It has been two years since I last wrote about my travel stories. And since the cold weather makes me lazy to go outside or do household chores,  I decided I’d write about my most recent escapade, Edinburgh, Scotland, United Kingdom.

For our first wedding anniversary, we decided to fly to Edinburgh for a 4D3N city break. Edinburgh is indeed such a lovely city. While I have traveled very little of the world, it is by far my second favorite city, next to Seoul, South Korea. It is such a small city but there is more than enough to do to keep you occupied if ever you decide to choose Edinburgh for a city break. People are accommodating to tourists, environment is very clean, not overly crowded and quiet. Food selection is broad enough for food enthusiasts like me and my husband. Most of all, I love how easy it is to get from one place to another through their cheap and efficient transport system. Take note that to pay for bus fares, they only accept exact cash or contactless payments.

But first, how to get there?
If you are holding a UK visa, whether tourist or an actual residence permit, you can travel to Edinburgh no bother from other parts of the UK. You can travel by land if coming from England or via plane or ferry if coming from Northern Ireland. In our case, we flew to Edinburgh from Belfast. Flights are cheap even if you book couple of weeks prior to your date, but of course, the earlier the better. Since it is a local flight, you would not need to go through immigration or border check. Edinburgh’s airport is just small. Outside the terminal are modes of transportation to the city centre. You can travel via bus (Airlink 100 takes you to city centre) which is available every  minutes 24/7 which we actually took for £7.50 each for an open return ticket. Another option is via Edinburgh Tram which takes you to the city centre as well, check their timetable online. I believe either routes are efficient depending on whereabouts your first destination will be from the airport. I always use Google Maps to see what my best route option is.

Next thing you have to think about is your accommodation.
There are a lot of cheap hotels around the city centre when you search online. I used to use AirBnb for most of my travels but nowadays, there is just too many options when you search and that does my head in so I use Booking.com now which so far, has not let me down yet. Whenever we travel as a couple, I only look for two factors in places to stay: 1. En suite bathroom (I love privacy) and 2. Public transportation access. I could care less about the size of the room, or if it has free breakfast or what not. We stayed in Haymarket Hub Hotel for 3 nights for a reasonable room rate given that I booked it a week before our flight 🙂 Room is quite small but facility is clean and safe. Public bus stops, train and tram stations are just across the hotel. Plus points for Pat (my husband) as adjacent to the hotel is a cozy pub.

Arriving at Day 1
We arrived in our accommodation about 3:30PM. We freshened up and went straight to the city centre at around 4PM. We walked around Princes Street and Royal Mile (High Street) while killing time until our pre-booked free Ghost Tour online through City Explorers. Edinburgh as they say is one of the most haunted cities in the world and through this walking tour, you’d learn all about it. It was raining cats and dogs but we still managed to finish the walking tour until the end. Tour took about 1hr and 45mins and by that time Pat and I are ready for some good grub. We love Korean BBQ and without a doubt, it was our first choice on our first night here. After a sumptuous dinner, we headed back to the hotel, freshened up and went for a couple drinks in Platform 5, the pub beside our hotel. We were not able to do much on our first day as we arrived late and weather was not in our favor, nevertheless, day well spent.

