Edinburgh

[ginislife]

Best central hotel please. Ideally with a spa. Reasonable cost as I looked at The Balmoral but too expensive for 3 nights

Also best restaurant please. Unlimited budget for this as I'd love to go to a Michelin starred place

Do you have to book to go into attractions ? What's happening with restrictions ? We're going on 9 August

Thanks all

Book for everything. Museum, Botanical Gardens, Holyrood Palace and the Castle are open, but all must be pre-booked. It's school holiday time up here so many places are busy. I do hope you enjoy your holiday.

Thanks @Gothichouse40 is Holyrood House worth a visit ? I've never been. What are the absolute must see/do's please ? I've been to Edinburgh twice but not done many of the sights although I did go on Britannia last time which I really enjoyed

Museum of Scotland and the art galleries (portrait, National Gallery)
Lots of the smaller museums are really good - Makars' Court, Museum of Childhood, Surgeon's Hall
Botanical Gardens
Picnic in Princes Street Gardens
Views from Calton Hill if Arthur's Seat is a bit of a slog.
Walk to Duddingston Loch
Wandering round the new town - Circus Lane and Ann Street are particularly lovely.
Independent shops (great charity shops) and good cafes and restaurants in Stockbridge/Dean Village.

We’ve just eaten at number 1 at the Balmoral and it was amazing.

Edinburgh wasn’t much fun though: Covid rules everywhere, places shut, booking needed. It was pretty dismal apart from the dinner there.

The Kimpton on Charlotte Square has a spa. I’ve stayed in the olden days when it was the Roxburghe.

@WouldBeGood

We’ve just eaten at number 1 at the Balmoral and it was amazing.

Edinburgh wasn’t much fun though: Covid rules everywhere, places shut, booking needed. It was pretty dismal apart from the dinner there.

That’s a shame. We were there a couple of weeks ago and had an amazing time but we did book and plan. Plenty of people around. A good vibe and it just felt lovely being out and about.

I’m not a planner @areyouadogperson!

With hindsight, shouldn’t have bothered until all this pish stops.

Dd had a lovely time too, but again they planned, her bf also proposed to her at their favourite place, the zoo, 21212 was actually their celebration lunch.
Although they spent three nights, since they're only in Glasgow its day trip distance so they've been loads of times.

@WouldBeGood that's part of my problem. I'm not usually a planner but I'm going with someone I don't know that well but who I know we will just have such a laugh so I feel the need to make sure we do stuff. However I don't feel we can just shop for 3 days !! Lol

Re shopping, @ginislife there were queues outside lots of shops - certainly in the new st James centre. Even H&M and Zara! Nuts.

I was in the St James Quarter yesterday, no queues outside shops, I think it was just the novelty when they first opened. Might be different at the weekend, of course.

Don’t have a picnic in the gardens. As lovely as it sounds, the seagulls are vicious and they will swoop and steal food out of your hands.

@scaffoldingtheworld luckily I'm not a picnic person 😂

Holyrood Palace is worth a visit in my opinion, you can pay a bit extra and it will include the exhibition at the Queen's Gallery. At the moment the exhibition is Queen Victoria and Prince Albert- Our Lives in Watercolour, if that interests you. It's a timed ticket booking system. Holyrood Palace has it's own website. My other personal favourites are National Museum of Scotland and the Botanical Gardens, both free, both have a timed ticket system. Look at the websites for more information.

Another good way of seeing the city is the Edinburgh Tour Bus ( red). Thats a good way to see the city if you are time limited and it's a hop on/ hop off, much like York or London has. It also has it's own website, so have a look there.

@Gothichouse40 thanks. You reminded me to book bus tickets ! I love a sightseeing bus. Now need to work out what else we book for if there's still tickets

No queues in St James centre on Saturday apart from the Lego shop

[quote ginislife]@Gothichouse40 thanks. You reminded me to book bus tickets ! I love a sightseeing bus. Now need to work out what else we book for if there's still tickets [/quote]
The bus is fun. Also know that you can tap your debit card on the normal Lothian buses, and like London they will only charge you the maximum of £4 odd for a day ticket.

The sightseeing buses seem pretty empty these days, so you probably don't need to book in advance unless you want to.