1 day and night in Edinburgh-what are the must sees

[QuebecBagnet]

I’ve never been and am driving past so have decided to book a night. In the middle of the festival! I’m not that fussed (I don’t think) about the festival.

its just me, no kids. Will get there early one morning, stay centrally and leave lunchtime the following day.

i’m more interested in nice buildings/architecture/maybe a bit of shopping if there’s a nice area of independent shops, pretty streets to wander about in and soak up the atmosphere. Is the castle worth a visit or will it take too much time for such a short visit? I’m in Stirling the week before and was planning on probably going to Stirling castle.

I would probably recommend jumping on one of the many open top bus tours, this would let you see the highlights quite efficiently. I would give the castle a miss, especially if you will be going to Stirling.
You will not be able to avoid the festival if you are in the centre of town. You could spend the afternoon on a stroll down the Royal Mile (will be packed with people) or go across to the New Town, which would be less crowded, and take a look round Stockbridge for independent shops. Wherever you go there will be festival stuff going on, so the best advice is probably to just throw yourself into that atmosphere. Any other atmosphere that Edinburgh has for the rest of the year is overwhelmed by the festival. Book somewhere to eat well ahead of time if you want a nice restaurant. The Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street is lovely and probably a little bit calmer than its surroundings at that time of year.

Thanks, I like the idea of a bus tour. Will definitely check Stocksbridge out too.

If you’re staying centrally make sure you’ve got parking at your accommodation or be prepared to leave you car on a park & ride on the outskirts.
l’d wander down the royal mile, walk up Calton Hill (easier than Arthur’s seat and still great views), head along Princes Street then down to Dean Village, walk along the water of leith to Stockbridge, take the obligatory instagram photo on Circus Lane, walk through the botanic gardens and then back up through canonmills and Broughton Street to the city centre.

Bus tour, you can hop on hop off at the main sites(you can get a ticket to mix the routes). Botanic gardens are good to escape the crowds, Holyrood park and Arthur's seat, museum of Scotland with viewing platform on the roof, walk up the Royal Mile to see street performances even if you dodge the actual Festival. Where are you planning to stay?

Holyrood
Royal Mile
St Giles Cathedral
Edinburgh Castle
Grassmarket
Princes Street (altho the quality of the shops has dropped dramatically), especially for the Scottish National Gallery
If you get the bus tour, you can go to the Royal Yacht Britannia

But you'd probably need 2 or 3 days to see all of that, and everything will be very busy during the Festival.

Thanks everyone. I’m staying in Edinburgh central youth hostel and have booked a central secure car park.

Calton Hill is not far from there and there are plenty of places to eat in the York Place/St Andrews Square area although you may need to book at peak times. The tour buses pick up in St Andrews Square.

I'm from Edinburgh and walking the royal mile would be lovely for what you're interested in. Holyrood, st Giles, old architecture, castle. It's a lovely area.

ok, so change my route above slightly if you're starting from the youth hostel - you can get up Calton Hill from near the junction of London Road / Blenheim Place / Leith Walk, then come down onto Waterloo Place, and then head to the Royal Mile. I'd get to the Royal Mile as early as possible before it gets too busy. The section between North Bridge and George IV Bridge is taken over by street performers during the festival and it becomes just a solid mass of people later in the day.
Which car park have you booked? You couldn't pay me enough money to drive to anywhere near the Youth Hostel at the moment, there's tram works which might have gone by August next year but don't hold your breath and the roads are horrendous!

The car park is the Q park on Quartermile. So maybe not very close to the youth hostel but in walking distance

I’d recommend the Catacombs tour which was amazing.

That car park is quite a way from the youth hostel! I'm all for walking places but it's about a mile and a half away so not particularly convenient if you've got luggage, and the city will be busy to walk around. Although it's a bit easier to get into than the one near the YH.

no visit to Edinburgh is complet until you have seen Greyfriars Bobby
Edinburgh castle - has the most incredible views and chock full of history
gladstones land - one of the oldest buildings on the High Street

I’ll only have a tiny overnight rucksack, I’m leaving everything else in the car. I probably won’t go straight from the car to the youth hostel and will just carry my rucksack round with me all day. Literally taking spare knickers a T-shirt and deodorant.

We've recently spent 2 days in Edinburgh and walked miles - 12 on day 1 to be precise!
We went to the Castle, St Giles, Greyfriars Bobby, Calton Hill, walked the Royal Mile down to Holyrood (but didn't go in) Portrait Gallery, and we also booked tickets to see Royal Yacht Britannia - which we found really interesting - although you need to get the bus out to Leith which goes all around the houses. Not sure when the tram extension is due to be finished!

Greyfriars bobby is hardly a must see

Is the military tattoo worth seeing?

I did love that film as a kid 😁

I really enjoyed the Royal Yacht Britannia. The rest of Edinburgh I was meh about.

Is that the SYHA hostel? I stayed there. It was lovely. And a better standard than most hostels. Walking distance to everything. It was a few years ago though..

not in my opinion!

The hostel is on Haddington place? Says it’s a Hostelling Scotland one. Ten min walk from Waverley station. Looks central

I'm going to go against the grain and say skip the bus tour, in August you'll spend most of the time in traffic and not see much. Walking tour all the way.

Please don't rub Bobby's nose.

This one? www.hostellingscotland.org.uk/hostels/edinburgh-central/
It used to be SYHA, i think they might have rebranded.

Visited Edinburgh recently and spent all day on the Royal Mile with a quick march back through the gardens to catch the last bus! Too much to see! Castle views lovely. St Giles lovely. New scottish parliament building blew my socks off. The thing that held me up was the street entertainers - love them too much. Next day went to Britannia which was a good but a bit cramped with coach tour visitors on a tight schedule rushing round. Have a list of things to do next time including Princes Gardens, Museum with the Lewis chessmen and Holyrood. Enjoy your visit.