2-Day Edinburgh (48 hours in Edinburgh) Itinerary

From London, we went to Edinburgh by bus. Which took 8 hours. It was the cheapest way and saved us accommodation for 1 night. But be warn that this may not be comfortable for you, if you’re like me, who have a trouble sleeping in a vehicle ?. We planned to do a 2-Day Edinburgh (48 hours in Edinburgh) Itinerary.

Our hostel was 11-minute walk from the Bus terminal. Actually all the tourist spots are all walking distance, which saves us a lot.

We are early check in, so we left our luggage in their storage locker that cost £2.50 for a day. Then avail their unlimited breakfast for £3.

We wanted to join the free walking tour that the hostel offered. But when we get there, we realized that it’s not for us, as we spend so much time taking pictures, and we don’t want to hold the group for that. So we do it on our own.

Day 1

From hostel, we went first to Royal Mile, where the red phone boxes are located. Of course one of the photo spots in Edinburgh.
Just walking through this path, you will see a lot of restaurants and shops. You can also see scotish man/men wearing kilts and performing on the side of the road.

Victoria Street in old town. This street has colorful shops and it’s the Edinburgh’s own Diagon Alley that makes this a photographed location.

Greyfriars Bobby. A true story of a Dog that guarded his owner’s grave until he died. I thought it was a big statue but it’s the size of a real dog, which I almost missed. Tourist keeps on touching the dog statue’s nose. But I’ve read that there’s no reason behind it and it’s just wiping the color of the statue. Maybe do it gently? I didn’t touch it as it is too high for me 😛

Edinburgh Castle. It is really windy that makes it hard to take a photo with the Castle. There’s also changing of the guards (men wearing kilts), but not sure where to look for the schedule, it just happened when we where there.

We just walked and found some picturesque street while looking for something to eat.
We settled for some sweets, as I need some sugar from no sleep bus trip.

Calton Hill. It’s around 15-minute walk from Royal Mile. You will definitely see the Scott Monument and the Arthur’s seat from the top.

We call it a day as we need to rest to for tomorrow’s hike.

Day 2

I didn’t sign up for the hike, but we visited all in our list (almost), and then there’s nothing left than eat. So we decided to go to the Arthur’s seat.

It’s a 15-minute walk from our hostel to the Holyrood Park. There’s 4 routes going to the hill, but not sure if everyone knows this as there’s no information center or guide to tell you which one is the OK route going to the Arthur’s seat. I would say take the obvious path you see in front of you, which is to your right, Lots of people are going here if you’re only goal is to reach the Arthur’s seat. But if you want to go to Crow Hill to have the best view of the Arthur’s seat go to your left which you will see an arrow sign to Arthur’s seat.
Here’s the map that I think best describe how to hike the hill

We started our hike and chose the left or green path.

We were surprise we were in Crow hill. All along we thought we were hiking to Arthur’s path. Not really sure what went wrong as we were just following the path. But the view is great from the Crow Hill.

The mistake was, we ended in the steep location which is kinda hard to go down, especially if you’re not a professional hiker. And here, when we realized that the Arthur’s seat is on the other side because we can see it!

We wanted to go to Arthur’s seat, but our feet were really tired, and we’re still struggling to go down. It is really dangerous as how steep the path is, you really need to be careful and watch your steps or sit and hold to the rocks while going down. Or else you’ll be rolling down.

When we reach the safe path, all we can do is take a picture of Arthur’s seat and Salisbury Crags.

And we just went down and walk to where we came from. It was really hot too, so wear shades and hat when hiking the hill. Better check the weather too as you don’t want to hike if it is slippery.

After the 3hours hike, we look for something to eat to regain our strength.

Ross Fountain, we didn’t get to see it because it’s under construction. So we just went to Scott Monument.

Then we decided to rest and eat dinner in our hostel for the rest of the night before going back to London. Wow, that was one helluva walk.