Edinburgh next week - what do you recommend?

[ShowOfHands]

We are off to Edinburgh next week with 8yo DS and 13yo DD. I haven't been for years and am aware that things are different right now. What do you recommend? We like walking, history, culture. DD is desperate to see the city under the city but there are eleventy billion tour operators online. Anybody used one?

Also, we are staying centrally but there's no parking. Is there a good, secure, reasonably priced car park?

We're happy to drive further afield too.

We are all stocked up on face masks and sanitiser and will be adhering to guidelines 100%. Decent walks off the beaten track are right up our street and we will be avoiding places that are likely to be too busy.

If it’s open the Museum of Scotland is worth a visit and it’s free.
We ate brunch in the Elephant cafe which is worth a visit if you have any Harry Potter fans.

I prefer Edinburgh zoo to any others that I've been too and having been to a local zoo recently they had organised SD really well, plus zoos really need our support now.

Camera obscura museum is worth a visit

I have to say Edinburgh zoo is the best one I've visited. Very hilly though!

Lots of things including the zoo you need to pre-book for at the moment. Was booked quite far ahead when I last looked.

Restaurants too.

Parking in city centre is tricky- where is your hotel?

Definitely wall up Carlton hill
Mary kings close if it’s open
A ghost tour
Museum good if it’s open
Stockbridge market on a Sunday

Not sure if they are currently open but:

Museum of Scotland is excellent
Near to Elephant and many other good Cafes
Greyfriars Bobby and Kirkyard (for HP name spotting)
Lots of good stuff to see just walking around the Grassmarket, Victoria Street, University areas

Walk up Arthur's Seat (esp at sunrise)
Scottish Parliament buildings
Dynamic Earth
Walk up the Royal Mile, past the Law Courts to The Castle

Princes Street Gardens
Head north to the Botanic Gardens
Have lunch in Stockbridge Village

Head down to Leith and have lunch / poke around the Village
Jump on the trams out to the airport / zoo areas?
Cant help on car parking, sorry

Calton Hill is good for a nice short walk up to a good viewpoint.

Also for walks and views, there’s obviously Arthur’s Seat.

Modern Galleries aren’t open yet but their grounds are open and good to walk around with a few sculptures and at the moment there is a takeaway cafe van out front with coffee/cake/ice cream. Depending on where you’re staying you could walk along Waters of Leith walkway to get to them.

Agree the zoo is good if you can book a spot.

I second Mary kings close if it's open, probably the best way to see the underground city.

I don't know how long you can park at the park and rides but I would be tempted to do that and just get the bus into the city if there aren't restrictions.

We loved the open top bus tour when we went.

Beware, licensing laws are different and you may struggle to find a pub to take the kids into. We did.

For eating Soderberg is open with indoor/outdoor seating on Lister Square which is near the Meadows - v nice Swedish cafe.

Also for eating - the Fishmarket at Newhaven does truly excellent fish and chips - I don’t think their sit in restaurant is open but they have a few outside tables to sit down with takeaway and it’s a nice spot looking out over the water if you have a warm evening. Think you might need to book a slot (haven’t been since lockdown).

I believe the park and rides carparks are shut overnight to stop holidaymakers using it for free parking. The NCP on Castle Street will work out cheaper than on road meters if you book ahead.

Camera Obscura if it's open, good fun for all ages!

We loved Camera Obscura, the Earth Centre (sorry can’t remember the name!) We also did a brilliant whole day tour up to Loch Ness. We were gone for 12 hours but DS who was 7 at the time loved it.
For food we loved Makars Gourmet Mash

Fish mart is great, you needed to preorder online during lockdown don’t know if that’s changed yet.

Also recommend civerinos, ting Thai caravan (cash only), the basement for eating with teens and the pantry for brunch

We are staying just off Princes St.

I'm going to look into all of these suggestions immediately. We have booked Mary Kings Close already.

DD would love the zoo, just to see a panda. I'll check out if they have slots.

Pubs won't be a problem really as we aren't pub goers tbh. We're teetotal for a start.

We went to Loch Ness on honeymoon 😍

The Castle
Royal Yacht Britannia (it's a bus ride away in Leith).

Some excellent ideas mentioned.
Royal botanic gardens is lovely, you need to book at the moment.
I’ve heard good things about the Harry Potter escape room, department of magic and its open.
Water of leith walkway and walk round Stockbridge.
Walk round Edinburgh university George square campus (won’t take you long but buildings like Mcewan hall are nice to look at).
Jupiter Artland sculpture park.
Further afield, St. Andrews for the day (walk along beach, Balgove Steak barn is good to eat just outside at Andrews). There is a fife pilgrim way, lots of walks they have a website.

Anything Harry Potter related is a good shout. We're all huge fans.

Booked the zoo! They only had one morning slot left. Glad you prodded me in that direction.

DD is quite keen on going to uni in St Andrews so could be a good day trip.

I'm reading through procedures/cost/availability of other places right now.

I can't wait!

We did a couple of days in Glasgow and a couple of days in Edinburgh for the European championships a couple of years ago. The journey between the two was quick and easy by train, the Glasgow science Centre was brilliant but very hands on so not sure if it's open now. We also spent a day at the brae head Intu centre, we ignored the shops and did a sledging session at Snowfactor, we don't tend to get snow where we are so Dd loved it, we also did the high ropes activity and DD did a session at the chocolate factory and made lots of goodies. Worth a visit if you have a spare day.

We didn't have much time in Edinburgh between sports but we did the zoo which was brilliant, I'd never seen a panda or koala in person before. We also did Arthur's seat which has a mazing views and is a relatively easy walk as there are well established pathways.

Just wandering around Edinburgh is an experience as the architecture is so different to other areas of the UK.

North Berwick on a nice day is lovely. Beautiful beach. They've restarted boat trips from the Scottish Seabird Centre out to the bass rock to see the puffins and gannets. You need to wear a mask and definitely book ahead as they've reduced capacity on their boats. We really enjoyed it. The gannets on the Bass Rock are quote a sight.

There were no public loos open tho.

The water of leith is an incredible walk right through the city centre - stopping at a Dean Village, Stockbridge and ending in Leith...lots to see and very unusual way to see Edinburgh, highly recommend...google it I think there's a website.

Portobello beach crammond island pentland hills for walks. Further afield is the Kelpies ( big horse statues) near Grangemouth ( about 40 mins drive) and Falkirk Wheel ( canal lift- not sure if back open yet). St Andrew's is lovely, but so are many of the East neuk coastal villages, Anstruther, pittenween etc.

Explore the many steep closes (passageways) running off high street, the News steps up from the station are famous too. The Royal college of surgeons has an anatomy museum which may have reopened, fascinating but a bit gruesome! The Piemaker on North bridge is a good snack place. John Knox s house has a small museum ( may not be open yet). The parliament building is unusual, at the foot of Royal Mile.