcork wrote: »

Folks, I'm hoping to head to Edinburgh before the clocks go back - looking to hear from folks that have been - the flight from Cork is ultra early, so I'll be in the city centre for soon after 9am...........the flights back at are after teatime..........so just wondering if I'd get to see most of it in 2 days or 3?

You can get fair bit done in a couple of days, but it depends what things in particular you want to see. If you want to go for a trek up Arthur's Seat you need to probably allow a morning or afternoon for it, for example. It depends on the day this time of year, but if you get good weather it's worth doing IMO If you're short for time or the day's not great you can just go to Calton Hill instead.

It's hard to say whether going into the castle is worth it in terms of cost and time, but you should definitely wander up the Royal Mile and see the view from outside the castle. Afterwards you can wander down to Cowgate and go for a wander. You could also go for a wander through Princes St gardens before or after.

Weather dependent again, but if you've got a nice day for it the Meadows are worth a wander - you can stroll over towards Merchiston and find food/coffee/drink places there if you fancy it (the Chocolate Tree is worth a visit if you're in the area, for example).

There are loads of walking tours, both free (tip the guide) or paid-for tours, as well as bus tours that will get you around lot of the sites faster and easier than walking there yourself (the flipside being that you see more little things you might like when you're walking around a place).

Are there any sights in particular you want to see, or things you want to do?

cjmcork

Thanks so much for your response - much appreciated - I want to try to get as many touristy things done while I'm there - just discovered the Britannia is in dock also - but would leave that to the pm of maybe day 2 (as there's a decent shopping centre close by, and day light doesn't matter for that one) - I'm hoping to go on a Wednesday and get back on a Friday night, so literally have all day Wednesday, Thursday and until tea time on Friday........would be into the history and views side of things - so the drink testing isn't a priority for me......looking at going mid-October

jimmii

Ocean Terminal is a weird shopping centre handy for food if you're going to britania though.

If you like history I would do the castle, Mary's close and climb the Scott monument on princes St. The views from up there are pretty good. If you're going up to the castle you may as well pop into camera obsucra as that's also a bit of fun and something a bit different.

If you like economic history the you might like the museum on the mound I found that quite interesting. There's a million pounds on display there that's their main hook.

Fysh

VisitScotland have a useful page for planning a trip to Edinburgh that you should take a look at. There's a 3 Days In Edinburgh itinerary in particular that might help you plan your trip.

cjmcork

thanks so much - very grateful for the responses

Ficheall

The Camera Obscura is pretty cool.