Today is Day 5 for the 7nt 2018 British Isles cruisers.
And they are now in Greenock, Scotland!
Many of us toured Edinburgh from here.
So these tips will be for Edinburgh, Scotland.
1. This is a major tourist hub. I emphasize MAJOR because the crowds are bad in the tourist season
2. 10x worse on a Sat (when we visited)
3. We took the
DCL Edinburgh castle excursion w/ Holyrood Palace. Next time, I'll arrange a private transport and purchase advance tickets on my own in order to get moving the minute the ship gives the all clear.
four major problems with this excursion:
a) we left later than I would have liked (an hr. behind everyone else)
b) we started at Holyrood Palace which made Edinburgh Castle insanely crowded that afternoon when we arrived.
c) This tour included all entrance tickets to both venues - but we stood around at both places for a good 10-15 minutes at least, waiting for our guide to pick up tickets. So it wasn't a time saver to choose this excursion over touring on our own.
d) you don't walk the Royal Mile - they bus you to both locations (at opposite ends). Timing is really tight.
4. wear the headset audio guide for Holyrood Palace. It was incredible to hear the life Mary Queen of Scots had there as you walk through her chambers.
5. At Edinburgh Castle - It's a steep uphill climb - especially to get to the highest point in crown square so be prepared.
a) My advice is to break away from the DCL guide - and head straight to Crown Square first (#21 on this map), then work your way back toward the entrance touring the rest of the castle grounds as time permits. (everyone tours in the one direction - walking upward as they climb which creates a lot of bottlenecks)
Photo taken standing next to #6 on the map - (not shown to our left) looking straight ahead at #3 and #4. (notice the incline as we continue upward)
b) Once inside crown square, there should be an express line to just climb the tower and tour only the Scottish Crown Jewels. (This is separate from the museum + crown jewel line everybody automatically gets in that you will pass on your way to the square - there were guides directing to both lines) The queues were crazy long on Sat afternoon.
c). If you want to experience an excellent English Tea = Edinburgh Castle has a tea room (with complete menu as well) where we sat and enjoyed an incredible afternoon tea right inside the castle walls. (knife&fork symbol within #21 on above map) Highly Recommend!! (we put our name in for a reservation for the tea room first - since it was an hr. wait to be seated that Sat - then got in line & visited the crown jewels while we waited)
6. The Royal Mile is a great place to browse and shop. The Scotch Whiskey Experience gets good reviews and is located right near the entrance to Edinburgh castle. (complete with a 5min. barrel ride attraction through a makeshift distillery and a whiskey tasting room). Unfortunately, we did not have time to visit. There are other less tourist themed whiskey merchants along the Royal Mile as well.
7. There is no place to park a coach, so a lot of busses are just dropping off and picking up at random locations around the royal mile. Make sure you can recognize a few others from your group and know exactly where the meet up points are to avoid getting confused or lost. (esp. if your guide is ill prepared and all over the place like ours - more on him later)
That's enough of a full day of tips.
Hope everyone has a great time today visiting Scotland!!