Tourist mode on Day 2
Through research from existing blogs and from recommendations from our friends, we purchased Royal Edinburgh Ticket online for £57 each for a 48-hour access on three kinds of hop on/hop off bus tours and fast track admission to three major attractions. I am not the type for these package deals when traveling but this one is actually a very good and saved us £24 each adding the ticket prices altogether. I studied the routes of the 3 hop on/hop off tours prior to our holiday thus we were able to group the attractions we will go to per day. Before hopping on our first tour, we had to make a stop at the Scott Monument for a picture, you may climb the monument for a fee to see the view of the city. We took the Majestic tour (blue bus) on our second day, I suggest getting on the top of the bus, if the weather permits for a better view of the city. Our first stop was the Royal Botanic Garden, admission is free unless you want to explore the glass houses. If you’re traveling in Autumn, there are great foliage spots here for a snap. On our way to the next destination, we got to see Leith, a port district which was previously a separate town from Edinburgh, here you’ll find some instagrammable spots as well. Next stop is Royal Yacht Britannia which is literally the floating palace. With a comprehensive audio guide, you will get to explore the royal apartments, engine rooms and the royal history behind it. You may allow an hour and a half for this stop. The yacht is accessible through Ocean Terminal Shopping Centre where you can also grab a bite or do some shopping after the tour. We then went to the Palace of Holyroodhouse which is the Queen’s official residence in Edinburgh. Here you will discover much about the Scottish royal history. I love learning about these royal history whenever I visit these places even though most of the time, I would not even relate. 😀 Just outside the palace is the Holyrood Park which gives tourists the best access to our next destination, Arthur’s Seat. It is an ancient volcano which if you would hike up the peak will give you a magnificent view of the city. We only went halfway though as the path was really muddy due to heavy rains the day before. Almost worn out from our jam-packed itinerary, we walked to Royal Mile from Holyrood. While walking, we stumbled upon Museum of Edinburgh, a very small museum showing history of the city through the years. To wrap up our day, we walked Princes  Street, Edinburgh’s shopping centre for some window shopping 🙂

Exploring more of Edinburgh on Day 3
On day 3, we hopped on the green bus for the Edinburgh Tour. This hop on/hop off bus is my favourite because the live tour guide makes it more interesting. During the tour we stopped by Calton Hill, you can take a little hike here as well for a view of the city from the top. Next on our list is the Edinburgh Castle. This place is massive! Took us 2 hours to see all that is inside. It could really be crowded though, so you might need to go in early to avoid too many tourists. After the castle, we walked to Victoria Street for a snap along the colourful strip of buildings which is definitely mandatory when you visit Edinburgh. We had lunch at Oink, which is the best pulled pork sandwich I have ever tasted! In fact, we ate there again before we traveled back to the airport the next day. We walked further to see Grassmarket which has a lot of pubs and restaurants as well. From the ghost tour we had on day 1, we learned about some haunted establishments along this strip. Next to visit is Greyfriars Kirkyard, rarely you would include graveyards on your city break itineraries but this, is one to see. We were supposed to go here during the ghost tour but due to heavy rains, it was closed to tourists. Across the street is the statue of Greyfriars Bobby’s statue, the most famous dog in Scotland who spent the rest of his life sitting on his master’s grave. After meeting Bobby, we then headed to the National Museum of Scotland. One thing I love about the UK is that most of the museums are free and very well maintained. This one is my favourite. It is huge! We spent around an hour and a half wandering inside. They have great stuff to keep kids occupied too. After a day of exploring this wonderful city, we headed back to Royal Mile, probably our favourite part of the city, for some souvenir shopping. When in Edinburgh, must buys are wool and cashmere scarves and shortbread. 🙂

Our last hurrah before heading back
I don’t know what it is with me and the weather but whenever we travel, it is always raining. But that did not stop us running around the city to see some more sites remaining on our list. We headed back to the city centre and went to the Museum of Childhood. It is interesting as we rarely museums showcasing toys from old times to present. Again, free admission which is great! We then went back to see St Giles Cathedral, we walked passed this during the ghost tour but I am dying to see what is inside. I love seeing cathedral architecture and this one did not disappoint, you have to pay though to take pictures of the interior. Next on the list is the Scottish Parliament. Tough security coming in, but honestly not much to see unless you are really into politics. I admire the building architecture though especially the outside. We had lunch then walked our way back to our hotel. Our last stop, Scottish National Gallery. I am not really an art fan but I get to it to see these galleries when we travel because sometimes you get to see some amazing stuff. This one is definitely smaller than the National Gallery in London. Having ticked all in our list, we walked back to our hotel to grab our luggage and travel to the airport.

There are still a lot to see in Edinburgh such as other national galleries, the Dean Village, the Edinburgh zoo, 3 Bridges tour and  Loch Ness tour from Edinburgh which is something to look forward to on our next visit. 🙂 Thank you for reading!