Edinburgh

[HermioneWeasley]

We are going to be staying in a hotel outside Edinburgh for a few days and driving in. Day one will definitely be royal mile and mooching (open to ideas for day 2 - kids aged 10and 14).

Where do you think we’d be best off parking? Is there a park and ride?

Thanks

Photo!

Camera Obscura and Mary King's Close are good shouts for that age and the Edinburgh Dungeons if they're brave! I'm very fond of the Museum of Childhood but at 10 and 14 that might not suit your kids.

Day 1: do Edinburgh. Use the 31. Buy a family day ticket (about £8) then you can ride around town and do it for less than the price of all the individual tickets). Don't park and ride, just use the buses - it's what people who live here do. NMS is great and free. Mary kings Close is good. Wandering around the old town is fun. Up Arthur's seat on a good day. Calton hill is good for free views going across the town. Castle and Hollyrood are dear unless you're really into history. Camera Obscura is great fun with kids and almost worth the money.

Day 2: sod Edinburgh. Take the car down the coast to North Berwick. Bird centre is good. You can take a boat out to see the puffins etc (check the time of year for what you'll see). Direlton castle is good to wander around, as is tantallon. You can walk the coast in either direction and get a bus back. Museum of flight (offshoot of nms) is nearby (east fortune).

Is you're going to go to multiple historic Scotland sites look into getting an annual membership - I think it pays off after 2 visits.

Agree. Camera Obscura, Mary King’s Close, the Museum. And you’re much better off looking at the castle from Princes Street than being in the castle and looking at Princes Street.

If it's rubbish weather, Ryze trampoline centre is good.

Love the suggestions, keep them com8mg.

We’re going to do Rosslyn on our last morning

North Berwick is beautiful. Bird centre good.

Plenty places to grab lunch.

Dalkeith country park also excellent. 14yr probably too old for the adventure park though. www.dalkeithcountrypark.co.uk/

Tantallon castle is good, bit further down the coast in Dunbar. Lots of fab countryside.

National museum of flight is an interesting day out. You can go onto Concorde. Town of Haddington is nearby lots of places for lunch. I'd recommend the loft bakery. You can park at the Tesco for 3hrs (or all day if you are lucky to get space in the long stay). Parking is free. You can combine with a walk along the river Tyne.

rosalyn is really interesting. I've lived in this part of Scotland all my life and I just learned a couple of weeks ago that it is still a working chapel! Visiting friends had to leave as a wedding was about to take place!

If horrible weather then you could head to Edinburgh butterfly and insect world, also a cinema at Fort Kinnaird retail park.

The buses are ridiculous. There is a bus stop every 10 m and people get on and off at each and every one. Less frustrating to just walk.

^^ This. God, it was horrendous.

To be fair I wanted to see the castle as my dad was stationed there when he was in the army. I did enjoy it though.

We enjoyed the zoo and the open top bus with DS who was 10. The camera was ok but the queue wasn’t.

We're doing the same this week, we planned the castle, Mary Kings, Camera Obscura and the zoo. Wondering now if the castle is worth the money, DH and I have done it and I wasn't that fussed but youngest would like it.

We went in half term last year.

• The National Museum is absolutely fantastic - we went twice.
• Red Bus Tour was fine for the first day - helpful to get our bearings and we could hop on and hop off.
• Camera Obscura was absolutely brilliant.
• We really enjoyed the Royal Yacht Brittania.

We mainly used taxies - there was a really nifty app that we downloaded - think it was called CityCabs - and we could order and pay for taxies at the time. It was cheraper for us as a family of 6 to do this than pay for bus tickets.

Thanks for all the advice, please feel free to keep adding!

Museum of Childhood is really good and free loads and loads of rooms and floors of old toys and games . Mimis Bakehouse does amazing cakes and is family friendly if you re stopping for a cake and coffee . There’s several of them dotted around the city .