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 Edinburgh Location: Lothian, Scotland, UK
Population: 450,000
Tourist Information Office: Tourist Information Centre, 3 Princes Street, Edinburgh, EH2 2QP
Shopping: The main shopping street is Princes Street, where
you'll find all the main department stores such as Debenhams, Frasers, BHS,
Marks & Spencers. Two independent department stores are Jenners, also on
Princes Street, and Aitken & Niven on George St. George Street is the place
to come for fashion as it's lined with chic clothes chops. Good places to
look for second-hand and antique art, jewellery and books are around the New
Town (St Stephen St, Northwest Circus Pl, Thistle St), Broughton St, Victoria St
and the Grassmarket.
Nightlife: The club scene is lively, with some excellent
venues hosting a changing selection of one-nighters. In the bigger
 venues, you
may find different clubs taking place on each floor. Most of the city-centre
clubs stay open until around 3am. You can normally hear live jazz, folk and rock
every evening in one or other of the city's pubs. The city has permanent venues
large enough to host large touring orchestras and ballet companies; elsewhere
you can also uncover a lively comedy club and a couple of excellent art-house
cinemas.
Edinburgh has a dynamic gay culture, for years
centred round the top of Leith Walk and Broughton Street, where the first gay
and lesbian centre appeared in the 1970s. Since the start of the 1990s, more and
more gay enterprises, especially cafés and nightclubs, have moved into this
area, now dubbed the "Pink Triangle".
Eating Out: Famous principally for its historically significance
and yearly comedy festival, Edinburgh is starting to rival the likes of London
and Birmingham for variety and quantity of eateries. Edinburgh proves a worthy
advisory for Glasgow when it comes to a great Indian meal, even though Glasgow
was named curry capital of the UK. The Indian Cavalry Club embraces the colonial
splendour of the Raj in all aspects from décor to menu. Balli's excels in
offering great variation in all courses and a great diversity in naans and
chapattis and Kalpna should satisfy all vegetarian curry fans. Black Bo’s gives
a more traditional take on vegetarian cuisine, with old favourites such as
soufflés and pastry parcels rejuvenated with modern ideas. Thai, Mexican and
Sudanese cuisine is found at its best at the Siam Erawan, Coconut Grove and the
Nile Valley Restaurant. As is only right and proper , Scots cuisine takes centre
stage in this main city. A Room In The Town is one of the flagship restaurants
in a Scottish renaissance. The restaurant makes a feature of great, traditional
Scottish ingredients, such as oatcakes, black pudding and fresh game.
Attractions:
Edinburgh
Castle
is open daily throughout the
year. This most famous of Scottish castles
has a complex building history. The oldest part, St Margaret’s Chapel, dates
from the 12th century; the Great Hall was erected by James IV around 1510; the
Half Moon Battery by the Regent Morton in the late 16th century; and the
Scottish National War Memorial after the First World War. The castle houses the
Honours (Crown Jewels) of Scotland, the Stone of Destiny, the famous
15th-century gun Mons Meg, the One o’Clock Gun and the National War Museum of
Scotland.
The Royal Mile is Scotland’s most fascinating
street; it runs from Edinburgh Castle, through the Old Town, to
 Holyrood
Palace
and is lined with museums, churches and historic buildings dating from the 15th
century. Holyrood is the Monarch’s official residence in Scotland. It was
founded in 1128 when David I founded an abbey on the site and is still used
today by the Queen whenever she is in town. Guided tours are available and lead
visitors through the grand State Apartments, the Throne Room, and the Great
Gallery, culminating in the apartments of Mary Queen of Scots and her husband
Lord Darnley, their bed-chambers linked by a secret staircase. A plaque on the
floor marks the spot where Mary's Italian secretary David Rizzio was murdered in
1566. Next to the palace lie the Gothic ruins of the Abbey, whose Royal Vault
contains the remains of kings David II, James II, James V, and Lord Darnley, who
was himself murdered by Mary's love r. The adjacent Holyrood Park was
historically a Royal hunting ground, but is now a wilderness where locals can
escape to for walking and taking in the spectacular scenery.
The
National
Gallery of Scotland is situated in
the heart of Edinburgh and is home to Scotland’s greatest collection of European
paintings and sculpture from the Renaissance to Post-Impressionism. The museum
opened to the public in 1859 and includes works by Botticelli, Cézanne, Van
Dyck, Pisarro, Monet, Raphael, Rembrandt, and Titian. The Gallery also boasts
the most comprehensive collection of Scottish painting in the world. TheScottish Portrait Gallery can be found nearby at 1 Queen Street and includes
great paintings of Scots rather than by Scots.
Local Transport: Edinburgh International Airport links
Edinburgh to Europe and other major UK Cities. National Rail
 connections are
provided by GNER along the east coast mainline to London via Leeds and York,
Virgin Trains operate cross-country services via the Midlands to the South West
of England. Local rail connections are available throughout Scotland.
Accommodation: Edinburgh has a wide variety of accommodation
to suit all requirements. Ranging from luxury five star hotels through to small
family run hotels and guest houses. Edinburgh also offers a number of self
catering establishments.
Our Rating:
Plenty to see and do and an ideal base to explore other parts of Scotland.
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