We were in London for the weekend and at the last minute decided we should go to Scotland. Because of this last minute decision I had do some research and quickly! We needed to figure out how to get there, where to stay, what to do, and everything in between. I knew nothing about Edinburgh. We were going to do Edinburgh in three days. All of this with last minute planning, or for that matter no planning at all.
We quickly bought the cheapest fair we could find on the train from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh using Trainline. The trip took five hours and cost us $80 each.
Now the question of where to stay?
My boyfriend had been raving about Couch Surfing for months and I had never done it before. He convinced me I had to try it at least once. I started looking up potential people to host us in Edinburgh and to my surprise someone accepted us right away. I was secretly hoping no one would agree to host us so we could get a hotel, but it just so happened that choosing Couch Surfing was one of the best decisions of my travel life! I loved it. We stayed in someone’s amazing flat just about a mile from all the attractions in Edinburgh. I’ll save my thoughts on Couch Surfing for another post but all in all I would definitely recommend it. Couch Surfing is THE answer for budget-friendly accommodation, especially if you enjoy meeting people from all over the world. Couch Surfing is free and the hosts usually love to show you around or tell you places worth visiting in their cities 🙂
3 Days in Edinburgh
Day 1
1. Walk the Royal Mile.
2. Have a quick lunch at “Royal Mile Market.”
3. Climb Arthur’s Seat.
4. Get some fresh dairy ice cream.
5: Late afternoon snack at Oink (Haggis with an IRN BRU)
6: Comedy night at “The Stand.”
First familiarize yourself with the town: Walk the Royal Mile and climb Arthur’s Seat.
The first day we spent four hours walking around the Old Town from one side of the mile to the other. We found this was the best way to get to know where all the attractions were and to note places we wanted to eat at or make time to visit throughout our three day trip. We started on the Royal Mile at Edinburgh Castle and walked to the other side, ending at Holyrood Palace.
The Royal Mile in the center of Edinburgh’s Old Town
As you walk toward Holyrood Palace you’ll see on your righthand side “The Royal Mile Market.” This market is run by artists, bakers, clothing designers and many more.
We popped our head in to see what it was all about. It was a delightful old building, turned-indoor boutique market. There are about ten stands in total, some selling cookies and chocolate others selling clothing like hats and scarves.
The food counter is what caught my attention at first. They had these large baguette-style sandwiches that were very reasonably priced. I would recommend this cafe in the Royal Mile Market for anyone looking for a convenient, easy lunch or snack!
As you continue on your walk down Royal Mile Market you’ll see the Fudge House on your left. Why not grab a little fudge for when you need something sweet later on?
About another quarter mile down the road from The Fudge House you’ll finally run into Holyrood Palace. From the base of Holyrood Palace you can see Arthur’s Seat, a massive hill formed by an extinct volcano.
This is a beautiful, fairly easy hike that only takes 30-40 minutes. You’ll see many people climbing up on the side of the mountain so you really can’t miss the starting point. At the top you have panoramic views of Edinburgh!
Once you’re done with your light afternoon hike make sure you grab some fresh dairy ice cream at the bottom of Arthur’s Seat. This ice cream is the bomb dot com.
If you’re still hungry after working off all those calories hiking, stop at Oink, located on your way back up the Royal Mile. Oink is a pulled pork over-the-counter restaurant that feeds your tummy on a budget. Specializing in pulled pork sandwiches you choose your bun, sauce and filler that goes in your pork sandwich then enjoy! We got the pulled pork with bbq sauce and haggis filling on a wheat bun.
For those of you who don’t know, haggis is known as one of Scotland’s infamous dishes! To put it simply it’s sheep’s heart, liver and lungs incased in the animal’s stomach…or something along those lines. I’m still not even exactly sure what it is 🙂 All I know is that it’s banned in the U.S. Although I’m adventurous and like to try new things I thought this was the perfect time to eat some haggis, with some diguise food accompanying it.
I washed down my pork and haggis with a good old Scottish IRN BRU-a Scottish made soda. In fact, the most popular soda in Scotland.
