72 hours in Edinburgh

During the beginning of this month I went a couple of days to Edinburgh. To be specific I went for around 72 hours. We (me and a friend) flew in Tuesday lunchtime and went back Thursday afternoon. At first I thought that it might be too little time to see everything, but at the end of the trip our feet were killing us from all the walking. We stayed at the Haymarket Hotel, which was a great place to stay. Nice and clean rooms, delicious breakfast included and about a 10 – 15 minute walks to the center of Edinburgh. I loved Edinburgh and I hope you enjoy reading about what we did!

Dean Village

After taking the metro towards our hotel, checked our room and freshened up we went to walk towards Dean Village. This was a beautiful walk through little alleys and cute houses. When we came down to the river the view was stunning. This is definitely something you need to do when you visit Edinburgh!

Elephant café

Our next stop was of course the The Elephant Café. This was a must on our list, because JK Rowling started writing Harry Potter in this café. We walked through Princess street gardens toward the café. We planned on doing an afternoon tea and hoped for a cue that wasn’t to long. Luckily when we arrived we had a table within 10 minutes! If you want to visit The Elephant Café I suggest doing this during the week in the morning or the afternoon. If you go to the toilet inside The Elephant Café don’t be surprised if you see walls full of Harry Potter quotes!

Castle

The next day we walk early towards the castle, because we wanted to be there before all the other tourists in Edinburgh are going to visit it. The climb up the mountain was pretty intense, but the view was amazing! There was so much to see inside the castle both inside and outside. The whole castle was in such good shape, which made walking around there feel like you were back in time. The little expositions were beautiful and very informative. I was amazed by how many artifacts were still kept in such beautiful shape. And of course the last thing we visited were the vaults underneath the castle.

Grassmarket

After visiting the castle we went to Grassmarket where we had the most delicious lunch at the Black Bull. Grassmarket is such a nice little square surrounded by little cafes and pubs. We stayed a little longer after lunch to enjoy the lovely surroundings.

Victoria Street

Before walking the royal mile and going to Hollyrood Park, we had to walk through Victoria Street. If you are a big Harry Potter fan like we are there is no way you’ll visit Edinburgh without going to Victoria Street. This street inspired JK Rowling to create Diagon Alley. Throughout the street there are little bookshops and antique stores, which make you feel you walked right into a Harry Potter book. It was amazing to walk there and see the similarities and little sources of inspiration.

Hollyrood Park

At the end of the royal mile there is a beautiful view that you can see from Hollyrood Park. After walking all the way down towards the park we sat down enjoyed the view for a while. We had such good weather during those 72 hours and we picked the best day to explore the city

Shopping

Our third and sadly final day we planned on doing some shopping. After we had a delicious full English breakfast at our hotel we first wondered around George Street. We went into a couple of stores and bought some things in Antropologie and Paperchase. When we were at the end of George Street we walked back over Princess Street and ended our shopping day in Waterstones.

I really love to go back sometime and explore more of Edinburgh. Let me know what you think of this travel diary type of post! I’d love to write some more when I go travel again!

Xoxo Annaleid