What I Did in Edinburgh (in 2 Days!)

When my friend and I decided we wanted to add another city to our already jam packed trip, we decided to pick somewhere neither of us had been: Edinburgh, Scotland. Because we had limited time to work with, we were only able to squeeze 2 days into our schedule, but we intended to utilize every last second!

We arrived into Edinburgh Friday evening, and took the bus from the airport into town. Once the bus dropped us at Waverly Station, it was about another 20 minute walk to our hotel... and we just happened to have busted the wheel on our suitcase, so we were literally dragging our bag through the streets. Once the agonizing walk dragging our suitcase through the cobblestone streets was over and we had arrived at our hotel (we looked at the wheel when we finally got to our hotel. It had become completely flat on one side. Nice!), we were exhausted. We passed right on out, only waking up once when a fellow hotel go-er managed to come into our room in the middle of the night by mistake. Whoops - our bad for not realizing the door didn't auto lock!

When morning came we were meeting up with some people my friend knew, so we walked over to Waverly Station to meet up with them. Both the people we were meeting up with were from a town not far from Edinburgh, so they knew their way around pretty well. We decided we wanted to picnic at Calton Hill, so we went into Sainsbury's to grab some food to bring with us.

Now, I eat a plant-based diet, and I was fully expecting to have to try to find some random fruit or crackers to bring, since that's usually what ends up happening when I'm home in Canada. Not the case at all! Sainsbury's had a really fantastic selection of sandwiches and other quick refrigerated meals that were vegan, so it made it super easy! In fact, I found that eating vegan while I was in the UK was the easiest of all my travels. They have SO many options. Almost every restaurant we ate at had vegan (and allergy!) menus, and there were always tons of options when we were out and about. Ok - side bar over. Back to Calton Hill.

We walked up to Calton Hill, had our lunch, and visited. It's a really beautiful view from the top of Calton Hill. I really recommend that you go up if you're in Edinburgh. You get to see a ton of the city, and it's a really relaxing place if you happen to want a picnic! The National Monument, and the Nelson Monument are at the top of Calton Hill as well. The Nelson Monument itself is really neat, and you can actually go up the tower. It does cost money, but you can go to the museum on the ground floor for free! We didn't go in since we had a tour booked for 2:00 that we needed to make it to, but if I am ever back there, I would love to see the view from the top!

Here is the link to the website if you are interested in booking tickets to the top: https://www.edinburghmuseums.org.uk/venue/nelson-monument

The tour we booked was The Real Mary Kings Close tour. If you're unfamiliar, the close's in the 17th Century were small narrow alleys and roads with tall buildings that a number of families lived in. Typically poorer folks lived in these areas. During the tour, they take you down into the close, which is now beneath the Royal Mile. The tour takes you through a variety of different rooms and houses that are in the close, and it is all led by a costumed character tour guide. The storytelling that happens through the tour is very engaging, and you learn so much about the history of the close, and the people that lived there. I highly recommend booking a tour. But, I do have some things to take into consideration if you want to do this tour.

1. It is underground. I know that sounds obvious, but if you are uncomfortable with the idea of doing a 1 hour tour underground this might not be the tour for you. It is not an open, airy, location, so you might want to steer clear if you are extremely claustrophobic.

2. Accessibility. It is a historic site underground, and the only way up and down are via stairs. And once you're down the ground can be pretty uneven, and there are some steep inclines to walk.

3. Hauntings. If you are particularly uncomfortable with the idea of places that are haunted, do be forewarned that the close has been said to be haunted!

Here is the link to the website if you're interested in booking a tour: https://www.realmarykingsclose.com

Once our tour was done we went down to Palace of Holyroodhouse; the Queen's official residence in Edinburgh, and quite frankly, a beautiful building. As we had a budget, and this just wasn't in it, we didn't end up going in, but we did go into the gift shop and wandered around the outside of the building. If you are interested in going in, you get to experience the State Apartments, Holyrood Abbey, and the gardens.

Here is a link to the website if you are interested in booking tickets: https://www.rct.uk/visit/palace-of-holyroodhouse

The Palace is right beside Arthur's Seat, and according to the friends we were with, its a really hard hike. Now, I'll be honest. Coming from Canada where there are some pretty intense hikes, this hike didn't look all too bad. It wasn't a very big hill for starters, and the path looked pretty gentle. Unfortunately, one of the girls started to get pretty ill at this point, so we never did go up Arthur's Seat... maybe next time.

We went for dinner at a chain restaurant called Zizzi's... and honestly? I was blown away. Like I said earlier, the UK was killing it at having vegan options. My friend is celiac and both of us ended up having FULL menus to choose from. It was quite frankly, amazing. Unless I go to a specific vegan restaurant at home, my choices are usually pretty basic: salad, fries, modify a meal. I couldn't believe my luck!

After dinner we had booked another tour, The Cadies & Witchery Tours: The Murder and Mystery Tour. All we knew was that it was a tour about the city's famous murders and mysteries (no kidding?!) with some ghosts thrown in for good measure. Other than that, we had no idea what to expect. Firstly, our tour guide? A vampire. He walked us around the streets giving our tour dressed as a vampire. Secondly, it was a genuinely informative and interesting tour, while also managing to keep us laughing ... and screaming. If you're a fan of jump scares, this tour is for you! I am not a fan of horror movies or jump scares, so I think if I had known that would happen going into it, I probably wouldn't have booked this tour. But honestly, it was a lot of fun! Keep in mind however, this is an outdoor walking tour. You need to be able to keep up with the group and walk the cobbled streets while going up and down stairs for about 75 minutes. But if that all sounds good to you, I think you'll like it! Just keep an open mind!

Here is the link to the website you're interested in booking this tour: https://www.witcherytours.com

That tour concluded day 1 of Edinburgh for us, and we headed back to the hotel and said goodbye to our friend.

The next morning we had to check out of our hotel, and they charged to hold your bags for you (major bummer since our flight wasn't until that evening). We paid for our busted suitcase to be held, but that meant we had to bring our backpacks with us all day. Not ideal, but we could definitely do it!

We are both pretty big Harry Potter nerds, so we knew we needed to hit some Harry Potter spots while we were here. Before we came on our trip, I had planned out a huge Harry Potter walking tour for us to do, so that was the days plan. If you're interested in reading more about that, I've written a blog post that goes into detail about everywhere we hit, including a map, if you're interested in doing it as well! https://letishanagy.wixsite.com/encounteringtheworld/post/my-self-guided-harry-potter-walking-tour-in-edinburgh

After our Harry Potter tour was over, we had time for dinner, and then we had to head to the airport. Our time in Edinburgh had come to a close. We both had the best time and desperately wished we could have had longer. But I suppose that just means that we will be going back some time!

I hope this was able to give you some inspiration for places to see and tours to do while you're in Edinburgh.

Happy adventuring!