There are only two places in the world where Coca-Cola is not the number one selling soda, Scotland is one of those countries! The other is North Korea…no surprise there. The kids here drink this stuff like water. I had to try it. My review of Irn Bru? Hmm, well it was interesting. It tastes like RedVines- so basically just syrupy sweet soda. One was enough for me, but you gotta try it while you’re in Scotland, just like Haggis.
Later that night around 630pm we headed the “The Stand,” a famous comedy club in Edinburgh.
We left for the show an hour before the doors opened as we were told this place sells out and gets very crowded! On Monday nights they have amateur night and the entrance ticket is only 2 pounds per person. We bought our tickets online ahead of time and I’m glad we did. Within minutes of the doors opening the seats were all gone. We snagged two seats front-left, ordered some surprisingly cheap beers and snacks, and had a blast.
Notes: Show up early, get some beers and enjoy the fun inexpensive night. The amateur night on Monday goes until about 1030pm.
Day Two
1: Free Sandeman’s Walking Tour
2: Lunch at Deacon’s House
3: Free National Museum of Scotland
4: Fish and Chips (any pub) for Dinner
5: Patisserie Valerie for Dessert
We slept in and enjoyed the morning. After getting ready we headed to the Old Town for some lunch and coffee before our walking tour. We headed to the famous cafe, Deacon’s House located right in the center of everything on the Royal Mile.
It was cold, I got the tomato soup and egg sandwich!
At 2pm the 3 hour free Sandeman’s Walking Tour commenced.
The tour was fabulous! I usually don’t like history or museums (ha ha) I just like to be in the environment, explore and learn at my own pace, but this tour was really entertaining the entire time.
The tour was great for all you Harry Potter buffs. J.K. Rowling actually wrote the fist book in a coffee shop overlooking this cemetery. Some gravestones have names from the book such as ‘Thomas Riddle.”
Our guide was funny. He shared useful information and gave us a great insight into the history and spooky tales of old Edinburgh, lots of public hangings..dun dun dunnn. With the “free” tours all over the world, the guides work on tips so you can choose what’s right for you. We gave our guide $20.
After the walking tour we had some time to wander so we decided to go to the free National Museum of Scotland. They have several impressive exhibits with artifacts from all over the world. The building’s design and layout was just as aesthetically pleasing as the building’s contents with a massive grand room connecting all the different departments.
Day Three
1: The FREE Hairy Coo Tour through the Scottish Highlands.
Book in advance!!! This full day tour (845am-6pm) can be booked full up to a week or two in advance. As soon as you know your dates book the tour. The tour is another FREE tour. All other competitors charge between $50-100 USD/person. This tour is free and I only hear good things about it. Again, tip your driver/guide at the end.
What if the tour is full?
If the tour is full, show up at 8am (45 minutes early). Tell the guide at the stop in front of Deacon’s House that you want to wait and see if you can get some seats if people don’t show up. We actually didn’t get to do the Hairy Coo. The owner told us to show up at 830am and ask for seats if people were no shows. Well the two of us showed up when he told us to but unfortunately there were 3 people waiting to get seats at 8am, twenty minutes before us. We were super bummed but we made it work. We did our OWN tour.
Side Note: When plans change abroad or things don’t work out the best thing you can do is try to find alternative ways of doing what you originally wanted to do. We knew we wanted to see the Highlands but also knew we didn’t have very much money to spend. SO we put our heads together, hit the internet and starting surfing away.
***To see how we did our own Scottish Highlands tour check out this post: “Doing Our Own Scottish Highlands Tour”
Summary of Three Days in Edinburgh Itinerary
Attractions & Activities in Edinburgh:
1: Edinburgh Castle
2: Holyrood Palace
3: Arthur’s Seat
4: “The Stand” Comedy Club
5: Sandeman’s Free Walking Tour
6: The National Museum of Scotland
7: The Free Hairy Coo Tour of the Scottish Highlands
Food Guide to Edinburgh:
Royal Mile Market
The Fudge House
Fresh Dairy Ice CreamOink
Deacon’s House
Fish and Chips
Patisserie Valerie
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