Weekend Trips In Scotland: Edinburgh

The first time I went to Edinburgh was during the second weekend of my study abroad program. I took a weekend trip with some of my friends to Edinburgh. We were studying in St. Andrews, which is about an hour and half train ride from Edinburgh. A couple of us got the ScotRail card, which was the rail pass for the trains in Scotland. We got the pass because we knew we would be traveling all throughout Scotland, so I highly recommend getting the pass for anyone who wants to do the same. We booked a place through Airbnb and were planning to stay overnight in Edinburgh. We all packed light since we were only staying one night and left all non-essential electronics/documents safe in St. Andrews. 

Arriving in Edinburgh was exciting. The entire atmosphere and pace of the city was so different from St. Andrews. The first thing we did was drop our stuff off at our Airbnb and grab something to eat. We went to a place that specializes in haggis and tried some traditional haggis. I have to be honest. Haggis was not too bad at first, but I couldn’t eat more than half my plate. It started to rain shortly after, but that didn’t ruin our plans. We spent the rest of the night doing miscellaneous things, such as a free ghost tour and exploring different spots in Edinburgh. 

The next day, we got up early and went to the National Museum of Scotland. This museum was huge! I have never seen a museum with such a large number of exhibits. I didn't even check out all of them. However, the few that I did see, I thoroughly enjoyed. My favorite was the Kingdom of the Scots exhibit, which was about the history and development of the nation. After this museum, we split up into different groups to explore different places. Some of us went to visit Edinburgh Castle while another group went to The Writers’ Museum. I went to the castle and the castle was breathtaking. The castle sits atop a grand hill and looks majestic from afar. We spent a lot of time walking throughout the park that surrounds the castle and enjoying all the festivities that were happening. There were many shopping places in the city so we went shopping right before we headed back to St. Andrews. 

The next time I went back to Edinburgh was actually the third weekend. A couple of us wanted to visit Edinburgh again to check out some of the places we couldn’t the weekend before. This time it was only for a day. We went early in the morning so we could fit in as many activities as possible. The first thing we did was go to the Surgeons’ Hall Museum. It turned out to be the most interesting museum I have ever been to as there were real human remains and skeletons as a part of the exhibits. There were cool simulations of the first surgeries and lectures in the surgeons’ hall in Scotland. I highly recommend this museum to anyone who visits Edinburgh and wants to pursue medicine. It was amazing to see how surgery developed over time in Scotland. Afterwards, we hiked up to Arthur’s Seat. The hike itself was only about 30 minutes, but it was very steep. It was actually quite scary hiking up. At one point, there was no real trail and we had to stay low to the ground as we continued up to the top. The view at the top, however, made me glad I decided to hike. It was a 360º view of Edinburgh. It was so beautiful. Be warned though, it was extremely windy at the top. Some of us had a hard time breathing due to the high winds at Arthur’s Seat, but I would still do it again. This was the last thing we did in Edinburgh before we took a train to Glasgow to have some vegan food for dinner. (Glasgow is known for their vegan food.) 

The times I visited Edinburgh were so fun. I wish I had more time to visit the city to its full extent. There is an endless amount of places to explore and see in Edinburgh. I am excitedly waiting for the day I can go back to Edinburgh and see the rest of what it has to offer !

Recommendations in Edinburgh:

• Hike to Arthur’s Seat

• Surgeons’ Hall Museum !! (highly recommend if you can handle it) 

• National Museum of Scotland 

• Edinburgh Castle