MOVE AROUND

    ooo, you did get to your hotel/hostel, etc. Hopefully, you have found food (and fun) and you didn’t burn your face on those two Scottish water taps.

You got up… and you need to move around the city… but how?

• Feet
• Bus
• Bike? Neeeh – too complicated (and I will write why)

Let us cover our FEET first because it is shorter. 

The city center is very, very small – around 1 square mile. The only problem is the never-ending ups and downs (it is said that Edinburgh is built on 7 hills like Rome, would you ever guess that?). It’s a short walk to get to the center from those areas: 

• Haymarket area (20 min to Princes St)
• Fountain Bridge area (30-40 min to the Castle area)
• Toll Cross area or West End (20-30 min to the Castle area)
• Meadows Park area (20 min to the Royal Mile through George IV Bridge)
  Newington Rd area (depends which end: 20 – 40min to the Tron Kirk on the Royal Mile)
• London Rd area (15-20 min to North Bridge area)
  Everything else is just torture.

You can try walking. My best friend who came to visit did everything on foot. Only when very tired – she took a bus. For a week she was my private hero.

There are just so many possibilities when you are walking – you can look at people, listen to them, try different shops, see some nice restaurants or a passage that you like. And the city itself in its “green” program is recommending walking.

But… sometimes it is just too much. So here are the BUS RULES.

The bus network in Edinburgh is wonderful! and will take you everywhere you want. They even go to Rosslyn Chapel! There are different options – you can use Border Buses and visit southern Scotland with them, or make a day trip to North Berwick with East Cost Lothian Buses. But for the intent of this small article, we will just cover the city buses and how to move around the town with them. There is a lot to do in Edinburgh and its immediate vicinity, so let’s stay here.

Map of the routes is one of the things that you will need. So are the tickets. Both things you can find in the Lothian Bus HQ at the foot of Waverly Bridge, right next to the train station. There are also some travel shops in the city if you have them nearer.

But here I need to tell you that I strongly recommend an app (map of routes), where you have all this information and much more. We do live in this fabulous era of smartphones, so use them – you can find the app under the name “transport in Edinburgh” made by Lothian Busses ltd. It is very intuitive and can show you the routes of all the busses. It also works a little bit like google maps – just write where you want to go, and it will show you the possibilities. The other good thing – it shows you where you are and the nearest bus stops, with the times of the next ones coming. A word of advice, don’t count on those times. Traffic is traffic, so the bus will probably be late. But they do come very frequently, so enjoy it.

Prices are the second favorite topic. You can buy the tickets in 3 different places:

• Travel shops
• Bus driver
• Mobile app

Main possibilities to choose from (children between 5-15 pay half price):

• Day ticket – £4
  (you can use any bus you want until midnight, not 24h)
• Day family ticket – £8,50
  (as above, for 2 adults and up to 3 children between 5-15y)
• Single ticket – £1,70
  (1 journey with 1 bus)
• Week ticket – £19+£3 (for making a Ridacard)

There are more – you can check them here.

I think these are the main ones – those that you will need when you come for a few days. You probably do want to have some freedom choosing what and when you want to do it, so just think about it, create a skeleton of a plan for your visit.

Obviously, in a Travelshop you can do what you wish, but with a bus driver – YOU NEED TO HAVE AN EXACT CHANGE to buy a ticket. No cards, no change for you. The driver doesn’t even touch the money. There is a slot where you put it, followed by a sound of casino machines, and a printed ticket that you need to tear for yourself. And one more thing – tell the driver which ticket you want 😊 Also, local custom – say hello/ goodbye/thank you to the driver (be like locals).

The last option – the app (buy tickets). This one is called “Lothian buses m-tickets” by Corethree Limited. A piece of work, cause you have to register and have a debit card, but totally worth it. Well – worth not carrying this heavy exact change in your pocket.

REMEMBER – if you want to buy your tickets there, you need to purchase for at least £10.

One more hiccup – 1 device is for 1 passenger unless you use a family day ticket. But you can share your tickets – only the other person has to have the app installed.

Sounds worse than it is, believe me. It was a bit too much for us at the beginning – but only for about 5 minutes. You will get it.

For those wanting to use the tram again (not to the airport) – the prices are as followed:

• Single ticket – £1,80
• Return ticket – £3,40
• Day ticket – £4,50

Ticket machines are on the tram stops.

Now, having maps and tickets you can use those beautiful double-deckers and go around the town, even just to see what the people around you are doing and how they are living. It is a wonderful place to have a bit of sightseeing around town – especially those peripheral quarters. I remember my trip in the search of Ikea and their freezer bags. Traveling on a bus was a wonderful experience. Not only because of the 1st-floor view. But the left side of the road was a challenge! All the cars were driving in the wrong way! Ok, the brain did its best, I helped – sitting above the driver – but nevertheless! 

Nothing can replace those views, strange buildings all made from stone. Stone and stone everywhere, some parks – well empty fields, not like where I lived. But then, all of the sudden – the pastures, the majestic hills (Pentland Hills)… and I thought that I am in the capital of Scotland! I felt like going to the farmhouse, but to my surprise, there were some bungalows (did you know that this type of building comes from the Imperial Colonies? Indies to be exact – the Bengal region. In Hindi, it was called a Bengal home – but it sounded like a bungalow. Voila!), private houses, and the “ring” going around Edinburgh. The frontier after which you go straight to the Borders… and Ikea. That was a DAY! 

Enough with the memories – time to tell you why not a BIKE. The reason is simple – too expensive and no point, cause the old town is so small. When I checked how much it cost with the rental bikes… let’s just say that I bought my own, used bike for 30 pounds. And buying it was cheaper than renting one for a few days.

As for the rental stations – they are only for the University, with a card, registration, and so on. Maybe it will change someday.

So, wrapping everything up – walk and walk. And if you are tired – take a bus. You will see most of Edinburgh this way.