Edinburgh
The majority of my time in the UK was spent in Edinburgh, Scotland, where I studied abroad for Fall 2018.
In Scotland I did SO much, I love the country, I went to Ceilidhs–Scottish dances (not once, not twice, but three times!)
I climbed Arthur’s seat which is an ancient volcano at the heart of the city (multiple times)
Additionally, I did lots of other adventures throughout the country including climbing
- The Cobbler
- Ben Lomond
- The Cairngorms
- Traveled up to the highlands
- Isle of Skye (x2)
- Went to a fire festival
- I took part in a Scavenger Hunt (if you are looking for fun things to do, this may be the document for you): THE EDINBURGH SCAVENGER HUNT (This Scavenger Hunt was created by Kate and Flo)
Edinburgh – Things to Do
- You can hike Arthur’s seat (not very hard, maybe 20 minutes to the top). While on your way up or down (or just around it) check out the ruins of Saint Anthony’s chapel. And on the north side is also Holyrood palace which I’ve heard you can take tours of
- Definitely the castle (there are free walking tours, ask where to meet for one, I HIGHLY recommend you take the tour first then afterward you can explore the castle yourself)
- Also, you can walk up Calton Hill and have one of the best views of the old town that I can think of
- Royal mile (for shopping and there’s usually a bagpiper). Check out St. Giles Cathedral
- The Abbey Bar (great pub for food-I highly recommend you try the haggis)
- Also, another great pub for food/drink is any Weatherspoon bar. Also, the big thing in the UK, in my opinion, is the ciders. If you’re a fan of cider then definitely try the Strongbow dark fruits, it was my favorite drink the entire time I was there
- Are you a Harry Potter fan? If so check out the Elephant house (where jk Rowling wrote Harry Potter) and the graveyard behind it (Greyfriars kirkyard) which has the name of some of the Harry Potter characters (like Tom Riddle)
- Finally, I would check out the Old College. It’s super gorgeous.
- There’s the national museum of Scotland
- For bars (not like a family thing) The Three Sisters is SUPER fun
- If you need to buy any clothes while out there, go to Primark—super cheap good stuff there
- Typical grocery stores are Aldi, or Tesco or Lidl
- You can use google maps to get to all the places I mentioned
- If, by chance, there is a ceilidh happening while you’re visiting then YOU MUST GO
- Drink lots of cider, eat lots of haggis (get a meal of haggis neeps and tatties) also get a thing of chocolate covered digestive biscuits in a grocery store. Those were my favorite cookie/snack t