Edinburgh Accommodation

Edinburgh Sightseeing Bus Tours from Princes Street

Airlink 100 Fast Shuttle from Edinburgh Airport to Edinburgh City Centre

Scott Monument, Edinburgh New Town, Princes Street

Carlton Hill Monuments, Edinburgh the Athens of the North

Sightseeing in Edinburgh, Open Top Bus Tours Old Town, City Centre, Royal Mile

One of the best ways to get your bearing in any city is to take an Open top bus tour, or indeed a cycling or walking tour. Edinburgh has a choice of these tours. Lothian buses run a daily regular open top bus tour departing from centrally placed Waverley Bridge. The bus tour in Edinburgh lasts about an hour with stop offs on-route.

Lothian Buses, 31 Waverley Bridge, Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh, EH1 1BQ. Scotland. Tel. 0131 2200770/International 00 44 131 2200770. (see Lothian Buses website right for details).

Edinburgh Sightseeing Tours

If you're looking for something a bit different to tour Edinburgh in then checkout Trike Tours weblink right, and be whisked around Edinburgh and Edinburgh historic sights on a Trike! (Trike Tours also offer similar tours elsewhere around Scotland including Glasgow, Loch Lomand and St Andrews!).

For a host of Edinburgh cycling, walking, coach and bus tours, plus links to wider Scotland Adventure tours check the Visit Edinburgh website right for listings. Along the Royal Mile particularly there's a choice of tour and excursion companies offering adventure holiday trips around Scotland and Ghost Tours and historic walking tours around Edinburgh.

If you're new to Scotland and want to take numerous guided excursions and tours, then Edinburgh makes a good Scottish base with a choice of tour and excursion companies based here. Check the Visit Edinburgh website right for tour and excursion company listings.

Edinburgh City Centre Tourist Information Centre

Edinburgh City Centre Tourist Information Office, 3 Princes Street, Edinburgh, City of Edinburgh. EH2 2QP. Scotland. Tel. (44) 8452 255121.

Open from April & Oct, Mon-Sat 9am-6pm, Sun 10-6. From May, June & Sept, Mon-Sat 9-7, Sun 10-7. From July - Aug, Mon-Sat 9-9, Sun 10-8 and from Nov-Mar, Mon-Wed 9-5, Thur-Sat 9-6, Sun 9-6.

Edinburgh Orientation - Edinburgh Old Town & Edinburgh New Town

The compactness of Edinburgh makes it easy to explore on foot (you'll be doing quite a bit of walking!), hopping from museum and gallery with ease, and with discounts using the Edinburgh Pass (weblink right). Edinburgh city centre is well served with accommodation from luxury B&Bs and boutique hotels to budget hostels and guesthouses. A particularly rich area of Edinburgh for B&B guesthouses is the Newington area around Arthur's Seat - it's within easy walking distance of Edinburgh castle and the Royal Mile.

You can easily cram your Edinburgh days with numerous attractions including museums, art galleries, and family holiday attractions on the Royal Mile so it's well worth basing yourself centrally in Edinburgh within easy reach of your accommodation (see Edinburgh City Centre accommodation on this website). Take a walking, cycling or sightseeing coach tour around Edinburgh. Numerous companies offer guided tours and open top sightseeing bus tours (weblinks right).

Busy main shopping street Princes Street serves as a makeshift divide to Edinburgh's New Town and Old Town, with the Royal Mile, Edinburgh Castle and Old Town to the South of Princes Street and the New Town to the North. Edinburgh's Old Town pushes east from the castle towards Canongate and down to the now revealed historic Edinburgh Vaults around South Bridge. Wander around the old narrow lanes and allies around Edinburgh's Old Town.

Tour the Georgian grid town plan of Edinburgh's New Town, with architectural nods to ancient Greece and incorporating new town designs developed for hygiene and practicality. Look at any map of Edinburgh city centre and you can see the contrast between the winding and curving narrow streets of the Old Town south and the grid wide streets of Edinburgh New Town. Many cities in the Western world, for example Lisbon, were being spruced up during this Georgian period to combat slums. With the exception of Dean Village to the West (a longer walk) and atractions such as Edinburgh Zoo and the Leith Docks with Royal Yacht Britannia (easy to hop on a Lothian bus to all of these!), all you could need for a fun packed city break is clustered in the centre, including attractions, shops, pubs, restaurants and cafes, parks and gardens and ample Edinburgh accommodation.

The Edinburgh Union Canal & Canal Boat Trips Edinburgh

One to keep your eye on are developments around the historic Edinburgh Union Canal which stretches for nearly 32 miles from Edinburgh to Falkirk, culminating at the structural marvel, the rotating boat lift, the Falkirk Wheel.

Checkout canal centres along the Edinburgh Union at Linlithgow and Ratho in the Lothians, and take time to explore Lochrin Basin at Edinburgh Quay. Watch this space, as developments are probably pushing towards accessible canal boat trips all the way from Edinburgh Quay to the Falkirk Wheel, taking in some splendid sights along the way including Linlithgow Palace, Thomas Telford's Avon Aqueduct (the UK's second longest) and Beecraigs Country Park. See the British Waterways weblink right for a guide to the Edinburgh Union Canal. See also Falkirk tourist information here on Iknow Scotland for more details on both the Forth & Clyde Canal and Edinburgh Union, both of which meet at the Falkirk Wheel.

The Scottish Canal Museum is based at the Linlithgow Canal Centre on the Edinburgh Union Canal.

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