Edinburgh- what to do there?

salt_and_pepper

Hi i will be going to Edinburgh in April as a family of 4 (kids are 12 and 10) We will be there for 4 full days so can anyone suggest what to do there. We will use one day at the zoo but i'm not sure about the others- having never been to Scotland before i'd like to do it justice. We will be relying on public transport. The things i was wondering about is beaches, parks and must see landmarks.
Thanks for reading.

wdw2003

The castle's the obvious one and is worth it. You can also walk up the old volcano Arthur's Seat for a country-like walk and good views over the city. The Royal Yacht Brittania's quite interesting, if only to see how relatively simply the queen lived on board. The kids would probably like the Edinburgh Dungeon and if you want beaches, get the 41 bus to Cramond, which has a large sandy beach and long promenade. If the tide's right, you could also walk from there out to Cramond Island, which is a few hundred yards offshore and will surely get the sea breeze in your faces.

Slightly further afield, you could get the 43 bus to South Queensferry to have a walk over the Forth Road Bridge with a view to the railway bridge. From there, you can also get a boat trip around an island or two.

*Kat*

Edinburgh Zoo!! AMAZING.

There's also a ghost tour (that I want to go on but haven't yet). Mary King's Close is pretty good (I went a few years ago). There's some smaller castle's like Blackness which are pretty nice.

You might want to look into the Historic Scotland Explorer pass (gives you free entry to their sites)

http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/index/places/explorer.htm

alanrowell

Much of what Edinburgh has to offer is off the Royal Mile During April there is also the Science Festival

You could also travel out to Rosslyn Chapel (Da Vinci Code) on the Lothian Buses #15 service - BTW the 43 bus to South Queensferry is run by First Group, most other buses you'd get in Edinburgh are run by Lothian Buses

Mark_Hewitt

What about a trip across the Forth bridge by train.
You could also get to St. Andrews by that same train and a short bus ride.

salt_and_pepper

wow some great ideas. I'm thinking of getting the historic scotland explorer pass- for £35.20 that seems a good money saving way of getting into the Castle and i can use it for 3 days? so i need to plan around that.
I don't think the dungeons would appeal to my son or the ghost tour which is a shame.
Would it be worth me catching a train over the Forth bridge- we have a railcard?
How long would it take for me to walk up Arthurs seat? Would that take care of say a morning or afternoon.

z1985m

Arthurs seat would deffo take up a whole morning/ afternoon (take some bread to feed the ducks, theres a couple of ponds) theres dynamic earth http://www.dynamicearth.co.uk/ which is next to arthurs seat and hollyrood palace, all the way up the royal mile you have small museums and you have the large museum of scotland http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum.aspx at the top on chambers street. If you go over to queens ferry you have deep sea world http://www.deepseaworld.com/ which is under the rail road bridge. its not as impressive as some sealife cantres i've been to but it's ok.

Buses up here are really good, lothian buses are the main company i think its £1.20 for adult and i'm not sure childs fare...

wdw2003

The explorer pass is great value, but you might find it difficult to do much if you're relying on public transport. Craigmillar Castle and Linlithgow Palace are probably the easiest ones to see after Edinburgh Castle and both pretty impressive. In particular, Linlithgow Palace is in a great location over a loch.

Arthur's Seat would only take an hour or two to get up, so a morning or afternoon would be plenty.

I think there are some non-ghost walking tours, which would also be interesting, and it's a good way to learn a bit more about the city.

St Andrews is a lovely place with historic sites and a wide miles-long beach, but you'd need a full day for that trip, as it's about 2 hours each way by bus. The train would be quicker, but I don't know about the bus connection from the nearest station.

Yinster

Trying to do Scotland justice in four days will be challenging so I would suggest planning your four days ahead. Public transport in and around Edinburgh is pretty cheap but if you were thinking of going outwith then it can get pretty expensive hence why I'm not going to suggest going to Stirling or Glasgow but rather you focus in and around Edinburgh.

When you get to Edinburgh try and get a hold of the guide book that is found in some of the tourist shops in the Royal mile/High Street. That gives you ideas and suggestions as well as discounts on some attractions including edinburgh dungeons which is a must.
Other attractions not mention are the botanic gardens in Inverleith Park. You might get lucky with the weather during your stay. Also Princes Street Gardens is lovely and has the floral clock. Go up Carlton Hill at the east end of Princes Street to get a great view of the city centre and local vicinity.

Go onto edinburgh.org/pass/attractions/ to save money on attractions including some that were mention before. If you apply before the 31st of this month you can save 15%.

Hope this helps you?

Spendaholic_Chick

I'm going to Edinburgh next month and have been recommended this place http://camera-obscura.co.uk/camera_obscura/camera_obscura.asp

Also, Scottish PArliament http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/vli/index.htm

Starrystarrynight

I absolutely loved the open top bus tours and went on every one! I found it a great way to see the city and learn about the history. I hopped off at Holyrood House to have a look round the palace.
Mary King's Close was fascinating, too.