What about Ibis Hotel or Bank Hotel on the Royal Mile? Totally agree on the prior post about Castle Street, stay right in the centre if at all possible. This is what I'd do on 1st trip.
1. Do the open air bus first (across the road from Waverly station)to get lay of the land.
2. sign up for a walking tour(ghost/historical/Ian Rankin). Cheap and worth it. They start around St Giles Cathedral...you can do it day or after dinner (if you are up for it, head for grave of Montrose in the cathedral or spit on John Knox's grave in the parking lot behind (seriously, it's a tradition for some women who took issue with his views)
3. Dinner at either Merchants or The Grain Store,(Victoria Street), drinks before dinner at the Dome and after dinner head to live folk music at Ensign Ewart (on high street)named after the sojer who captured Napoleon's eagle.
4. I would ignore the ridiculously expensive Holyrood Palace tour and head instead to the National Museum of Scotland on Chamber Street, make sure you have coffee in the tower cafe there. (and cover the declaration of arbroath section).
5. From museum, head to Greyfriars Churchyard, beautiful.(covenanters prison onsite) and eat highland tablet or fudge as you look around the graves.
5. Hit at least one pub on a close, eg Jolly Judge at Lady Stairs Close, where a lot of the MSPs hang out.

As for other visits.

Best to get to Rosyln now while you can, they're going to have to change the rules soon to protect the chapel.
As for St Andrews, the Edinburgh to Leuchars train runs about every hour.(journey is 1hr,15 mns) From there its only a 5 pound cab to St Andrews. You can do St Andrews in about 2 hours (its really only 3 streets and the cathedral,plus of course a quick shiftie at the university) and it does give you a wonderful sense of the north sea and the old course. walking along the beach or the cathedral walk is a wonderful way to get out all the cobwebs.

So I personally would do Edinburgh,(From 12pm May 3 forward)early start to Rosyln Chapel,(am on May 4th, then back to Waverly for train to Leuchars/St Andrews for the afternoon of May 4th and back to Edinburgh at night. May 5th is Edinburgh again. That means your first and last day is in Edinburgh which is easier on the traveller, but worth it for first trip.

Next time you must must do Stirling on the way to Glasgow, and both locations are ideal jumping off points for the west (egOban) and the north (Inverness.)

/www.premierinn.com/pti/home.do

Sorry, forgot to mention Premier Inn,in Old Town, it's about same price as Bank, but more American standards.

1 Royal Circus would be very nice. Otherwise try the Ibis as I suggested before. Otherwise phone the tourist office & ask for anything in the Old (preferable) or New Towns - +44-845-22-55-121.

You have left it *very* late !!

Thanks for the suggested places to stay. My sister was able to book at 20 London Street B&B, we were frantic and we did it before I read this forum. I think it's fine now
Scotlass- great itinerary! I'll show it to my sister and we'll skip the graveyard tour though lol! I know we're really pressed for time but I think we'll keep roaming while there's *light*

OK - how about this itinerary?

Day 1 - we arrive lunchtime. 2 hour Edinburgh tour (it came with buying the train tickets) hop off hop on bus tours. Edinburgh castle (just outside) not going in

Day 2 - Rosslyn Chapel, St Andrews - just a quick tour, Fife Village then back to Edinburgh

Day 3- Stirling Castle (yeah - we're really going here) back to Edinburgh

I'll ask around the train & bus centers for time.

That B&B should be great, Itan - what a lucky find ! As you no doubt know it is on a nice street in the New Town. But also, run by Gillian Glover !! I now remember hearing some time ago that she did B&B but I'd forgotten. She used to be the Scotsman newspaper's restaurant critic, I always enjoyed her columns & respected her opinions & she seems like a nice person. Lucky you !

Re the itinerary, do you mean you are now planning on seeing Rosslyn Chapel, St Andrew's & a Fife village (which - one of the fishing villages ?) in one day without a car ??? Oh dear...

First, this is a Sunday, isn't it ? Rosslyn Chapel doesn't open until noon on Sunday. If you really have to visit all these places I suggest you go to Stirling on the Sunday as then you can fit more in on Saturday.

Let's see how it might work if you do Rosslyn etc on Saturday. The Chapel opens at 9.30 so you'll want to get the bus at 0822 (to arrive in Roslin at 0900) or 0852 (to arrive in Roslin at 0930). So that means leaving your B&B to walk to St Andrew Square c. 0805/0835. (http://www.lothianbuses.com/r15.php) Say you spend half an hour there, get the 1019 bus back, arrive bsck in St Andrew Square 1101.

