Last week I had a Friday off. This isn’t a usual occurrence but when it does happen, I try to make the most of it. A group of friends and I decided that it was time we got out of London to get a break from the hustle that hit us harder than we expected.
Having 6 different kinds of passports we decided it was best for us to find a spot somewhere in the UK. Therefore, Edinburgh it was!
If you are thinking of planning a weekend trip to Scotland, here is my experience and my recommendations.
We took the train down from London Kings Cross because flight tickets that week were slightly expensive but that’s a good option if you’re trying to
optimize your time there. The train is 4.30 hours long but it’s also the perfect opportunity to sneak in some pre reading for the next week or maybe a cheeky nap.
We got there on Friday, a little after noon, checked in to our air bnb after much scavenging in the rain to find the key. We stayed in a cozy apartment in Haymarket – about a 15 minute car ride from the main train station (they are two train stations – Waverly and Hahmarket). I recommend researching the closest one to your place of stay. This will reduce commute time with all your luggage during arrival and departure.
We then made our way to the Elephant House Cafe, a cute cafe in the town centre where J.K Rowling was rumored to have written chunks of Harry Potter. Post a late lunch, we were in no mood to trek in the rain up to Arthur’s Seat – which I would still highly recommend although we weren’t lucky enough with the weather. Craving sownthime sweet we went to cuckoos cupcakes – they’re vegan cupcakes are to die for. Instead we made our way to the Edinburgh Christmas market. Armed with warm hot chocolates gripped with gloved up hands, we took lots of pictures, even rode in the carousal. The Christmasy feeling filled the air and happiness surrounded us. We got dinner at Dishoom – a Parsi style restaurant which has branches in London too.
The next morning, we only managed to get out of bed by noon. We made our way to the castle with coffee in hand and took in the view – gorgeous is an understatement. We walked down the “Royal Mile” in awe of the Victorian architecture. For lunch, unable to find a decade that didn’t have a waiting time of 1 hour, we googled “Italian food near me” and happened to find an authentic Italian restaurant with fantastic food. Fed and happy we trekked back to the castle to go to the “Camera Obsura”. The sun had set and so we could not see the reflection of the city from the vantage point. If you plan to do this – I recommend going during the day – if you’re lucky enough, a sunny one would be best. They were nice enough to give us a demo and we had the privilege of seeing the extremely well lit primark. The rest of the museum was extremely interesting and a wonderful experience. Exhausted after the days adventures, we made our way back to the apartment and changed into Pjs. We got take out wagamama, drank some Prosecco and watched a Christmas movie. We even attempted to play a spinoff of cards of humanity called what do you meme before we all collapsed of exhaustion.
Again on Sunday, none of us made it out of bed before 10 am. We had to check out of the airbnb at 11 so we made our way to urban angel – a healthy organic restaurant in Edinburgh which seems extremely popular because they had a 1 hour waiting time both the times we went so I urge you to check it out if you get the chance. Again resorting to googling “closest breakfast near me” we chanced upon a restaurant with a fancy hotel vibe and aesthetically pleasing and filling breakfasts. We stayed there for a while until it was time to walk to the station to ensure the 5 hour journey back to reality.
A prefect calm and homey break from the constant storm that is university in London – I 100% recommend considering Edinburgh for a quick weekend getaway with friends.