Edinburgh - take the car or not?

[BelfastSmile]

We’re planning to go to Edinburgh for a week or so next summer (early July), travelling from Belfast. We’re deciding whether to fly or take the boat (and therefore the car). If we fly, we’d then rely on public transport (if we take the car, we’d probably still use public transport to get into the city centre). Any tips on which is easier? Is it a nightmare to drive around or would we be ok?

Any tips on where to stay? Any areas which are good or bad or easy/hard to travel to/from? What’s public transport like? It’ll be us and 2 kids (11 & 9); we’ll probably do things like the castle, maybe some museums and then possibly the zoo etc. Thanks!

Fly, parking is a nightmare and public transport is very good. Easy to get to the airport and the buses are excellent.

My mate lives near Edinburgh and there’s parts where no cars are allowed.
I'd fly and use the buses/trams.

I'd fly - public transport there is good. Driving is an experience I went through a month ago, and the public transport is easier.

It's very busy and has a low emission zone, public transport is excellent and many of the most interesting places are close together in the city centre. Some of the attractions (castle etc) need to be booked in advance.

I live in edinburgh and we only use the car if we are going out of town so as long as you’re planning on sticking to the city then you’re better off without it. Plenty to see in town and on the train if you want to do more exploring of the area.

If you’re planning on being completely or mostly in Edinburgh - fly, it’s a fairly small city and easy to get round. You’d really only need a car if there’s a few places outside of town without public transport you’re really wanting to see.

Plus, parking in Edinburgh is awful and expensive and you’d need to check if your car was even allowed in the low emission zone.

Waverley Railway Station is virtually below Edinburgh Castle which is handy.
(We usually stay with family further out and catch the train in).

And the tram in from the airport is great!'

You really don’t need a car and parking costs a bomb. You only need it if you are leaving Edinburgh to go elsewhere but you can always get the train or bus.

Don’t take the car. The bus service in Edinburgh is very good and it’s a walking city anyway. Parking is difficult and expensive.

Agree with all the comments about Edinburgh itself - driving in the centre is dreadful, if I go I leave the car at Ingleston park and ride and use the tram. In addition to this the drive from Cairnryan to Edinburgh is tedious and prone to delays, and the ferry isn’t cheap. Flying will be cheaper and a fraction of the time. Unless you need a huge amount of luggage, or are someone who tries to limit flying, I can’t see any benefit of the ferry.

Absolutely don’t bring the car!! Accommodation with parking is rarer than hens teeth in the city centre and buses are excellent. It’s a very walkable city.
not to mention the ferry terminal is miles from Edinburgh!

From the other side of the M8, if staying in Edinburgh fly but if you want flexibility to travel out and about take the car. The journey from Cairnryan up to the Central belt is lovely and Glasgow is with a visit 😊

Thanks everyone, this is helpful. Having priced it up, we reckon the costs are about the same either way, taking into account flights + airport parking vs ferry + petrol (assuming our accommodation has free parking). The other advantage of taking the car is that we can take more stuff (though I’m not really convinced we need more stuff). And if we go self-catering we can use the car to get to shops. I don’t mind the drive from Cairnryan and we’d probably stop off in Glasgow in one direction if we did that. On the other hand, the kids love being on a plane, and we don’t take them on one very often!

Its useful to know that public transport is good, though, and that we’d be fine to get about without the car.

Interestingly we were looking at this in reverse. Ended up booking a weekend on the Isle of Man for a long weekend instead but thinking about taking the ferry to Belfast next year.

If you bring the car just double check on the parking as it can be a bit tricky. Loads of roads in town are permit only or limited hours etc.

Thanks @PurpleThistle7 - I think we’re likely to be staying somewhere not too central, so hopefully there wouldn’t be so many parking issues, but we’d check with the accommodation first.

If you come to Belfast I’d definitely recommend bringing the car, because then you could visit places like the Giant’s Causeway, the Mournes etc. Within Belfast itself the buses aren’t bad, but the parking isn’t too bad in most places either. Outside Belfast would be trickier, although do-able.

We visited Belfast years ago - pre kids - but have wanted to bring them for ages. I think we’d definitely want the car.

if you have the car there are even more day trips and whatnot. If you have anything specific your kids love to do lmk and maybe I’ll have a rec

Cost of accommodation in Edinburgh itself is extortionate. It's cheaper just out the city Buses are reliable and reasonable. Family ticket £5.50 return.

Do this. There's some lovely places to stay where you can go for a walk in the country and do this as well as having the city experience.

Even if you want to go some other places - public transport is still pretty good, buses and trains to Glasgow are frequent, Stirling too… the pentlands is even on a bus route.

It’s really only more if you were wanting to go lots of places out if town that the car would be worth having, IME anyway.

“Assuming our accommodation has free parking”…….so not underestimate how hard this might be to find!! Even outside the city centre large parts of the city are residents permit parking zones and pay &
display for visitors but this can be £££, hard to find a space and many have time limits on so can’t park there all day. I honestly don’t think it’s worth the hassle when you could be here so quickly by plane too.

It depends what you want to do here. If you want to see other places and explore then a car is handy as once you're out of the main areas, there's less public transport. I live in Fife just over the bridge, plenty of hotels and airbnbs here with free parking and fast train to Edinburgh centre is 25 mins, quicker than driving. You could also look at staying in South Queensferry , Portobello, Musselburgh or along East Lothian coast which has train and bus to city.
If you want to stay in the city centre and you're only planning on visiting Edinburgh, then don't drive. As people have said, very hard to find parking and expensive and on street meters only allow a max stay of a few hours.

I visited from London some years ago, and I walked everywhere.