Scotland Travel Information

Eating out in Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a great city for the food lover. There is a massive selection of eateries scattered throughout every part of the city. All tastes, prices and styles are catered for in the same way that you would expect from any other large European City. The are a large selection of takeaways, fine restaurants and pubs where food is served; also Edinburgh is joining the rest of the UK that is currently seeing a boom in the Cafe Culture. I think there are currently five Starbucks in the city.

There is a selection of traditional (and not so traditional) Scottish foods that you should try. These include:

• Scottish Salmon
• Aberdeen Angus steak
• Haggis
• Fruit pudding
• Deep-fried Mars bar (only the Scots could do this!!)

As well as the centre of Edinburgh it is also worth checking out Leith and the West End when looking for a place to eat. Both of these places are out of the centre of the city but hold a large number of places to eat. A list of specific places that are recommended follows:

• For good traditional Scottish The Witchery by the Castle (http://www.thewitchery.com), Castlehill, Royal Mile, Edinburgh (0131 225 5613) is highly recommended as is Oloroso (http://www.oloroso.co.uk) (0131 226 7614) - albeit a little pretentious, and A Room in the West End (http://www.aroomin.co.uk/westend).
• Edinburgh hosts a number of excellent Indian restaurants including Suruchi (http://www.suruchirestaurant.co.uk) (0131 556 6583), Namaste (0131 225 2000), Britannia Spice (http://www.britanniaspice.co.uk) (0131 555 2255), City Spice (http://www.cityspice.net) (0131 476 1593), The Bombay Bicycle Club (0131 229 3839) and The Far Pavilions (http://www.thefarpavilions.co.uk) (0131 332 3362).
• Vegetarians are catered for with David Bann's (http://www.davidbann.co.uk) vegetarian restaurant. 56-58 St Mary's Street (0131 556 5888), info@davidbann.co.uk. Imaginative and tasty vegetarian food, some courses are suitable for vegans. Main courses cost about £10. Also worth a mention is Black Bo's (http://www.blackbos.co.uk) (0131 557 6136) just off the Royal Mile.
• Edinburgh also has a number of fine fish restaurants ones to try include: Fishers Bistro (http://www.fishersbistro.co.uk) (0131 554 5666), The Mussel Inn (http://www.mussel-inn.com) (0131 225 5979) and Maxi's (0131 343 3007).
• Other personal favorites include Jacques (http://www.jacquesbistro.co.uk) (0131 229 6080), Maison Bleue (http://www.maison-bleue.co.uk) (0131 226 1900), First Coast (http://www.first-coast.co.uk) (0131 313 4404), Izzi (http://www.izzi-restaurant.co.uk) (0131 466 9888), Tijuana Yacht Club (0131 220 1208) and The Outsider (0131 226 3131).
• Edinburgh's first Michelin-starred restaurant is Restaurant Martin Wishart (http://www.martin-wishart.co.uk/), which is on The Shore at Leith. Highly recommended, but maybe not for every night of the week!

Originally published at http://wikitravel.org/en/Edinburgh

Things to do in Edinburgh

• the Royal Yacht Britannia [1] (http://www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk) - runner-up Best UK Attraction in 2004

• Edinburgh Castle [2] (http://www.historic-scotland.gov.uk/edinburghcastle) - tel 0131 225 9846. Edinburgh Castle, home to the Edinburgh Tattoo, is a magnificently situated royal fortress located on one of the highest points in the city. The castle has been continuously in use for 1000 years and is in excellent condition. The audio tour, which costs £3 per headset, is extremely detailed and worth hiring, providing both location based and chronologically based commentary on the castle. The castle opens at 9:30am and closes at 6:00pm April to October and 5:00pm during the rest of the year. Admission is £9.50 adults, £7 concessions and £2 children.

