For anyone who may be there this weekend. Expect further chaos due to both finalists in the scottish cup final being from Edinburgh.

The worst will be Sunday when they close part (or most) of the Royal Mile.

Saturday may be quiet but trains will be busy. But the town will be quiet.

Aargh! Another month and another weekend trip down to Edinburgh - and another bout of frustration at trying to find the right bus stop! I'm actually in favour of the tram scheme, understand the need for the roadworks and that this means re-routing the buses etc but I just wish that when they take a bus stop out of use they'd provide clear, easily read information on where the bus stop has been re-located to and how to get there

Got off the train at Haymarket for the bus to Portobello (usually nearer a 26 bus stop than Waverley), crossed the road to find that even the bus shelter has now disappeared! No directions of course so headed east towards Shandwick Place as previous notices had directed. To cut a long story short ended up after a long circular walk just 100ms to the WEST of Haymarket station! Something I could have done so much more easily if there'd simply been a notice on the hoarding where the bus shelter used to be pointing away from the direction of Princes Street to what was now the neearest bus stop!

Rant over!

SM

Even the bus drivers don't know which bus stops are their buses stops. We needed the 12 and it was set to drive past until another passenger flagged it down. I walked along George Street before I found the right stop as they've been changed again, looking for the right stop.

SMa - I'm suprised there is no information at Haymarket given that currently it is the main interchange for the Airport and the west of the city.

I am avoiding the city centre at the moment as much as possible. Too confusing.

There is information about buses going westward towards the zoo and the airport because they are still running pretty much on the 'normal' route past Haymarket and the bus stop for them has just been shunted a bit further up the road - with a notice to that effect where the buses used to stop directly in front of the station. So it's pretty clear that you now need to turn left as you come out of the station and get them where you used to get them before they erected the new bus shelters by Ryrie's. The problem is that the eastbound lane past the station is closed to all traffic and the bus stop and shelter where they used to post information on where to now get the buses that used to stop there has been completely removed! Hence my walkabout!

SM

First bus are pulling out of some of the midlothian services so that means that Lothian are having a rethink and adjusting there services.

The important one for travellers to Edinburgh (and residents that use it as it is a direct route for them) is that the 35 because more frequent during the week it's becoming every 12 minutes during the day Monday-Friday. It's still every 30 mins in the evening.

Princes St will reopen to buses and taxi's by the end of this month. There is no set date for this as of yet.

Rumours circulating that the Trams MAY be running by Late 2013,

Have just booked 2 nights at the Premier Inn Edinburgh East for the beginning of May and would appreciate help on what to see in such a short time. It works out as an afternoon, a full day and the best part of another day. Hubby will want to go to the Whisky Experience (!), so everything will have to be worked round that.

Would it be worth leaving some time to have a look at Hadrians Wall on the way back?

There`s a decent restaurant at the whisky experience , check their website for details. As I don`t know your interests from a personal point I would go to the castle, as you are very near to it, and then proceed down the Royal Mile which has museums and places of historical interest and has the Scottish Parliament and the Palace at the bottom end. Royal-Mile.com has some good info. The citysightseeing hop on -hop off bus tour is an excellent way to see the city, especially when you are limited timewise.
We`ve been going to Edinburgh for long weekends for some years now and still find lots to do.
Have a look at gigguide.co.uk for entertainment especially in the evenings, much of it pub based.
If I can help with anything else please ask.

Thanks for the reply. Have just downloaded onto my kindle, '10 Must-Sees in Edinburgh'. How's that for timing and best of all, it was free!. They suggest:
Edinburgh Castle/Greyfriars Kirkyard/Holyrood Abbey/Moubray House/National Galleries of Scotland/National Museum of Scotland/Rosslyn Chapel/Royal Mile/Scottish Parliament Building and Water of Leith.
What are your thoughts on these?

Hi Babs, if I was only staying 2 nights I wouldn't bother with Rosslyn Chapel - there is so much to see and do within Edinburgh itself that I wouldn't make it a high priority for such a short visit. Even without the 'da Vinci Code' connection it is an interesting building that is worth seeing but it will take at least a full morning or afternoon to get there, have a good look around and then get back into town.

Whereas it's easy to combine Holyrood Palace and the Parliament building in the same half day because they are just across the road from each other at the bottom of the Royal Mile. I would suggest that you book both in advance because the guided tour of the Parliament is well worth doing and does need to be pre-booked.

You could easily spend a full day 'doing' the various national galleries and museums in Edinburgh and still not see everything worth seeing. So have a look at the following to help you decide which ones to concentrate on

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/oct/12/top-10-edinburgh-museums-galleries

http://www.nationalgalleries.org/

http://www.nms.ac.uk/our_museums/national_museum.aspx

My top two would be the National Museum of Scotland and the National Portrait Gallery - both re-furbished only recently and both have excellent cafes if you need a reviving cup and scone!