Walk to Waverley railway station, buy your "St. Andrews railbus ticket" and get the train to Leuchars. You'd be very lucky to catch the 1110, more likely the 1210 so arrive Leuchars 1312. (http://www.thetrainline.com/Time_Tab..._Timetable.asp) Get bus to St Andrew's. It's pushing 2 o'clock, you've spent most of the day so far on a bus or train & you haven't had any lunch yet. Do you still think you'll fit in a Fife village too ?!?

Not trying to be harsh, I just want you to enjoy your visit.

Please heed what caroline says. Trying to squeeze in Rosslyn chapel and all of Fife on the same day -- even driving yourself - would be pretty difficult. Using public transport, you would end up w/ about 2.5-3 hours total in the Chapel and seeing St Andrews. The <u>whole rest of the day</u> would be spent to-ing and fro-ing on various buses and trains. You would see a lot of public transport but no fishing villages . . . . .

HI,
Thanks for your reply. Just talked to my sister, and she booked us at the 22 Royal Circus, sigh. Is this okay? Or is the 20 London Street better as she still has a vacancy as of today

As for the itinerary, we arrive Edinburgh on Saturday around noon, so we can still go to Rosslyn Chapel that afternoon? Sunday, we can do St. Andrews and be back at Edinburgh by nightfall.
On Monday morning we'll go to Stirling Castle, go back to Edinburgh and look around if we still have time. You think this is okay? Or should we do Stirling on Saturday (our first day) and Rosslyn on Monday (our last day??)

Thanks for the advice on the time frame for the St. Andrews trip, will try to do that. I clicked on the link you sent me but got an error message Will try again later.

I'm not sure I caught everything in this thread, but here's my $.02:
I would totally skip Stirling Castle this time. It is very similar to Edinburgh's castle. We saw the two castles on back to back days and have not been able to distinguish them in my memory ever since (although we enjoyed both). So, while I would say each castle is worthy of a visit, with less than 3 days in Scotland, I think you'd be nuts to fit Stirling in. You're already going out of the city to see Rosslyn and St. Andrews. Do yourself a favor and spend the rest of the time in Edinburgh, and you will get a nice taste of city, castle, palace, history, park, etc.

I could not agree more - you are going to/staying in Edinburgh but are not really seeing any of Edinburgh itself.

You are trying to see half of central Scotland in less than 3 days. Whoa a bit - stick to Edinburgh and St Andrews (if you must). Even then you'd only have a day and a half in Edinburgh. I don't get the logic of skipping Edinburgh Castle, yet traveling to Stirling to see its castle. Staying in the city and visiting Edinburgh castle instead is a much better use of your VERY limited time.

Oh dear, the struggle continues

I hadn't heard of 22 Royal Circus before this thread but it looks very nice. Both it and 20 London Street are in very nice parts of the New Town. Royal Circus is slightly grander but London Street is a bit closer to the railway &amp; bus stations. I think you may as well stick with what you have.

I realised that I looked up the Saturday timetables for the Roslin bus &amp; Leuchars train whereas I was recommending you do that itinerary on Monday if at all - not Sunday at any rate. I'm sorry to hear that my links, which were to the exact timetables you'd need, didn't work. Try www.lothianbuses.co.uk &amp; look up the number 15 bus route for Roslin (the village where Rosslyn Chapel is - note different spelling) &amp; www.thetrainline.com for buses from Edinburgh to Leuchars.

The only comment I'd make on your latest itinerary as that you are staying in Edinburgh but spending all of your days elsewhere, which seems bizarre.

There seem to be some great local experts on this thread. My friend is going to Edinburgh for a week.

What are your favorite restaurants and pubs?

Must see sights?

Favorite off the beaten track sights?

Favorite walks and gardens?

Interesting shopping areas?

This is sinking Sally, because it's an add on to someone else's thread.

Do a wee search and then post your more specific query on a thread of its own, I suggest.

Hi. Couldn't help go over this thread carefully as am about to book our lodgings in Edinburgh for 3 days in July. Am debating between a place on Gilmerton Road well connected apparently by bus to the center and Gilmore Place for a difference of about 90 pounds for the whole stay. Any advice for me? Thanks janisj and caroline. p.s. I know its a tag-on to someone else's post but am now scrambling!

to tongsa - you really need to post your question as a separate thread. You will get more replies and quicker, I think.

to SallyJ -
those are a lot of very broad questions! There are tons of previous threads that should help with planning a visit to Edinburgh/Scotland. A book that I highly recommend is Peter Irvine's &quot;Scotland the Best&quot; which gives lists of the best of all the types of things that you are asking about. There is an extensive section on Edinburgh. You will find excellent advice here once you get a bit of focus. Another place to look is the &quot;Destinations&quot; tab on the menu bar above - it will give some great ideas to get you started.

Tongsa - Gilmerton is a pretty rough area and quite far out. Gilmore Place is nice enough and very central. No contest.