port day in Edinburgh

[DeloreanGirl]

Hi there,

 

We took the train to Edinburgh castle and loved our day in Edinburgh! Here's a link to our trip report section of Edinburgh if it helps any (it includes a map I created for how to walk to Dalmeny station from the pier.)

 

Hope this helps! The train and Edinburgh Castle were fantastic!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34199591&postcount=130

 

:rolleyes:

[jenng1976]

Hi there,

 

We took the train to Edinburgh castle and loved our day in Edinburgh! Here's a link to our trip report section of Edinburgh if it helps any (it includes a map I created for how to walk to Dalmeny station from the pier.)

 

Hope this helps! The train and Edinburgh Castle were fantastic!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34199591&postcount=130

 

:rolleyes:

 

Thank you ... I have read your trip report before and it was very interesting!

 

At the time I thought I would be following your train directions, but turns out we are docking at a different place in town.

 

Definitely looking forward to the castle! :)

[AmoMondo]

If you are docking at Leith at the cruise terminal, you are very close to the Britannia. You may be able to buy tickets for a time slot online and do it first. When I went go see it, I spent longer waiting to get on than I did on the yacht itself. It is interesting but I really would not spend 2 hours on it, not at the expense of seeing more of Edinburgh.

 

The castle is a must see and again, get tickets online. You'll save ages waiting in a queue for a ticket. One of my team who is based down south, came up this summer for a visit and saw an enormous queue for tickets. He whipped out his smart phone and ordered tickets there and then and walked straight past everyone waiting.

 

It is not just the Castle that is interesting, the entire stretch of the Royal Mile from the Castle at the top to Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament at the bottom is littered with historic and interesting places. You could spend most of your day there. Some examples are: Camera Obscura, City Chambers, Heart of Midlothian, High Court, St Giles Cathedral, Mary King Close (under city chambers - old street thatbwas built on top of during the infamous plague and rediscovered recently), John Knox's house, Museum of Childhood, Queens Gallery. Only short detours off on the "mile" are the Bank Museum at the Mound or a wee bit the other way on George IV Bridge, Greyfriars Bobby and Kirkyard and the recently renovated Chambers Street Museum. There are also loads of narrow wee interesting Closes off of the mile which give interesting vantage points to the city below it.

 

If on the other hand you're going to be sitting at anchor at South Queensferry and tendering in and then having to get the train, I'd skip Britannia and just concentrate on the Old Town. If you have any free time after that, you can cross in to the Georgian Newtown and Princes Street Gardens.

 

Finally, they fire a gun from the Castle everyday at 1pm, so don't go getting a fright when it goes off!

[jenng1976]

Hi there,

 

We took the train to Edinburgh castle and loved our day in Edinburgh! Here's a link to our trip report section of Edinburgh if it helps any (it includes a map I created for how to walk to Dalmeny station from the pier.)

 

Hope this helps! The train and Edinburgh Castle were fantastic!

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showpost.php?p=34199591&postcount=130

 

:rolleyes:

 

OK ... I was wrong, we are tendering in Edinburgh. So I will definitely be following your instructions to get to the train. Thanks!! :)

 

If you are docking at Leith at the cruise terminal, you are very close to the Britannia. You may be able to buy tickets for a time slot online and do it first. When I went go see it, I spent longer waiting to get on than I did on the yacht itself. It is interesting but I really would not spend 2 hours on it, not at the expense of seeing more of Edinburgh.

 

The castle is a must see and again, get tickets online. You'll save ages waiting in a queue for a ticket. One of my team who is based down south, came up this summer for a visit and saw an enormous queue for tickets. He whipped out his smart phone and ordered tickets there and then and walked straight past everyone waiting.

 

It is not just the Castle that is interesting, the entire stretch of the Royal Mile from the Castle at the top to Holyrood Palace and the Scottish Parliament at the bottom is littered with historic and interesting places. You could spend most of your day there. Some examples are: Camera Obscura, City Chambers, Heart of Midlothian, High Court, St Giles Cathedral, Mary King Close (under city chambers - old street thatbwas built on top of during the infamous plague and rediscovered recently), John Knox's house, Museum of Childhood, Queens Gallery. Only short detours off on the "mile" are the Bank Museum at the Mound or a wee bit the other way on George IV Bridge, Greyfriars Bobby and Kirkyard and the recently renovated Chambers Street Museum. There are also loads of narrow wee interesting Closes off of the mile which give interesting vantage points to the city below it.

 

If on the other hand you're going to be sitting at anchor at South Queensferry and tendering in and then having to get the train, I'd skip Britannia and just concentrate on the Old Town. If you have any free time after that, you can cross in to the Georgian Newtown and Princes Street Gardens.

 

Finally, they fire a gun from the Castle everyday at 1pm, so don't go getting a fright when it goes off!

 

Thanks for the great info - now that I know that we are tendering, we will skip Brittania and spend our time at the Castle/Royal Mile. And ... try and make sure we're at the Castle at 1PM, I'm sure that's neat to experience!

 

Appreciate everyone's thoughts on the highlights of Edinburgh. Can't wait to see it in person. :)

 

Jenn