Anyone with tips for my surprise trip to Edinburgh for my husband?

[MrsHelenBee]

Hi everyone,

I'm looking to organise a surprise long weekend in Edinburgh at the end of October for my husband.

Neither my husband nor I have ever been to Scotland, so I'd love some recommendations for where to stay, the best places to go, good restaurants, maybe good car hire companies etc.

I'm hoping to explore the city, but we're also very much 'escape to the countryside' people, so any tips on where to go for walks and views would be great.

I haven't got megabucks to spend, but I'd like us to have a really lovely hotel.

Any ideas or tips would be great as I'm one for recommendations, rather than booking blind!

Sign up to itison and the Edinburgh section of groupon. Loads of good deals for nice restaurants and hotels. If you are here at the beginning of October Oktoberfest is happening in Princes Street Gardens.

I love Pomegranate at the top of leith walk Burger Meats Bun on Forth Street for lunch/dinner.

As others have said Arthurs Seat is a wonderful way to view the city and the botanics are great and free except for the hot houses (I think). If you are up at the very end of October there are night time events there where they light the place up with masses of different coloured lights and it looks pretty spectacular.

If you like a night at the cinema The Dominion in Morningside is a great wee independent with reclining sofas one of my favourite places.

The weekend of the 23rd there is a Gin Festival at the Corn Exchange (you'll find me there on the Friday).

It is a great city to just wonder around. Bring comfortable shoes. Hope you enjoy it.

Oh and if you are veggie Pomegranate is perfect. I go there often with a vegan friend as they have loads of stuff that both of us can stuff ourselves with and it BYOB.

yes, I am not the best at remembering but I did do some deals for stuff in London last year - I'm a bit of a wimp at phoning up and telling them I have a voucher etc and also those where you have to use it in a specified timeframe and there night not be availability so I tend to go for the more straightforward offers where you just need to show the voucher to get the discount or where you can book on-line :)

I get emailed the Amazon local offers for Edinburgh but whilst it's only an hour away, when i go to Edinburgh it's usually to visit family rather than to do stuff.

They also have a Cat Cafe - "Maison de Chat" down in the Grassmarket if you like fluffy things.

RumAppleGinger - BYOB?!!!! Wow, that's so great. Not had that experience since I was in Australia and New Zealand over ten years ago.
We'll be there, all going well, 29th October to 1st November as our anniversary's on 30th. Shame to miss the other events though, they would have been great fun!

David Bann's is excellent, veggie food but high end stuff. Henderson's is a big favourite of mine too, all veggie or vegan and very lovely - I'm not veggie but go there regularly.

I hijacked re veggie
I posted to say DW going to Edinburgh just after you
I am going to hold your coat tails and watch this thread!!

I can't bold your name
Sorry x

You definately do not need a car for a long weekend. Edinburgh has a mountain in the the middle of the city so you can easily get outdoorsy on foot. Add in Calton hill too and i think you will be fine on foot for a long weekend.

Trop advisor or a search of the Guardian and Independent websites would be my first port of call re hotel. Lots of new ones have sprung up recently. I would stay right in the centre of town - somewhere new and hip.

Get the tram in from the airport.
Portrait gallery is a favourite of mine.
Walk, eat and drink lots!

I'll third or fourth or whatever it's up to now David Banns...it's really nice, I've been with meat eaters who rate it as well.

If you want proper countryside then head for the pentlands you can bus it there as well...you might be better off with limited time to stick to the city, but if you do go, it's worth it.

You could go skiing at Hillend (on the Pentland Hills) or snow boarding if that's your thing :) You can get a No4 bus from town right there.

Im not sure what your budget is OP but a quick look at your dates has come up with this place which seems really good value - stylewise looks like something between a Premier Inn and a posh Boutique place but it is dead in the centre of Edinburgh - the tram would take you really close too.

www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Hotel_Review-g186525-d6227015-Reviews-Ibis_Styles_Edinburgh_Centre_St_Andrew_Square-Edinburgh_Scotland.html

In case it doesn't show from the link, it was coming up at under £100 a night including breakast and the kind of place you could come down in your jeans etc for breakfast.

The Glasshouse is on a deal at £455 for the 3 nights presume with no breakfast though.

silver-fish.hubpages.com/hub/Cheap-Edinburgh-how-to-have-a-budget-Vacation-in-Scotland

silver-fish.hubpages.com/hub/Hunting-for-Ghosts-in-Edinburgh

silver-fish.hubpages.com/hub/Visiting-Edinburgh-for-a-Summer-Vacation

Go to the Kitchin for lunch. Stupendously good value.

We went to a fab burger restuarant when we were through earlier in the year for DH to run the marathon. It was on the royal mile I will see if I can find it. Id recommend it for lunch when you look up and down from the parliament to teh castle. There's a great cupcake shop on there too. Brb if I can find them.

Found them!

It's burgers and beers and Then mimis bake house.

You should google "53 reasons to live in Edinburgh"

If you want veggie/Vegan but your with a carnivore then the Bread Street Brasserie always has options for all (except the once a month Vegan day).

I was reading this when dh announced that he was looking at train prices to Edinburgh for my birthday in November. What a coincidence! We've just booked tickets to go over the weekend of 6th November. I can't wait. I'm going to save this thread for tips for restaurants.

We went to Edinburgh for a few days for a mini-honeymoon.

We ate at The Witchery, it was lovely but it is quite touristy if that makes sense (though we were tourists too!). Service very formal/OTT but the food was lovely. And plenty of people looked quite casual.

We stayed here, which was a pretty good choice I think - nice location etc: www.theroxburghe.com (The only downside was that when we checked out they tried to charge us for the chocolates and wine our parents had arranged for us on arrival! It was sorted out quite swiftly though.)

You can get the tram from the airport into town. Don't think it's very expensive. Certainly cheaper than a taxi

The airport bus is quicker and cheaper.

lovecrumbs cake shop in West Port is fabulous. It's a pity it's opposite and beside 2 strip clubs - thanks to Edinburgh Council's unspeakable policy of treating the commercial exploitation of sex as a valid career option. Made all the worse here due to the fact that although West Port is less than a minute from the Usher Hall and the Lyceum Theatre it is actually a residential area.

If you ignore the strip clubs there are some interesting shops and cafés in this area and The Double Tree by Hilton hotel helps to mitigate the nastiness of the clubs.