What we did on our family trip to Edinburgh and St. Andrews, Scotland (Part 2 of our UK adventures) coming at you!
Our family of three went on a summer vacation to the UK, and I already detailed the first leg of our journey in London here: What we did on our 4-night family trip to London, England (Part 1 of our UK adventures).
After London, we took a train (actually two trains, which ended up being our only minor travel issue of the whole trip) to Edinburgh, Scotland, where we spent three nights. Our trip was eight nights in total, including travel, which felt like a long time when we were booking it (and the longest we’ve ever been away), but I actually wish it had been one or two more days. We wanted more time in Scotland, for sure.
None of us had ever been to Scotland, and we were so in love with nearly everything we saw and experienced there in two separate areas — Edinburgh and St. Andrews. I highly recommend a visit to Scotland, and I’m going to tell you why in this one …
Let’s relive some of the highlights from Scotland …
Experiencing the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and street theater
When we were booking our tickets to Edinburgh, we found out that the first week of August was a busy time to visit this beautiful Scottish city because of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, which is an annual three-week celebration of creativity and the arts. What this means is that when we walked out of our hotel room on our only full day in Edinburgh, we stumbled on various “street theater” acts being performed along the cobblestone streets of Old Town.
We sat down with a crowd and watched four separate performances, and a couple of them were excellent. This was such a surprise-and-delight aspect of our time in Edinburgh, because it felt so rich with culture.
We saw a traditional Scottish bagpiper, we saw a couple who traveled all the way from New Zealand for Fringe to perform in the streets and showcase their circus-like talents, and we saw a young juggler from England and more.
Once the performers began on the street, the crowds would start to circle up, and it was so entertaining. What a truly fun thing to enjoy outdoors in lovely mild weather. Because yes, our Scotland weather was excellent, just like our London weather was — we got so lucky with weather on our entire time in the UK.
Strolling down the Royal Mile in Old Town and exploring St. Giles’ Cathedral
Walking around Edinburgh really felt like being in a foreign country in the very best way. The streets are cobblestone, the storefronts are colorful and close together, and as you walk along, all of a sudden you stumble upon a 900-year old church with its door open to the public.
On our one full day in Edinburgh, we toured inside St. Giles’ Cathedral, and it was so much smaller than St. Paul’s Cathedral, but equally as special. We learned that throughout the years, preservationists continue to upgrade the structure, and the actual outside facade has changed over the years. There was a cool display all about how when human remains were found at the church site, a computer artificially constructed what the face of the person may have looked like. Wow.
That day, we spent the morning strolling along the Royal Mile (a beautiful street in Old Town Edinburgh), and this was a great way to get the vibe of the city. We went into a few shops (I really wanted to buy locally made cashmere scarves for my mom and me, but I settled on a Scottish-made cashmere blend for us both), and then we just walked and explored.
(Here are similar shoes, here are my sunglasses, and here is my purse.)
This was such a great time, but as the day went on, the streets definitely got busier and busier with tourists, and it got harder to make our way along the sidewalks. Nonetheless, walking the Royal Mile is a must in Edinburgh.
By the way, we stayed at The Glasshouse in Edinburgh, and this hotel was really nice, but pretty simple, with a modern room, cute open-air patio with city views and a bar (unfortunately, there was no happy hour entertainment, like we had in London).
The Glasshouse is from the Autograph Collection (and Marriott), and it’s located close to the train station and not too far from the Royal Mile — a perfect central location for all we did in Scotland. We were pleased with this hotel selection, but it didn’t wow us like our London hotel did.
Riding a double-decker bus around Old Town, Edinburgh to see historical streets and landmarks
We didn’t ride a double-decker bus in England, so it felt like the perfect thing to do for a couple hours in the afternoon while we were in Edinburgh. Brady rode for free, and it was money well spent for Dave and me to pay for this. We bought our tickets from a ticket window randomly, and the bus picked us up a few minutes later.
We sat on the top of the bus, open to the air and enjoyed the audio tour during this 90+ minute journey around Old Town, Edinburgh. (While you could hop on and off, we chose to stay on and rest Brady’s legs.)
What we learned, in addition to some historical accounts, is that there is a lot of beautiful green-space around Edinburgh, including rolling hills in one impressive public park called Hollyrood Park. Had we had more time, we would have loved to explore that park on foot. We also would have liked to have gone in the Edinburgh Castle (but we did at least go up there to visit it’s exterior, detailed later).
Checking out National Museum of Scotland
Another thing we stumbled across unplanned is the museum. The National Museum of Scotland in Old Town, Edinburgh is totally is free. While donations were encouraged (and we gave), they opened up this incredible place to anyone, and yes, we took advantage.
The interior of this building was just incredible, and Brady loved exploring the exhibits about dinosaurs and sharks. We didn’t spend a ton of time here, but it was a nice enriching stop after our double-decker bus tour before we had to go back to our hotel to get ready for dinner and a show.
Watching The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in front of Edinburgh Castle
This was the coolest show and was also my favorite thing we did on our entire trip, hands down.
Dave uncovered the existence of The Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo while researching what to do in Edinburgh in August. This performance takes place for three weeks each August, and this year was actually the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the show. A “military tattoo” is a type of performance, and this one featured special military groups from various countries, as well as traditional Scottish dancers, fiddlers, singers and much more. There must have been hundreds of performers, showcasing history, heroes and art.
