Edinburgh Travel Guide

If you're planning a visit to Edinburgh, either for business or pleasure, then getting here is relatively easy.

You can travel to the city by all major means of public transport - train, plane and coach - as well as driving yourself. There are good road, rail and air transport links to major cities in Scotland and England including London and Glasgow. Once you're here, getting around town is pretty easy.

Local Transport

Edinburgh has historically been a compact city based around the Royal Mile. This means that most of the popular tourist attractions are within walking distance of the city centre, although you can expect plenty of your walking to be uphill! There are also numerous hotels, eating places and pubs also within a few minutes walk of the city centre.

If you want to go a little further afield then Edinburgh has a bus system better than many other cities in the UK. The main bus services are run by Lothian Buses and at the time of writing (June 2011) a single ticket almost anywhere costs only £1.30, with an unlimited Day Ticket coasting £3.20 (Be aware that some services such as the Night Buses are excluded from these prices). Other bus services are run by First Bus and a couple of smaller companies. In addition there are the hop-on-hop-off bus tours that leave from outside Waverley station.

Should you not want to get to grips with the bus system then Edinburgh has traditional style black cabs that you can flag down. Renting a car is probably also possible, but driving in the centre of town is not a joyous prospect even for locals.

In a couple of years we might also have a local tram system, however that's still in progress and I'd hate to have to bet my shirt on when or even if they'll start running.