Edinburgh--getting from the airport to my hotel
 

I'm traveling alone to Edinburgh in a few days. A little anxious. What's the most convenient / easiest way to get from the airport to the Roxburghe Hotel? Will I easily recognize the spots to catch a cab or a bus?

Get the airport bus number 100 by going out of the front door of Arrivals, turning left then walking along the covered walkway in a 10 o'clock sort of direction - it is signposted. It's about the 2nd or 3rd bus stop along, on the right.

You need to get off at the Shandwick Place aka the West End stop. Some drivers announce the stops (& even sometimes the hotels) but some don't. If when boarding you ask the driver to give you a shout at Shandwick Place, to make sure, I'm sure s/he will. Also look out for the Habitat furniture store on the left - the bus stop is just past there. The bus journey takes about 20 minutes, depending on traffic. It's a flat fare of (I think) £3.50, or thereabouts, and unlike on the other buses the driver does give change.

When you get off you need to walk forward in the same direction for just a couple of minutes, beyond the end of Shandwick Place & on to Prince's Street, with the Fraser's department store (with clock on the corner) on your left. Then cross South Charlotte Street & turn left up it, and the Roxburghe is on your right at the end of the block. It's only a 5 minute walk & only involves crossing the one road.

There is no need to be nervous, it's perfectly safe. If you were arriving very late at night you might find some rowdiness around the taxi queue you'll pass en route, but the people involved will only be picking on each other ! And I expect you're not arriving very late anyway.

Hope you have a lovely time.

If you prefer to get a taxi, the rank is outside Arrivals to the right, and it wil cost £15-20 depending on traffic.

What a beautifully detailed answer, Caroline. Thank you so much.

See? This is what keeps me coming back to Fodor's Travel Talk time and again. Specific, useful information from people who know what they're talking about. Caroline gets the <i>Quality Answer du Jour</i> award.

Aw, I'm blushing now :-) Thank you.

Caroline---we will be in Edinburgh in June and will stay at a B&amp;B, Seven Danube Street. Plan to drop our rental car at airport--can we get a bus also to get us close to our B&amp;B? Thanks!

Nini - ask about No. 7's notorious neighbour when you stay in Danube Street. Lots of interesting history. ;)

Eek ! Except I've just realised I've given you extrememly out of date info about where taxis go from ! Not so clever now :-(

For taxis you now need to turn left out of Arrivals, as per buses, but then carry on directly left (9 o'clock) as opposed to the 10 o'clock-ish direction of the buses. Again, they are signposted. You go into a corridor leading to a desk where a guy asks your destination (just Edinburgh will do), gives you a ticket to give to the driver &amp; directs you out to the next cab.

nini, hi. I hadn't heard of Danube St before but just looked it up. (The B&amp;B looks lovely.) It's down the hill on the border between the New Town &amp; Stockbridge. So you have a few choices, none so straightforward I'm afraid.

1)Bus + walk. Get off the Airbus at Shandwick Place, as above, but you'd then have about a 15 minute walk - it is downhill but largely cobbled, so not vg for wheeling cases.

2) 2 buses.

Unfortunately Stockbridge isn't great for buses - I could find another bus for you to connect to from Prince's Street or Charlotte Square, but I think that if there is more than 1 of you (as it sounds) you'd probably find it easier to get a taxi right from the airport. Or you could get the Airbus to Shandwick Place &amp; get a taxi from the rank on the left just before Fraser's.

But let me know if you'd like detailed instructions on how to walk from the West End or do it using 2 buses.

That corner with the clock will always be Binn's corner!

Thanks for the info Caroline. My husband probably will want to get the cab from airport. Now I am really curious about the notorious neighbor! we selected this B&amp;B from Karen Brown because thus far we have never been disappointed with her selections.

&quot;Up in Scotland and slightly less high-profile was the late Dora Noyce. Before her death in 1977, an otherwise genteel and respectable Edinburgh street housed Scotland's busiest brothel at Ms Noyce's house - 17 Danube Street. Dora was rather a defiant character. She was charged 47 times for living on immoral earnings and spent a four-month spell in prison in 1972 (when she was aged 71) but business continued to boom! Dora once likened her establishment, where gentlemen visitors received coffee and sandwiches along with their pick of girls, to the YMCA, &quot;apart from one little difference...!&quot;&quot;

Now you know:)

Oh Sheila, now you've gone and spoilt the mystery.

I stayed briefly in Danube Street (ahem - the other end...) and marveled at the parade of cars and well dressed gents that made their way to Chez Dora. (Danube St. was and remains, BTW, a premier address in one of Edinburgh's most desirable districts.) According to the cab drivers, the place seemed busiest when the General Assembly was in town - their words, not mine - and one night a taxi driver told a friend of mine that he had just dropped off the Provost in Danube Street. Didn't say what house number, &quot;Wink, wink, say no more, know what I mean?&quot;

Dora's dollies would do their washing from time to time in &quot;my&quot; laundrette, eliciting scowls from the resident Embra wifies. Remember, this is Scotland, not Amsterdam.

It's a very cool neighbourhood - there was a secondhand shop in nearby Circus Place owned by one Madame Doubtfire, from whence the name in the book/movie arose. When I was there she was pushing 200, and sounded nothing at all like Robin Williams.

I think the actualite is more interesting than suspense.

For the unenlightened, the General assembly is the governing body, not of the UN , but the Church of Scotland :)