Edinburgh Hop on bus

[finished31]

Do I need to pre book this or just find a deal in the day?

Used red citybus in different countries pre-Covid so looking for current info.

You can book on the day, just buy a ticket at one of the stops.

Thank you. We did that in London & Berlin. Wasn't sure if had changed since Covid.

There are several routes which you can mix and match, or just buy a ticket for a single route.

The online ones seem to
just be 24 hours. Ideally 48 would be better.

We used edinburghtour.com .

The online ones seem to
just be 24 hours. Ideally 48 would be better.

They have 48 hour tickets available. edinburghtour.com/tour-tickets/#multitoursticketspage

Thank you

You're welcome.

Edinburgh is a really small city (with very bad traffic), you might be better exploring on foot or taking a guided walking tour. If you wanted to get to some of the further afield places that the tour buses take you such as the botanic gardens or the royal yacht britannia then the local buses are very good and only £1.80 each way, £4.40 day ticket. I love a HOHO bus tour but I don't think it's really worth it in Edinburgh.

I really recommend the Three Bridges tour. It was excellent!

We did the tours very recently . There are different combo tickets you can buy. I don’t recommend the one that goes out to yacht brittania. It’s long, traffic was bad and you see the outside it the shopping center you don’t see Britannia. Would have been better to save our money and get a local bus there.

We only really have Monday and part of Tuesday to sightsee. Kids and DH want to go to the castle (although I might not go in) and Arthur's seat.

Reading some replies it might work out better to get day ticket on normal bus .

A Family day ticket (2 adults and up to 3 children) is only £9.50 . Much better value and you can make your own tour day for a lot cheaper

You don’t really need a bus to get to the castle or Arthur’s seat. How old are the kids? Arthur’s seat might not be suitable for them if they’re young. They might also like the national museum, dynamic earth and camera obscura.

I'm saying kids. My daughter is 21 whilst we are there, hence the trip and DS 17 😆

We are staying on the same rd as Premier Inn EH3 so not sure how far away places are to walk.

The family day ticket wouldn’t be much good to you then with adult children 😂

Google maps is your friend for walking distances! There’s lots of premier inns, which one is it?
ok, older kids might like the dungeons or Mary kings close.

It's not that far to walk if you're in the mood for it, but we did the combo bus tours when we were there. It was £16 for one adult to do one bus tour that you can hop on hop off or it was £20 per adult for all 3 tours. The tours are very good, I have to say, if you haven't been before, especially the one that has the tour guide but if you're just using it to get places then it's quite expensive.

Echo a pp in saying the yacht and botanical garden one is a bit crap though. I enjoyed the castle for the views but some people don't like it because it's primarily a military museum and not very interesting (to them). It also gets super busy so you're better off booking in advance. I also thought Mary Kings Close was a bit rubbish.

Just googled and we are 1/2 mile from the Castle so super close.

Thank you so much,

You really don't need a bus ticket - from that Premier Inn you're really well placed for walking to both the castle and Arthur's Seat. Would genuinely be far slower to get on a bus.

Edinburgh buses are 'tap, tap, cap' so you just need to tap a debit card when you get on. Make sure you tap the same card every time and the most you'll be charged is £4.40 a day.

From the castle, walk down the Royal Mile to Arthur's Seat, you absolutely don't want to take a bus for that! EH3 is super central which means it makes sense to walk most of the time, but great to just be able to hop on a bus.

Bring waterproofs - it's been pouring non-stop. And it's already pretty cold, it's 0 tonight. Let me know if you want other tips - if you're coming on Monday I'd research restaurants as a lot of places are closed on Mon/Tues right now because of Brexit staff shortages and high costs. Definitely worth booking.

think you’re in premier inn on lauriston place. Walk up the road (it’s on a bit of a hill, up is obvious), there’s a vc notice on the iron railings outside Heriot’s. Turn up the street on your left, keeping the tall wall on your right, and if you go straight on you’ll walk past the flodden wall, down the vennel steps and you’re down into the grass market. There are steps up the side of cold town house pub that will take you up to Johnston terrace and then another set of stairs from there up to the esplanade. Seriously, much more interesting if you don’t take a bus!

Meandering down the Royal mile ducking in and out of the closes until you get to Holyrood, hang a right past the Parliament and the way up Arthur’s seat is obvious…it’s one of my favourite walks because there’s always something new to notice. Again, not possible by bus.

Because a couple of the bridges between the old and new towns are out of action at the moment, traffic north to south or vice versa is a mess and takes much longer than walking.

It’s a wee city - local buses are pretty good and not expensive - you can pay with contactless but cash has to be exact - I’d save the money for a pint in the jolly judge.

I've booked meal for her actual birthday on Tuesday but was hoping to just go into Spoons on Monday sometime. I'll definitely have a look. We are travelling up on Sunday and have an apartment so might just grab a pizza from the supermarket and cook it's

A slight exaggeration that it’s been pouring non stop! It’s not rained since Sunday, or at least not while I’ve been awake!