Best of Edinburgh: Top 10 Countdown

These could be the BEST things to do in Edinburgh...but what do we know?

Welcome back, friends, to another installment of THE BLOG. It’s been some time since our last update (sorry not sorry) and we’ve got lots to report. 

After our big Ireland adventure we made our way back to the UK, landing in Edinburgh for a fortnight at the end of March. And once again, we’re happy to report this city blew us away. From the gothic architecture to the medieval castles and landmarks, the sprawling outdoor spaces to the colorful city streets (with very colorful history!), we really loved everything about our time in Edinburgh.

Towards the end of our time here, we were joined by Ross’s parents Doris and Joel (you’ll remember them from our time in Germany in November). They stuck around for the next leg of the adventure, and will feature heavily in the follow-up to this post!

In the meantime, here’s a picture-heavy list of the top 10 things we LOVED about Edinburgh:

10. Food

SURPRISE, SURPRISE. Obviously we ate well in Edinburgh (when haven’t we?) so it’s time for a LIST WITHIN A LIST because here’s some fav spots:

• Cafe Victor Hugo: We stumbled upon this quaint little sandwich shop on the way to the Village of Dean. It has ready-made sandwiches they’ll toast up for you and great coffee. Perfect for a quick bite on the go! This was a definite favorite.

• The Newsroom: With a cozy vibe and pun-filled menus printed on newspapers, this pub was the perfect place to bring Ross’s parents on their first night in town. Highly recommend the Steak and Guinness pie, plus they do a great Espresso Martini! 

• Makars Mash Bar: We went here as part of an excellent food tour, and enjoyed some of the most tender and flavorful beef shoulder of all time. Their potatoes are excellent as well! 

9. Harry Potter

In case you weren’t aware, Edinburgh is the city JK Rowling lived in while writing the majority of the Harry Potter novels. We took an amazing walking tour (shout-out to our guide, Kieran, for the awesome facts) showing us a variety of the places that gave inspiration to Rowling, including several graves in the Greyfriar’s Cemetery, Edinburgh Castle and University, and George Heriot's School, a posh primary school which ALSO sorts their students into four houses, which each happen to use the same colors as the 4 houses in Hogwarts…curious, very curious! 

We also did a Harry Potter Magical Potion Brewing Experience at a local pub called the Department of Magic. Highly recommend this whether you’re a Potter fan or not; they give you individual potion-making kits and sets of instructions, and you get to “brew” your own cocktail at your table! We also got some magical shots served in a clear chest filled with smoke. The dry ice budget at this place must be insane, because everything we ordered (and everything we saw other people order) had dry ice in it, but it’s worth it for the effect!

8. Village of Dean

The Village of Dean is a hidden gem in Edinburgh - just beyond the New Town neighborhood, North of the Royal Mile, there’s this teeny little village nestled up against the river. We really enjoyed walking around and exploring the area - so much so, that we came back twice in one week! There’s a river walk that takes you on a forest path along the river, leading all the way down to the Museum of Modern Art (more about that later), and it was one of our favorite outdoor activities.

7. Botanic Garden

Flowers! Waterfalls! Cool trees! Nice weather! You know the drill; enjoy the pictures. 

6. Architecture/Geography

Edinburgh should be called “The City of Stone,” because almost every building is made out of gorgeous…well, stone. Particularly in the Old Town, the buildings are so well-preserved that it’s very easy to imagine yourself in the Middle Ages walking among nobles and emissaries. The hilly nature of the town adds to the feeling of being in a time capsule, especially when you crest a hill and find yourself staring at an enormous stone monument for a world-famous author, or you look across the valley between the Old and New Towns and see nothing but beautiful buildings, green parks, and a picturesque castle. It’s absolutely stunning!

Of particular note are buildings like:

The Walter Scott Monument - the biggest monument to a writer in the world!

The Balmoral (posh hotel where JK Rowling wrote the last Potter novel); this photo is from the top of the Scott Monument.

The Ross Fountain/Edinburgh Castle

The neon letters at the top read “EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE ALRIGHT”

National Galleries of Scotland: Modern One (more on this later!)

