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Forum Question Posted By: Replies:
Edinburgh
What to do?
Posted: Tue January 11, 2011 02:49 PM UTC
I want to go to Edinburgh for a short or weekend break this year with my friends. We are all around 23/24 years old and I just want to know if Edinburgh is a good destination or not? I know that Edinburgh has a reputation of being a beautiful historical city, and while we will do some of the typical sightseeing stuff, I don't want to spend 4 days doing just that. Any helpful suggestions of where to go, what to do, where to stay etc?
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 combataddict 9 replies

[Reply]

Edinburgh
Re: What to do?
Posted: Tue January 11, 2011 03:29 PM UTC
We spent a few days in Edinburgh and just about all of our sightseeing was along the Royal Mile; ranging from Edinburgh Castle at one end and Hollyroodhouse at the other end.

Getting out of town for a bit (Stirling Castle was very nice, as was its setting) should be something you consider as well.

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Edinburgh
Re: What to do?
Posted: Tue January 11, 2011 04:33 PM UTC
You don't give any indication of your interests, so it is difficult to know whether 4 days in Edinburgh will bore you. It is a major capital city (with a university) and as well as historical sites/sights there are of course all the things one might expect: shops, bars, museums, nightclubs, restaurants, theatre, cinema etc etc.

Have a look at the VT Edinburgh pages to get an idea of what you might do there. All pages and tips are written by VT locals or visitors, and you will find ample information about what to see and do (and more). Just put 'Edinburgh' into the searchbox top right of this page.

As noted, you can always take daytrips elsewhere by train or bus.

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Edinburgh
Re: What to do?
Posted: Tue January 11, 2011 05:48 PM UTC
May and June are good months to visit Scotland. You may fancy a day trip to Glasgow and the train and the bus will take you into the city centre.

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Edinburgh
Re: What to do?
Posted: Tue January 11, 2011 06:51 PM UTC
Difficult to answer on what to do unless we know your interests. Or where to stay unless you give us some sort of budget. Edinburgh is a university town but not overwhelmingly so - in other words, the university is in Edinburgh but Edinburgh is not totally dependent on it. It sort of mingles in with other life. There are loads of bars and clubs, though for the music scene Glasgow is where to go. Perhaps the best thing is to google away and do some research about what is on offer and read the forum answers to Edinburgh questions and the travel pages. Imho, it is best to avoid the Festival unless you are desperate to see Edinburgh then - it is awash, nay, a-clog with tourists and is even more expensive and you wouldn't get a very good idea of what the place is about. It's good to be there when the students are - I am not sure in May (as I suggested in a reply to your other post) if many students would still be around. You can find the term dates by going to the uni website. June can be nice and fairly uncrowded. July and August should be avoided. Personally I think a mid-week break or a break that goes from, say, Wednesday through to Saturday, is preferable to a weekend break.

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Edinburgh
Re: What to do?
Posted: Tue January 11, 2011 07:00 PM UTC
Unis tend to finish in late May (exam time...guaranteed to be sunny, in my experience!).

Scots schools break up around the end of June/beginning of July. English schools tend to break up around mid/end July.

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Edinburgh
Re: What to do?
Posted: Tue January 11, 2011 09:26 PM UTC
Yup, Edinburgh uni end of term is 27th May but the majority of students will have long gone by then. Back on 20th September.

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Edinburgh
Re: What to do?
Posted: Tue January 11, 2011 10:32 PM UTC
Thanks for your help guys. As for interests, well, sight seeing is grand, nightlife, outdoors etc. Pretty much a variety as there will be a few of us. Shopping is out-not on a trip away- unless markets? budget is fairly basic- middle of the road kinda thing. I've been googling, just trying to trawl through the good, bad and ugly:)

thanks again
can you tell i'm new at this?:)

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 combataddict [Reply]
Edinburgh
Re: What to do?
Posted: Wed January 12, 2011 06:09 AM UTC
We were all new at it once (and new to VT too)! :-)

I think you will find plenty to occupy you for 4 days. But you can always plan in a daytrip to e.g. Glasgow.

There's a farmer's market every Saturday:

http://www.edinburghfarmersmarket.co.uk/

and I'm sure there must be some sort of regular 'ordinary' market too, but can't find the info at the moment.

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Edinburgh
Re: What to do?
Posted: Mon January 31, 2011 12:36 PM UTC
There are loads of hostels in Edinburgh, but the best one for me is just out of town, out towards Granton - its cheap, clean and they have free buses towards town, regularly. As to what to do - there's loads of sightseeing available, but there's so much to do besides. Simply explore, and you'll find great pubs everywhere, and some nightclubs just outside the Royal Mile.

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