HOW TO SPEND 24 HOURS IS EDINBURGH, SCOTLAND

Watch our Scotland adventures HERE on my youtube channel 

Ken and I had no idea where to start when we made this last minute trip to Edinburgh. There is always so much to see in a city, it can be hard to know how to spend your time. Especially when you’re only there for 24 hours, like us. So I thought I’d put together a quick itinerary for this beautiful city to give you a starting point. It’s nothing overly fancy or full of all the traditional sight seeing spots, but we thoroughly enjoyed our time there so I thought I’s share how we spent our short time there.

Ken and I opted to rent an Air B&B simply because they are always so much more homey and cozy. This one in particular was really cool. Much nicer than staying in a hotel.

Since we arrived quite late in the day, and we had a tour booked for the evening, we only had time to drop our bags, admire the awesome bed, freshen up a bit and then hit the town.

You might have guessed from the fire red hair that Ken is Scottish and therefore a lover of scotch. So there was no way we could visit Scotland without taking a tour at the Scotch Wiskey Tasting Experience. We pretty much ran there, and made it just in time (literally 1 minute to spare). Although it wouldn’t have been my first choice of activities, I have to say, I really enjoyed it. The first 15 minutes involves a interactive “ride” that gives a basic description of how the whiskey is produced, which feels a bit like a visit to disneyland. After that, they give a full lecture on how the liquor is made, what it’s made of, regions it comes from and how to drink it. Ken is still training me to enjoy scotch (and is working hard on that one, haha) but learning to drink it properly has been huge help! Who knew there was more than one way to sip scotch! It completely changes the flavour of it.

The above photo is of the largest personal collection of Whiskey.  Many of the bottles are only half full and when we asked about it, we were told that over time the alcohol evaporates, disappearing over time.  Instead of thinking of it as lost liquor, they call it the “angel’s share”. So if you hoard your alcohol, drink it up! Before angels get to it!

The following morning we set out for a full breakfast. I got mine with veggies sausages which Ken thought was revolting but I much prefer to meat sausages 🙂

We ended up wandering around the city, with no real objective in mind before noticing a huge cliff side with a ton of people at the top. We had no idea how to get there but thought we’d just head toward to base and hopefully find a way up. 

We were completely unprepared for a mini hike, as you can tell by the Acne boots and handbag. Ken was in a full get up as well, but we thought what the heck! 

After a quick google search, we discovered the “hill” is called Arthurs seat. You’ll find the most spectacular view from the top, but I’ll warn you, if you get vertigo or are afraid of heights, it might make you a little nervous. There are no guard rails or no warning of the steep drop just a few steps ahead. There were small children and dogs running very close to the cliffs edge, and I can’t tell you how anxious that made me! The dogs would literally race to the edge, then come to a screeching halt, realising there was no where to go but down! 

After our impromptu hike, we were pretty thirsty.  Leave it to Ken it find the nearest brewery in any town. About a 20 minute walk (through the beautiful town) we found this little spot called The Hanging Bat. It is one of the only breweries in the city. 

We spent a good few hours here trying all the new and interesting beers they had to offer. They even had one that was made with beetroot! That’s the one that look a bit purple in the photos.

Once fully hydrated, we made the short walk to the castle. We got there just 30 minutes before closing, so we only had time to visit the Crown Jewels, the National War Museum and a few others. 

We snapped a few outfit photos at the top (just as it started to snow!) before the staff kicked us out.

I hope this is helpful for you, if you choose to visit the city! Keep in mind, it’s a pretty small place, and is very walkable, so you can get a lot done in a day. Even though we had nothing planned at the start of the day, it all came together perfectly and we genuinely enjoyed our very short time there 🙂

To see the whole day in video format click the video below to get the full scotland experience!

Xo, Andrea