The Rhema Christian Centre Church (walked by this en route to the Village of Dean)

5. Royal Yacht Britannia

On our way out of town, we took Ross’s parents to see the now-decommissioned yacht of the Royal Family. Britannia sailed (well, steamed) over 1 million miles in its 44-year lifetime, enough to circumnavigate the Earth once in each of those 44 years.

It had to accommodate the Queen’s taste and duties while also serving as a guest house for dignitaries and ambassadors all over the world, so it’s quite well-appointed (though surprisingly reserved) and well worth the tour. Plus, they’ve turned part of the top deck into a lovely tea room (with really nice napkins that had Ross’s Mom delighted).

4. Edinburgh Castle / Royal Mile

Edinburgh is a hilly city due to the Ice Age glaciers which shaped the landscape. As a result, Edinburgh Castle is built on top of a huge volcanic rock cliff that dominates the middle of the town. And inside - it’s massive! There’s a museum, a chapel, a cafe, an old prison, a dining hall, even the crown jewels. Plus a ton of other buildings that aren’t even open to the public. We spent hours walking around here and didn’t even get to everything! 

3. Grassmarket/Victoria Street 

We really loved walking around (read: shopping and bar-hopping) in this area, it has a ton of history and some of the most beautiful streets in the city. In the 1400s it was a cattle market, in the 1600/1700’s it was used for witch hangings and public executions, and now in 2023 it was the site of us drinking our way down the street and popping into bars like ‘The Last Drop’ - where prisoners would be taken for their final drink before being killed!

2. Arthur’s Seat 

This volcanic rock sits 822 feet above the city of Edinburgh, and we ascended all eight hundred and twenty-two of those feet to get some absolutely stunning panoramic views of the city and the Firth of Forth.

The weather was constantly changing, with strong winds blowing the clouds across the sky so that patches of blue were quickly covered by angry dark rainclouds-including one that we nicknamed ‘Doom Cloud’. As we ascended the steep steps carved into the ancient rock, we felt at times like we’d be blown off the side of the hill (shades of the Fellowship of the Ring attempting to cross the Misty Mountains crossed our minds), but the climb was more than worth it for the spectacular 360-degree views at the top.

1. Edinburgh Gallery of Modern Art

Throughout this trip, we’ve been to a lot of art museums, and while we can certainly appreciate the skill of classical artists, at a certain point, it’s 800 paintings of Jesus on the Cross, or the Virgin Mary, or some battle in some war. They’re nice to look at but don’t really spark any discussion. Over the past few months, we’ve begun to gravitate more and more to modern art. We’ve heard all the critiques - it’s meaningless, it’s ugly, a child could do it. But the more we’ve seen, the more we’ve found pieces that have stunned us, delighted us, or simply made us think. For example, this piece, titled Homage to the Square: R-NW IV, may not look like much more than a couple orange squares:

But when Ross saw this in person, he stopped and stared for minutes. It inexplicably captured his attention, and he couldn’t stop smiling afterwards. This painting is by Josef Albers, who we found out later is a legendary color theorist, who said color "is almost never seen as it really is" and that "color deceives continually." That might be profound, or it might be a bunch of baloney, but it was fun to think about!

There was also a whole room of Dada/Surrealism as well, which blew us away. It was full of strange and whimsical paintings and sculptures. Just one example, which had a question posed alongside it: Is the horse leading the man, or being held captive by him? 

So…we proceeded to make up a whole story about how both are true: The man has encountered a curse whereby he must carry the soul of the Ice Horse in his lantern, and cannot ever put it down, until he able to return the soul to Ice Horse’s God, whom Ice Horse is now leading the man toward. Oh and Ice Horse is really, really annoying and the man hates him. A classic comedy with heart.

All we’re saying is that sometimes, silly inexplicable Modern Art is just a bit more fun than the classics. We spent a whole afternoon walking around here and it really was our favorite activity in the city - we went back twice within a week!

Edinburgh was amazing, and we know we’ll return again someday. Stay tuned for Part 2 to this post, where we detail our awesome road trip through Scotland and England back down to London!