• the Palace of Holyroodhouse [3] (http://www.royal.gov.uk/output/page559.asp) - tel 0131 556 5100. fax 020 7930 9625. email bookinginfo@royalcollection.org.uk. The Palace is a royal residence, and hosts the Queen's Gallery containing a collection of art from the Royal Collection. The Palace is best known as the home of Mary Queen of Scots and as the site of the murder of Mary's secretary Rizzio by her husband Lord Darnley. The Palace opens at 9:30am and closes at 6:00pm April to October and 4:30pm during the rest of the year. Palace admission is £8 adults, £6.50 concessions, and £4.00 children. Separate admission to the gallery is £5 adults, £4 concession and £3 children. Joint admission to the gallery and the palace is £11 adults, £9 concessions and £5.50 children.

• Museum of Scotland [4] (http://www.nms.ac.uk/scotland/) and Royal Museum [5] (http://www.nms.ac.uk/royal/), Chambers Street, tel 0131 247 4422. fax 0131 220 4819. typetalk 18001 0131 247 4422. email info@nms.ac.uk. The museum mixes innovative modern architecture with the best of Scotland's heritage. Exhibits include Scottish pottery and weapons from the Roman era and the Renaissance. Opening hours are 10am - 5pm Monday to Saturday with extended opening to 8pm on Tuesdays; and 12pm - 5pm Sundays. Admission is free.

• the Scott Monument - built in 1846 to commemorate the life of Sir Walter Scott after his death in 1832, the Gothic spire monument allows you to climb 200 ft above the city centre to enjoy fantastic views and get a closer look at sculpted statuettes of characters from Scott's works. Open April - September Mo-Sa 9-6, Su 10-6; October - March Mo-Sa 9-3, Su 10-3. East Princes Street Gardens, Tel: 0131 529 4068. Admission £2.50.

• the National Gallery of Scotland [6] (http://www.natgalscot.ac.uk/) holds much of Scotlands fine artwork and carries exhibitions that change seasonally. The new Western Link was opened in 2004 with an entrance from Prices Street Gardens. It joins The National Gallery with the neighbouring Scottish Academy gallery and gives Scotland it's first world class art space. The Mound, Edinburgh, EH2 2EL, tel. +44 (0)131 624 6200

• St Giles' Cathedral [7] (http://www.stgilescathedral.org.uk/), Royal Mile

• Mary King's Close [8] (http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/), Warriston's Close (opposite St Giles' Cathedral), open daily except Christmas Day - a slice of Edinburgh's medieval history, preserved since being closed over in the 18th century - watch out for the haunting....

• Visit Edinburgh Zoo [9] (http://www.edinburghzoo.org.uk/), entry £8.50 Adults, £5.50 children
• The Scottish Parliament, just off the royal mile. A unique building with a staggering £ 400 million + price tag which is ten to twenty times the original estimate !

Orginally Published at http://wikitravel.org/en/Edinburgh

Edinburgh Fringe Festival Photos

Edinburgh Fringe

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

(Description taken from Edinburgh Fringe Festival)

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe is an arts festival associated with the Edinburgh Festival. It takes place in the city of Edinburgh over five weeks during August, and is the largest arts festival in the world.

The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, more usually called the Edinburgh Fringe, was started in 1947, the same year that the Edinburgh Festival was started. Eight theatre companies decided to take advantage of the crowds of theatregoers expected to attend the Festival by putting on unofficial performances of their own. Since then the Fringe has outgrown the official Festival, and now has its own staff and coordinating organisation, which sells more than a million tickets each year.

The Fringe is focussed almost exclusively on the performing arts, particularly theatre and comedy. Fringe material can be anything from Shakespeare to the truly experimental. Some Fringe venues are established professional theatres and regularly sell hundreds of tickets to a performance; others are converted church halls or even living rooms, and attract single-digit audiences.

The prestigious Perrier Comedy Awards are announced at the festival.

The Edinburgh Fringe has inspired a world-wide circuit of festivals in many Canadian, American, Australian and European cities. Fringe Theatre Festivals are distinguished by their unjuried selection process, allowing artists to produce a wide variety of interesting works.

Official Edinburgh Fringe web site