Edinburgh Recommendations

First things first: edin-burruh. That way people know what you’re talking about. Second things second: it’s “whisky”, not “whiskey”.

At the time of writing it’s been four years since I went to Edinburgh, so the list has slimmed down quite a bit from what it might have been due to cognitive attrition. Anyway, in no particular order:

Rabbie’s overnight Highlands tour: got a great whirlwind tour hitting Inverness, Ben Nevin, Culloden, Duncarron, and the largest full Scottish breakfast I’ve ever seen (at a real bed and breakfast)! Ask me about coracles sometime.
Teutchers Landing: lovely local pub in an amusingly cobbled-together building and a great selection of scotches.
Scotch Malt Whisky Society (Queen Street): their whole thing is you order whisky based purely on the tasting notes – they will not tell you what distillery or whisky it is. Love it.
Auchentoshan: okay this is actually in Glasgow, but the train ride is quick because Edinburgh and Glasgow are a conurbation and it’s the nearest notable distillery and offers tours. The tours are great and come with a really interesting tasting at the end.
Arthur’s Seat: a mild hike located right in the city with nice views. Great for sunset.
Haggis: the weirdness of haggis is way overblown. I think Americans are just afraid of off-cuts. If anything, it’s actually kind of boring – but give it a try anyway just to know.
Cullen skink: classic dish that’s basically fish chowder. Not bad if you’re into that kind of thing.
Harry Potter walking tour (or just Victoria Street and Greyfriars Kirkyard Cemetery): honestly you could just look it up on the internet and do it yourself… even as a mild Harry Potter fan it’s still kind of interesting to see the subtle or not-so-subtle references made to Edinburgh in the book.
National Museum of Scotland: Celts, Anglo-Saxons, and a surprising amount of Industrial Revolution (given the size of the country).
Fringe Festival: I haven’t gone, but it sounds like a ton of fun. You’ll probably know if you are accidentally going when it’s on because of the prices of everything.

Slàinte mhath!¹

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I’ll be nice: you should definitely look up the pronunciation of this before you say it out loud to a Scot. ↩