Edinburgh Ooh-Na-Na

Stephi
Nov 30, 2017
3 min read

Okay, so it's not as exotic as Havana ooh-na-na, but half of my heart is in Edinburgh...ooh-na-na!

A December trip to Edinburgh has become our Christmas tradition; we went for the first time in 2012, then went back 2015, 2016 and we've booked to go back this year. It really is an amazing city, we've experienced something different every time we've visited and still have so much more to see/do in the future.

2012

When we visited in 2012 we stayed in the Radisson Blu hotel, which I picked because I totally love a bit of a spa suite. We visited Edinburgh's Camera Obscura and World of Illusions, explored the Royal Mile, went up to see Edinburgh Castle and of course, spent a lot of time wandering the Christmas markets enjoying all the festive eats and treats. I tried haggis for the first time on our last night when we ate at The Royal McGregor - loved it! We also booked on to one of the walking ghost tours with City of the Dead tours, which was brilliant. The tour took us to loads of interesting places around the old town like Greyfriars kirkyard where we saw some of the gravestones that inspired JK Rowling with some of her character names for Harry Potter. We needed to grab something to eat before catching the tour so popped in to Hard Rock Cafe and I'll never forget what one of the hosts said as we left: "Oh look, that girl's scarfs got wee mustaches on it!"

2015

In 2015 we opted to stay at Stay Central on Cowgate; when I was searching online I loved the quirky style, the rooms looked modern and clean and it was a great price. We added on breakfast in the adjoining Three Sisters PUB, which is a must for anyone staying there. I didn't feel like it was worth booking a swish hotel with a spa suite this time as there's so much to see and do out in the city that we just wouldn't get the use of it. TBH an hour in a cosy cafe with a hot chocolate is a perfect re-charge for me anyway. We went to the National Museum of Scotland, which is free admission and definitely worth a visit, the building is amazing and there's a huge variety of exhibitions to check out. We stopped for a coffee at The Elephant House cafe, which is described as the birthplace of Harry Potter because JK Rowling sat writing some of her early novels in the back room overlooking Edinburgh Castle. We enjoyed a warming soup and sandwich at Southern Cross cafe and lots of shopping and eats around the Christmas markets. We also decided to check out the Edinburgh Dungeons attraction and were really glad we did; the actors are incredible and the Edinburgh history was so interesting...with a little adrenaline rush thrown in at the end.

2016

For our visit in 2016 I bagged a few great deals from Groupon; I booked the Ghost Bus Tour and tickets to the Dominion Cinema, both amazing value and really worth doing...especially the cinema, that place is a little gem. We decided to stay at Stay Central again having loved it the year before and they offer a discount for returning customers. On the customary walk up to the castle we popped into the Tartan Weaving Mill; it's brilliant for gift and souvenir shopping and you get to see the looms weaving the tartan. We went for meal at Ghillie Dhu, which I came across browsing on Google maps. Lovely food at a really reasonable price and we were seated in one of the booths with a drinks order hatch - made good use of that. Being cat people, we had to visit Maison de Moggy, I was really hoping one of them would sit on my knee because my cat Lenny doesn't, but it wasn't to be.