Hello all,

I'm trying to figure out our itinerary for Saturday, August 6th and could use a little help. We arrive at 8 am into EDI. We plan on renting a car to start touring the countryside, but are stalling in the area in order to see the 2:15 pm Scotland-Ireland rugby game at Murrayfield Stadium. After the game, we plan to hit the road to get part/all the way to our first destination.

We have a few hours to spare between the airport & the game (that time should probably include lunch) .... any recommendations on what to do?

And, we have the car & luggage to contend with. I assume we will rent the car upon arrival so we can store the luggage, we can do something for a few hours, and we can depart immediately upon the end of the rugby game; but, there is no parking at the stadium and I'm not sure how safe our luggage will be...as I don't know where we would park. Any thoughts?

Thanks to all.

If I were you, Gail, I would leave the car till after the game. Take a taxi to Murrayfield; and see if you can blag the driver into picking you up afterwards.(otherwise, find a pub, wait for the rammy to settle down, then pick one up on the street- or take the bus; the airport buses pass Murrayfield).

Taking a car into town is a waste of time, especially on an International day.

should you decide to rent the car before the match [which despite what Sheila says would be my choice] if you want to find car parks, the www.viamichelin.com site is your best bet. good driving directions too, plus restaurant locations.

i will repeat my tips for parking with a car full of luggage:

1. make sure that all valuables are stored out of sight in the boot. [aka trunk if you are from the US]

2. park with the boot/trunk against a wall or tree so that the rear door cannot be opened without moving the car.

3. make sure that ALL doors AND WINDOWS are closed and locked.

4. make sure you know where the car is for when you return, and that you are familiar with the payment regime - and take the ticket with you so that someone nicking the car would need to pay a penalty to take it out of the car park.


alternatively, [and having just read Sheila's response again] hire the car but leave it AT the airport. spend the morning in edinburgh, then catch the airport bus to Murrayfield for the match, and then the airport bus again to go and pick up your car. that gives you somewhere to keep the luggage but virtually no parking problems, and a swift getaway after the match.

Appreciate all the advice -- sounds very good.

One follow-on question. We are spending the entire following week in Edinburgh & have plenty of time to sightsee there. Is there something easy to see/do outside of Edinburgh within our available time? And, how would that affect the car situation.

I suppose we could rent it...take a drive somewhere & still return to the airport to park & take the bus to Murrayfield?

Linlithgow Palace is about 10 miles west of the airport - maybe a 20 minute drive.

Blackness Castle about the same. I might pick Blackness simply because Linlithgow takes quite a while to get around and your time would be short.

http://tinyurl.com/44hj6w7

Actually, Stirling's within decent striking distance too. An option would be to pick up the car, go and see Stirling Castle, get the train to Haymarket see the match and get the train back from Haymarket. It would give you an opportunity either to spend the evening in Rose Street with the rugby people with a late train back, or just zip back through and have a relaxed evening in Stirling.

An alternative Saturday morning plan would be to go to South Queensferry and take a boat trip on the river.

To go back to your original question, we go to virtually every home international. Do not even think of trying to get into one of the official car parks at this stage.

What we usually do- and we drive down from up north- is to arrive QUIT early- certainly by noon- and park up in Kinellan Road- 15 minutes from the stadium. We then taxi into town, have lunch and walk or taxi back out. We're then in poll position for getting away after the game.

If we have other plans- say there's another game on TV immediately after ours- we park in the car park at King's Stables Road, walk or taxi to Murrayfield and walk back. IF we want a sharp getaway we don't do that. In our youth, it was the pattern.

Edinburgh is going to be FULL. All the Festivals are on; there's a major rugby International. I would not drive into town unless there was a kidnapper with a gun at my head. And I know my way about. Just sayin'....