We really didn’t know what to expect from this show, and it couldn’t have beat our expectations any more than it did. It’s a late show, starting at 9:30pm local time each night, and we sat under the stars in some stands set up in front of beautiful Edinburgh Castle. During the show, pictures and projections were shown on the castle, and groups marched out from the castle along the esplanade in front of where we were sitting.
Our favorite act was probably the “Top Secret Drum Corps” from Switzerland, who gave the most captivating (and precise) performance. But we liked all the acts. I would say we were all on the edge of our seats during this show, and we couldn’t wait to see what was next (and we didn’t want the show to end).
Fun fact: The American Drill Team performed a really technical piece mostly with flipping their guns quickly and holding poses, and one guy dropped his gun loudly in the silent arena. Every single performance had been error-free, and so this really stood out. Poor guy!
I feel like I’m talking too much about this show, which was only a couple hours out of our entire UK trip, but it was just so wonderful. If you ever go to Edinburgh in August, you must watch this show. It felt so special.
Driving to St. Andrews, touring the scenic golf course, university and city
It was very important to Dave that if we went to Scotland, we made our way to St. Andrews — the home of golf. So on our last full day of our trip, rather than doing more Edinburgh, we rented a car and drove the 90 minutes to the coast to explore St. Andrews.
Now, the renting the car was an ordeal in itself. Dave had reserved one ahead of time, and we had to access it in a weird city parking garage. Then, Dave had to drive through Scotland on the left-hand side of the road, while sitting on the right-hand side of the car. He handled it like a pro, but it was a little nerve-wracking for all of us (especially with the 800 roundabouts we encountered).
Our journey to St. Andrews from Edinburg was pretty scenic, and we passed by the smallest of towns on the way, with huge farms and acreage of countryside behind them. Then, all of a sudden, we arrived at gorgeous St. Andrews — a mixture of luxury and history.
After nearly gasping from its beauty upon arrival, we hopped out of our rental and played a round of “putting” golf at St. Andrews Ladies’ Putting Course called The Himalayas, right next to the Old Course at St. Andrews. Dave had reserved our tee time in advance, and we had the last one before lunch. The breezy coastal view made me feel like we were back on the Pacific Ocean during this morning, and Dave and I both compared it to Pebble Beach, California.
Brady and Dave really enjoyed the golf, but I was more there for scenery — and yes, the scenery really delivered. After golfing, we had lunch at The Jigger Inn on the 17th hole of the historic and famous St. Andrews course, and a wayward golf ball made its way onto the table next to us, which was comical. This outdoor lunch was pretty magical, and it was the perfect “final” lunch of the trip.
After lunch, we walked all around St. Andrews, and even went through St. Andrews University and a nearby cemetery. St. Andrews itself is not all that big, and it’s amazing to me that there’s a full school there — one that was good enough for Prince William and Princess Kate!
Dave would love to go back to St. Andrews one day and golf the real course, and I sure hope he gets to do that. But for now, he was satisfied with the St. Andrews experience he had with us, and we were satisfied too.
(Here are my sunglasses.)
Eating tasty (but weird) Scottish food
I can’t forget to mention the food in Scotland! It was not very healthy, but some of it was really good.
Some of my favorite meals of our trip took place in Scotland. We tried all the local fare and didn’t really know what we were eating until after the fact — but it felt right to immerse ourselves in the city.
Some of the places we enjoyed were The Milkman for breakfast stuff, Blank Street for pistachio lattes and treats and Makars Mash Bar for Scottish eggs and haggis (the weirdest dish, which we will described as animal organs for now) for lunch. Our dinners were fine, but nothing to write home about (or mention on the blog).
I will say it was hard to drink enough water on this trip, especially because the cups you get at restaurants for tap water are just so small. They seemed even smaller in Scotland than in England. But because we were on vacation, I filled up with plenty of other beverages! 🙂
(Here’s my lip crayon, and here’s a similar top.)
Overall thoughts on our first family trip to Edinburgh and St. Andrews, Scotland
In hindsight, we should have tried to stay for one more day in Scotland, so we could have seen more of this country — two full days and three nights was not enough. But honestly, being away for eight days (over the course of the entire UK trip) was a huge deal for us — with both Dave and me missing a lot of work, so this was the best we could do for this one. And, we’re thankful we were able to make it happen.
I think part of the appeal of our time in Scotland was that it was totally new for all of us. Both Dave and I had been to London before, but Scotland was a mystery. Edinburgh felt so quirky, historical and like a different world (compared to clean, huge and buttoned-up London, of course), and this was a great feeling.
We had taken Brady to Munich last year, so this was technically our second family trip to Europe. But because that Munich trip was through Dave’s work and pretty pre-planned and structured, this trip to the UK felt like our first big adventure overseas together on our own. It was absolutely worth the investment and effort, and we’ve got some amazing memories (and a lot of photos) to show for it.
While there’s so much more I could say about this family trip, I think we’ve covered the highlights. Thank you so much for reading about it all! Now that our trip has officially been recapped, we’ll be back to regularly scheduled stuff on A Lady Goes West. Real-life routines are very much back and in motion, and Brady goes back to school next week!
P.S. Here’s a video I made about Scotland!
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Questions of the day
Have you ever been to Scotland?
What’s the coolest show you’ve ever seen?
