Day in Edinburgh

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Hello. I've just booked flights from Dublin to Edinburgh for the day on a whim for myself & my 2 grown up kids. It's a Saturday in August.
We all adore Edinburgh but haven't been for over 10 years I'd say so I've booked to fly over at 6am & home around 10pm.
Anyway I'm wondering if you can give me advice on what we can do. We'll arrive & have breakfast & then lunch & dinner later in the day & will have to be back at the airport by 8pm so not really loads of time but any suggestions would be welcome.
My only ideas are the hop on hop off buses which we've done in London & loved, and maybe Edinburgh castle?
Thank

That's peak festival time so it's going to be absolutely heaving. As it's for the day I'd just soak up the atmosphere and enjoy the street performers. Maybe and get tickets for a mid day show. Definitely try and book a table for somewhere to eat now as you'll find it hard to get walk ins.

Festival will be very busy. Worth checking the origramme as events happen all day, all over. Royal Yacht and Botanic Gardens are slightly out of town and on the hop on, hop off bus routes.

Omg I had no idea there was a festival on! That's even better.
Ok great I'll get booking restaurants now. Any recommendations?

There will be a great atmosphere but definitely book all your meals in advance .
Mary Kings Close is really interesting and it’s on theRoyal Mile where there will be lots of street performers. ( and millions of tourists)

Ok thanks a mil for the replies so far. I'm currently googling restaurants to book.

Walk up the Royal Mile and enjoy the street theatre. The castle is at the top but I wouldn't bother with it as it'll be heaving. There's usually a craft market outside the National Gallery, a short walk from Waverley Station. You have Princes Street gardens too. If it's wet, a visit to Chamber Street Museum is good. Now known as National Museum of Scotland, I think.

A walk round Dean Village is lovely and not that far from Princes Street.
(google it, its so beautiful with a walk by the river too).

Thanks again. Lots to work with there.

Ok I've managed to book a place called Amarone for our dinner. It gets good reviews & looks nice.

Don't know if there's anywhere I can book for breakfast but at least we have dinner covered lol

I love Amerone. It's a nice building, good location and the food is pretty solid Italian fare. It's very dependable.

Loads of places do breakfast. I love Dishoom for a bacon naan.

We've eaten at Amarone, good value and location

Edinburgh Larder just off the Royal Mile is the best for breakfast!

So glad our dinner place is recommended.

I'll have a look at breakfast places.

I haven't told the kids I've done this. Just made sure they were both free on the 24th August & then booked it.
I've never done this before so they're going to think I'm mad but the flights were too cheap to let go.

If it's a Saturday during Edinburgh Festival I wouldn't be looking at getting the hop on hop on buses as you will spend most of your time stationary in a sea of pedestrians 😂. I would enjoy walking around and soaking up the atmosphere. Royal Mile, Victoria Street, Grassmarket, Princes Street Gardens all worth a wander. Or join one of the many walking tours.

You could look up the Ed Fringe schedule and book some shows but you can also chance it and take a flyer off someone (performers are often desperately pamphletting for their own shows to fill seats). No guarantee of quality however!

If you're keen on the Castle I imagine you will have to book tickets as soon as.

It really is, the breakfasts are fantastic with great ingredients. Definitely book though or you have to queue outside until a table is free

I can't get over you not knowing about the Edinburgh festival 😂. If you had tried to book an overnight stay you would soon have realised. It will be fab with grown up kids though. I've not been to Amarone in Edinburgh but the one is Glasgow is lovely.

You could look for any shows to book that day, but if the weather is dry then just wandering down the central section of the royal mile/tron square is great entertainment with all the street entertainers.

Get off the tram from airport at the stop just before the Mound (hill just after the castle with road winding up into the old town). Walk up the other side of the art gallery and up the steps.

You hit the royal mile at top of that. You could also go straight on and see greyfriars Bobby/churchyard - as I kid I loved the story of the dog. These days it's overrun with Harry Potter fans. Next to that is the museum of Scotland which is free and always worth a visit.

When you are at Amarone it's back over at St Andrew's square - near another tram stop. You could combine being there with climbing the Scott's monument - be warned it's very steep and very narrow at the last part - not for those who don't like heights or small spaces but so worth it for the view.

That'll be so much fun. I love Edinburgh. Last time we went, we did an underground vaults tour which was something we hadn't done there before. Just something a bit different for an hour or so. I'm sure you'll have a great time whatever you end up doing.

Ok tried to book Edinburgh Larder for breakfast but I can only book 90 days in advance so I've put a reminder in my phone to do it.

Walk down the Royal Mile and through Holyrood park and up Arthur's Seat, cracking view from up there.

You could maybe try a best of the fest type show. There’s usually one around 12.

Sorry just seen all the other replies.

I know, I had no idea about the festival hahaha. I just booked on a whim lol.

Some excellent advice though & recommendations on here so thank you all.

Yeah I think you're right about the hop on hop off. I think once we have the food booked (most important obvs!!) then we'll wing the rest of the day.

We have to be at Dublin airport at 6:35am and arrive back in Dublin near midnight. Then an hours drive home.

We'll sleep all day Sunday :-)

Go to the viewing area at the top of the W hotel in the St James Quarter. There are also bars there. It is a fantastic 360 view of the whole city and over the Forth to Fife.

Updated to say I now have Edinburgh larder booked for breakfast so we have breakfast & dinner sorted. I'm assuming there'll be food trucks & stalls & ice cream that we can have instead of a sit down lunch?

I can't recall seeing food trucks etc. Even though it's the festival it's an actual contained event as such, it's spread out all over Edinburgh City centre. If you have a decent lunch you'll probably be able to just grab something as a take away for lunch. There's loads of options.