9 hours in Edinburgh...

[Couldhavebeenme2]

On a Sunday, mid-morning to early evening, we have Castle tickets for midday. On foot/very local taxi only.

Hit me with unusual/very scottish/child-free things to do/places to eat that don't include haggis

Thanks!

Royal Yacht Britannia

Balmoral hotel - spa, afternoon tea

The Royal Yacht is fascinating; you can absolutely see why why Charles and Di's honeymoon was a stinker!
Scottish National Gallery. Gladstone's Land and the specialist food/sex tours. (New haggis-free ice cream parlour there, too.)
The ghost tour that takes you under the Old Town.
The Castle would be quite low on my list, I did go years ago but it doesn't stand out in my mind. Impressive from afar but there's more interesting places to visit.

It would be a very tight agenda with castle at midday to also try to squeeze in Royal Yacht Britannia as well. I'd maybe opt for Botanic Gardens after castle maybe. Can you change timing for castle - makes more sense if you go there when you first arrive, then you can lunch on the Royal Mile ( The Witchery does a lovely posh lunch and is right beside the castle - but you'll need to book).

The Castle would be quite low on my list, I did go years ago but it doesn't stand out in my mind. Impressive from afar but there's more interesting places to visit.

I agree with @katy1213 here, but you’ve booked the tickets now.

I don’t think you have time to go to the royal yacht and botanics if you’re going to the castle at mid day. I’d walk up Calton hill, admire the view over the city, head down towards Holyrood, stick your head in the gates at the palace and see the parliament building then work your way up the royal mile to the castle, maybe wander down some of the closes along the way or pop into St Giles cathedral. Then depending on how much time you’ve got when you leave the castle maybe head down to the grassmarket and back up Victoria street or along to visit Greyfriars Bobby. Classic tourist trail but having the castle booked in the middle of the day doesn’t really allow you to go much further afield.

Agree with Emma, I would stick to the old town and have time for sitting in cafes (or hopefully outside of them) in the grass market etc.