If you are reasonably fit I would also add the Scott Monument to the above list because the views from the top are magnificent and help you get a picture of the city's layout.

And it's never been on my list but the Britannia is easy to get to down in Leith and it is a surprising omission from the App list - you'll find more infor here

http://www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk/

And of course, they don't mention the shopping! Princes street is now filled with exactly the same chain stores as you'll find in your own high street whereas Rose Street and George Street which run parallel to it are much more interesting with smaller quirkier shops and/or more up market ones, as is Jeffrey Street (for women's clothes and shoes) and the part of the Mile that runs down from the junction with Jeffrey street to towards Holyrood where you'll find a number of designer knitwear shops. And if you are into vintage clothes then Armstrongs in the Grassmarket is a must. If nothing else the Grassmarket is worth a visit for the hat shop - every type of hat from the practical to the surreal!

http://www.grassmarket.net/fabhatrix.asp

Have a great time - the weather in May is usually quite settled and it should have warmed up by then!

SM

Thanks for that. I'm thinking along the lines of leaving home (Manchester) early and as we have a tour of the Whisky Experience booked for 4 pm I'd like to think we might have time beforehand to get our bearing of the city - I doubt we'll feel much like wandering around afterwards - but then you never know

I'm wondering if it's worth doing the hop-on-hop-off on Tuesday; often they are a good way of seeing things in a short time.

As we don't have to leave for home on the Wednesday until late afternoon we could always visit places we hadn't time to do on the Tuesday, or would it be worth visiting Britannia - not sure on that at all.

Back from Edinburgh and we had a great time. We had enough time to orientate ourselves before going to the Scotch Whisky Experience. Thoroughly recommend this, even if you're not a whisky drinker. We were on the Gold Tour which meant that at the end of the tour we had 4 extra tastings (everyone gets one) and combined with an extremely knowledgeable and friendly bartender we really enjoyed ourselves. Naturally you walk out through the shop and yes we did buy a bottle, but who cares, we were on holiday!

The next day, our only full day, was when I thought we might use the HoHo Bus, but in the end we decided to do 'our own thing'. We visited the Castle which was much better than either of us had expected; we jumped out of our skins when the 1 o'clock gun was fired, it was much louder than we anticipated. They do free guided walks which last for about 40 minutes which was very interesting. It was the hottest day of the 3 and as a consequence we took longer looking round than we thought we would, having to stop and rest more. Our plan had been to go onto Holyrood and we did actually set off, but we were both already tired from the heat and I was beginning to wilt, so reluctantly we decided not to carry on and, in fact, we went back to the hotel for a couple of hours.

Our final day was spent visiting the Royal Yacht Britannia which was excellent. Again, neither of us had known was to expect, but the whole thing is done very well and the adjoining Ocean Terminal is also very good, especially as it was a rainy day.

My one regret is that we didn't get to visit Mary King's Close, and with hindsight we could have gone there after the Castle, leaving Holyrood for another time. But as I say, we will just have to go back again!!!!!

Overall, I'm more than happy with what we managed to do in a short time. I enjoyed wandering round the souvenir shops and sitting and 'people-watching'.

Until the next time...

beware anyone travelling to Edinburgh by plane and getting a taxi...the black taxis are fully licensed topographically passed owners /drivers, the other PRIVATE HIRE CARS maybe manned by non topographical passed persons.
both meters are set at the same rate, but the taxis use the green-ways in Edinburgh, so making your journey quicker and cheaper.
you pays your money you make the choice.

My understanding is that in Edinburgh, as in other cities in Scotland, is that only the licensed taxis are allowed to make street pickups or use the taxis ranks and that private hire cars are only allowed to make pre-arranged pick-ups. In other words you can't hail them in street but have to phone for one, so anybody arriving at any of the mainline stations or at the airport will only be able to get a black cab on one of the ranks but I wonder why anybody would pay for a taxi into town from the airport when the airport bus service is much, much cheaper and also uses the green ways and will take you right into the city centre.

SM

My understanding is that in Edinburgh, as in other cities in Scotland, is that only the licensed taxis are allowed to make street pickups or use the taxis ranks and that private hire cars are only allowed to make pre-arranged pick-ups.

the airport authorities think its OK for you to come off a plane out to the PHC desk and tell the person at the desk you need a taxi to wherever (i know its a car, but they say taxi), they note it and send you out to a driver in a car...they say that's pre-booked.

As I've had black cab drivers get lost in Edinburgh and/or needed me to direct them to suburban addresses in Edinburgh in the past, I'm not sure that their knowledge of the topography of city is any more reliable than anybody else's. They all seem to rely on satnav these delays!

SM