A Weekend in Edinburgh

The capital of Scotland, Edinburgh is an incredibly vibrant city to explore. Only a short flight away from the South West (around 45 minutes to an hour from Bristol). With bundles of history, monuments, eateries and great cocktail bars, it is the perfect place to visit over a weekend.

Whether you want to explore the quaint streets of Edinburgh, sit in a bar and drink a number of cocktails or learn about gin at the Edinburgh Gin Distillery. Hopefully, my weekend in Edinburgh blog will inspire you to take a trip to this incredible city! So, here is my three-day itinerary!

Day One

Breakfast at Tigerlily

We discovered Tigerlily when looking for places to have breakfast, and they had good reviews for their breakfast. We actually first looked at heading for a boozy brunch (because we love bottomless brunches!), but they weren’t doing it when we were visiting.

If a boozy brunch if your kind of thing, I’d highly recommend checking the menu out, it’s £35 for a continental plate to share, a breakfast dish, a welcome cocktail and prosecco!

Although they weren’t doing the boozy brunch, we decided to go anyway as the place is pretty Instagrammable and the breakfast menu looked good. I opted for the smoked salmon on muffins, which was £8. 

You can view the breakfast menu here. 

Visit Edinburgh Castle

One of the most iconic places in Edinburgh is Edinburgh Castle, one of the most historic fortified places in Europe. Sat on top of a hill, when you’re in the centre of Edinburgh, you can’t really miss it! 

You have to pay to go inside the castle, it’s cheaper to buy tickets online, which I’d recommend doing, as you say £2 per ticket online compared to the gate price, it’s£17.50 for an adult (online). During the summer, the castle opens 9:30 AM – 5 PM and during the winter, 9:30 AM – 4 PM. There is also the option to join a guided tour.

We didn’t actually head inside the castle, but we spent time outside!

Get Weird at Camera Obscura & World of Illusions

I’d seen quite a few bloggers and vloggers I follow head to a World of Illusions (there are quite a few around Europe!). So, we knew we wanted to visit Camera Obscura on our visit. Camera Obscura is located very close to Edinburgh Castle, so I’d recommend combining the two, to make the most of your trip.

You can’t book online, so there may be a bit of queue to get tickets. Although on the site, it does say online booking coming soon (as of Feb 2020). It’s £16.50 for an adult and £14.50 for a student.

There are five floors to discover, when you purchase your ticket you can go back anytime during the day, in case it gets busy, pop out and visit later on! 

Take advantage of the 360-degree views of Edinburgh, the views are pretty stunning! 

Homemade Cake At Southern Cross Café

Homemade cakes and hot chocolate? Southern Cross Café is situated close to Edinburgh Castle, making it the perfect pitstop for heading back into central Edinburgh.

We popped in to have a famous hot chocolate and a chocolate brownie, which was delicious! Peek into the window for a glimpse at their incredible cake selections!

Grab Some Food

We added a lot of places to eat on our itinerary, which obviously we couldn’t all visit! So, I thought I’d link the places which we had looked at visiting, so you can make up your own mind on where to visit:

• Mama Roma – Italian (which is where we visited on our first night!)
• Spatch – Tex Mex
• The City Café – American
• Fazenda Rodizio Bar & Grill – Brazilian

Head For A Beverage

Everywhere I visit I like to trial some of the local drinks on offer! I thought I’d list some of the top-rated bars in Edinburgh:

• The Lucky Liquor Co. – They have 13 cocktails made from 13 spirits, with the menu changing every 13 weeks!
• Veeno – An Italian wine Café
• Brewhemia – This was located close to our hotel and looked buzzing on the weekends!
• Tonic – Independent cocktail bar with a fab menu

Day Two

Discovery Gin Tour

New to the gin scene, Edinburgh Gin Distillery has been making gin since 2010 at two distilleries in Edinburgh. There are three tours available at Edinburgh Gin; gin discovery (£10 per person), gin connoisseur (£25 per person) and gin-making (£100 per person). 

The tours sell out well in advance, with as long as a five-month wait for the gin connoisseur tour on the weekend, so as soon as you book your trip I’d advise booking a tour! 

We opted for the gin discovery tour which lasts 45 minutes, you’ll be taken through the history of gin, the botanicals used, and the production of the gin, finishing off with a G&T! 

Tuck Into A Scottish Breakfast

When you’re in Scotland it’s a must to try haggis, and when better to try then breakfast! Most places are likely to serve up a traditional Scottish breakfast, so you’ll have a pick of the bunch.

We headed to Royal McGregors which is situated close to Edinburgh Castle, and alongside a full Scottish (£7.50), I opted for a Prosecco Mimosa (£3.75).

Alternative View at Miss Jean Brodie Steps

One place which I discovered from a blogger I follow who lives in Scotland is Miss Jean Brodie steps, it doesn’t look like a lot when you walk by the alley, but walk to the top and you can see these incredible views!

Cake at Hello Love Crumbs

One we found on Instagram! Love Crumbs is a quirky café with two locations in Edinburgh. We went to the one closest to Miss Jean Brodie steps. 

Delicious cakes, mouth-watering pastries and great coffee, we knew it had to be included on our itinerary! It was super busy when we visited, with not a lot of tables, meaning we had to share a table with someone else which didn’t bother us.

I opted for a mocha and a salted caramel cookie, and both were incredible! 

Day Three

Traditional Breakfast at Mimi’s Bakehouse 

We were staying at Jury’s Inn, which was located very close to Mimi’s Bakehouse! On our last day, we decided to go there for breakfast, it’s a family-owned bakery, as well as the great breakfast menu, of course, the cakes were amazing too! 

I almost went for the Biscoff French toast (sounds incredible right?!), but it came with bananas which I hate. Instead, I opted for the crumpet eggs benedict, which was delicious!

I’d recommend picking up some cake because I couldn’t fit anymore in after breakfast, or dropping by later on to take some home!

Explore Victoria Street

Another place I’d seen on Instagram, I saw this incredible picture which I wanted to recreate. The quaint colour houses are super pretty on Victoria Street and the street was actually the inspiration for Diagon Alley in Harry Potter.

You probably know that JK Rowling wrote a lot of Harry Potter in Edinburgh, so there’s a lot you’ll recognise from the films here!

Sunday Roast at Otro

To finish off a weekend anywhere should involve a roast! I’d researched the best roasts in Edinburgh and Otro came up, it’s £15 for one course, £19.95 for two courses and £24.95 for three courses which is an incredible price.

We opted for the two courses and went for a dessert rather than starters. The food was incredible and well presented, and super filling!

For the main, I went with the roast beef which came with a Yorkshire pudding and duck fat roast potatoes. Followed with a trio of mini chocolate desserts!

Walk Off the Roast at Calton Hill

Incredible views and the perfect way to finish off a weekend in Edinburgh is taking a stroll at Calton Hill. We didn’t get a lot of time to explore, but could easily have spent hours discovering the place. It takes about five minutes to walk up the hill up a staircase.

And there we have it, my weekend in Edinburgh itinerary! Edinburgh is truly an amazing city, and there is far too much to discover in just three days, so I’d love to go back and do more! 

If you’ve visited Edinburgh before, what are your top tips? I’d love to know, let me know in the comments! 

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