If you've never been to Edinburgh before I would certainly recommend that you take one of these HoHo bus tours on your 1st day. It will help you get your bearings, show you where the main sights are and enable you to then decide which are the places you want to revisit and spend more time at. Many visitors are surprised to discover just how hilly Edinburgh is and aimless wandering around can be exhausting! So my advice would be to get a good street map that you can open up (not an 'A to Z' book type) so that you can track the route as you go and make sense of your surroundings. You can then take your time as you say.

Remember that you can keep doing the circuit as many times as you want, so I usually advise visitors to do the complete tour first (around 90 mins for the central tours - there are a number of different routes so check before getting on) and then once you know the order they visit things in you can decide when and where to get off.

SM

We had been to Eeinburgh many times before we eventually used the HoHo bus. It was well worth it as it took us to places we had managed to miss.

I think there are two companies running them and if you have a ticket from a previous time at another location you can get a discount with one of them whose name escapes me.

If nothing else- just stay on the bus as it does its full curcuit and it will give you an idea of what you want to see. But you are "doing your own thing" anyway. You decide what to get off to see and how long you want to be there. Often these buses have booklets of discounts for attractions on the routes as well.

If you go to city-sightseeing.com you can have a look at the route and the places that may be of interest to you.

Thanks for all the comments. We didn't do the bus in the end, but that was a joint decision! I'll post comments on our stay in the UK forum.

Pleased to hear that you enjoyed your visit Babs135.

SM

I never bothered with the HoHO buses in Edinburgh, but perhaps I will next time I go up there.