The final leg of our UK portion of our trip was Edinburgh and we were so stoked to visit a new city together. We ended up staying 2 nights but only had one day to explore the city, due to the way flights were arranged to our next stop, however we still got to explore a decent amount of the sights so we wanted to share our little walking tour of Edinburgh!
We started our day off at The Milkman, a cute little coffee shop that is close to Waverley Train Station. We then made our way up Cockburn St (pronounce “co-burn”) and had fun popping into shops along the way. The whole city feels like a huge version of Diagon Alley from Harry Potter. There are so many little winding alleyways and tiny little shops filled with knick-knacks and souvenirs. These streets have also really leaned into their Harry Potter heritage, as a lot of Potter themed shops have popped up as well (The Boy Wizard is a pretty large chain we noticed). However I didn’t really think that these took away from the charm of the streets as we wandered past them.
We didn’t have a lot of opportunities to visit museums and such, but we did pop into St Giles cathedral for a little look around, which was super beautiful. After that we wandered down to Greyfriars to take a peek at the Elephant House Cafe (where Harry Potter was first written) and to Greyfriars Kirkyard (the cemetery where a man named Tom Riddell is buried). This area was a bit more crowded with tour groups as you can imagine but we were still able to get a good look around.
Our next stop was Victoria St. which some have nicknamed Edinburgh’s Diagon Alley. We had a little wander around the shops and even picked up a cute little print on our way there of Edinburgh and then made our way to the castle.
Even if you don’t go in, it is worth it to trek up to the castle simply for the views of the surrounding city. We went up right around 3pm, and in the winter sun everything glinted in this beautiful gold light. We did a little explore around the castle, saw the crown jewels and then made our way back down the Royal Mile to head to our next stop: the Christmas Market!
The market is on Prince’s St. and is one of the best markets I have ever visited. There were four levels of food and shops and a good amount of little attractions as well. We ended up riding the big wheel and going through a Christmas tree maze. This market was so great as well because there were a lot of different food options, unlike other markets that seem to only have one vendor who serves the same items throughout. They also had an amazing hot toddy stand (yes, please)! Once we had our fill of the market we made our way to our hotel to get some rest before our early flight the next morning. I really loved Edinburgh and I hope that we will get the chance to go back and explore some more museums and coffee shops again soon.
Bon Voyage!
Partners in Flight
Merci pour le partage.
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