Edinburgh day trip

[Jasmine4891]

Hello,
I would appreciate any help to plan my day trip to Edinburgh in early August.

I'm going with 3 teens and I will be driving.
So far I have the following:
Camera Obscura
Walk on Royal Mile to look at castle/canon fire
Real Mary King
Britannia
Walk up Carlton Hill for views

Would love some feedback on whether this is feasible, order preference for activities, and whether there are other things more suited for 3 teens. Additionally, any advice on driving/parking would be super helpful too.

(Also, is Edinburgh the home of battered choc bars, if so, any vegetarian friendly recommendations?)

Thank you!

That's Fringe festival time FYA. Going to be rammed!

Park and ride for the car.

You would be wise to book any restaurants to ensure seats.

Enjoy!

Thank you GinBooksChocs, had heard about the festival but wasn't sure what it was and didn't realise I planned my Edinburgh day trip in the very first week of it.
After your post, I googled it and was quite interested. So have decided to do two days in Edinburgh, one late July to enjoy the activities mentioned in original post, and one beginning of August to sample a day at Fringe. I will be in Scotland for the full week anyway.
Thanks again!

Fabulous! Enjoy!

I’d recommend doing a guided tour of the tunnels under the Royal Mile and the Planet Earth Museum.

My advice is to get the train from wherever you’re staying.

Mary kings close and camera obscure are all very close together so I'd advise getting the tram down to Britannia first then getting off the tram on York Place and heading up Carlton Hill then from there go to royal mile.

It might be too full a schedule though, if I was to drop one it would maybe be the yacht just because it's a little out of the way compared to your other plans

Which direction are you coming from? There's free parking (rarer than hen's teeth elsewhere in Edinburgh but do check if there's a time limit on it) at Ocean Terminal where the Royal Yacht Britannia is so it might be easier to start there then take the tram into the city centre to do the other attractions. I'm not sure how much the yacht will appeal to teens though.

Do Park & Ride, a lot easier than trying to find the elusive parking space in the city. Or take a train if you can in the first place.

If you have still a Harry Potter mad teen, DD loved the cemetery with Tom Riddle’s head stone.

I would swap the yacht with Edinburgh Castle.

Mary King’s Close is great

There is no limit on the free parking at Ocean Terminal (for Britannia) and the tram stop is right outside. Buy tickets from the machine at the stop before you get on the tram.

Which direction are you coming from? You can park in one of the suburbs (outside the residents parking zones) and then get a bus.

If your teens are fans of gaming, there's a new gaming exhibition on at the National Museum of Scotland, called Game On. Might be one you have to book in advance.

Thanks for confirming, I didn't think there was a limit but I haven't used it recently. That seems like a no brainer then if the OP wants to visit Britannia anyway.

Thank you so much for all the replies!
Got lots of info to plan trip thoroughly now.
Thank you especially for all the transport options and the additional areas of interest such as gaming exhibition, HP linked cemetery and Edinburgh Castle. I had planned to visit Stirling castle on a different day, so was going to give Edinburgh Castle a miss, although on some level it feels wrong to go to Edinburgh and not visit the castle.
I will be travelling from Glasgow, it sounds like it might be worth taking train to Edinburgh instead of car.
Thank you justanotherlaura for pointing out the full schedule, will make a priority list to make it easier to drop things due to time constraints.

The National Museum of Scotland is an absolute must see. It helps you understand Scottish culture which puts the rest of Edinburgh into context. Holyrood Palace is a must see too.

Thank you TizerorFizz, will check them out online. So much to to see, so little time!