A Edinburgh city break on about 65 EUR per person per day is realistic. The formula: sleep in Leith, walk instead of riding (the center is compact enough), build days around free anchors like The Royal Mile / Arthur's Seat and Holyrood Park, and eat where the locals do. Getting in from the airport is cheap too: From Edinburgh Airport, take the Airlink 100 bus straight to Waverley Bridge in the Old Town, or the tram to St Andrew Square in the New Town; both run every 10 minutes and take about 30 minutes for around 5.50 EUR (4.50 GBP) single. A taxi is roughly 30 EUR and no faster in traffic..
Daily target
65 EUR
Sleep in
Leith
Airport
From Edinburgh Airport
Free sights
8+
The picks under 130 EUR that do not feel like a compromise.
First visit€€On the Royal Mile · Old Town
A smart rooms-above-a-pub inn in a former bank right on the Royal Mile, so the castle and Holyrood are both a walk away. It can be lively below at weekends; ask for a room at the back.
from ~160 EUR/night
Check prices
Local life€€Dockside design · Leith
A design hotel in a converted seamen's mission on the Leith waterfront, among the docks that now hold some of the city's best restaurants. You trade the Old Town lanes for a quieter, more local base a tram ride out.
from ~130 EUR/night
Check prices
Budget€Hostel below the castle · Grassmarket
A characterful hostel right under the castle rock by the Grassmarket, with private rooms as well as dorms and a lively common room. You cannot sleep more central in the Old Town for the price.
from ~25 EUR/night
Check pricesReal hotel photos · prices are indicative from-rates, not live quotes · booking links support the site at no extra cost
These cost nothing and carry a full day each. Build around them and the paid tickets become optional extras instead of a budget drain.
The Royal Mile
FreeTipWalk it downhill from the castle to Holyrood so gravity is on your side, and duck into the free narrow closes off it, like Dunbar's Close garden or the Real Mary King's Close area, for the real medieval texture. Skip the tartan tat shops on the main drag; the interesting bits are down the side stairways, and early morning is the only time it is quiet.
Arthur's Seat and Holyrood Park
FreeTipClimb the extinct volcano for the best free panorama in Edinburgh: it is about 45 minutes up from the Holyrood side, and the gentler path from Dunsapie Loch is the easiest line to the summit. Wear real shoes and a windproof, as the top is exposed and the weather turns fast, and go early morning or a long summer evening for the light and the space.
Calton Hill
FreeTipThis is the easy classic skyline shot: a flat 10-minute walk up from the east end of Princes Street gets you the postcard view down the Old Town spine to the castle, framed by the mock-Greek monuments. It is free and open all hours; come at sunset or blue hour for the best light, and it is far less effort than Arthur's Seat for a nearly-as-good panorama.
Princes Street Gardens
FreeTipThis free valley park sits in the drained old loch bed directly below the castle rock, giving you the classic look-up-at-the-castle view without paying for anything. Walk the lower path for the best angle, rest on the grass on a rare sunny afternoon, and note the Christmas market and big fair take over the eastern half from late November.
Dean Village
FreeTipA former milling hamlet on the Water of Leith, this cluster of turreted stone houses is a 15-minute walk from Princes Street and one of the city's prettiest quiet corners. Reach it along the riverside walkway rather than the road, come early before the small lanes fill with photographers, and keep the noise down as people actually live here.
Greyfriars Kirkyard
FreeTipThis atmospheric old graveyard is free and open in daylight, and worth it for the loyal-dog statue of Greyfriars Bobby at the gate and the headstone names, Riddell, McGonagall, Potter, said to have inspired Harry Potter characters. Go in the late afternoon for the eerie light, and it sits right beside the National Museum so pair the two.
Victoria Street
FreeTipThe curving, pastel-fronted shopfronts of this steep Old Town street are the most photographed streetscape in Edinburgh and a rumoured model for Diagon Alley. Shoot it from the terrace of Victoria Terrace up top for the full sweep, come before 9am to beat the crowds, and browse the genuinely good independent bookshops and cheese shops rather than the wizard tat.
The Scott Monument
FreeTipThe soot-black Gothic rocket on Princes Street is the largest monument to a writer in the world, and you can climb its 287 narrow spiral steps for a small fee to a series of tight balconies with rooftop views. The staircase gets steep and claustrophobic near the top so it is not for everyone, but the second-tier view over the gardens to the castle is the payoff.
Grassmarket pubs
Drink in the cobbled hollow below the castle rock where the terraces look straight up at the crag, but step off the square itself into the side streets for fairer prices and better beer. Try a Scottish craft ale or a dram of whisky, ask the bar for a small tasting flight to compare, and expect it to stay lively later than most of the Old Town.
Edinburgh's old port, a couple of miles north and now on the tram line, Leith has turned its dockside warehouses into some of the city's best restaurants, including a cluster of Michelin kitchens along The Shore. It is grittier and more mixed than the centre, with a real working-city edge, craft-beer bars and the Royal Yacht Britannia moored at Ocean Terminal. Good value and full of life if you do not mind commuting in to the sights.
Now put it in order: the 2-day Edinburgh itinerary works on this budget with the swaps above.
A Edinburgh city break on about 65 EUR per person per day is realistic. The formula: sleep in Leith, walk instead of riding (the center is compact enough), build days around free anchors like The Royal Mile / Arthur's Seat and Holyrood Park, and eat where the locals do. Getting in from the airport is cheap too: From Edinburgh Airport, take the Airlink 100 bus straight to Waverley Bridge in the Old Town, or the tram to St Andrew Square in the New Town; both run every 10 minutes and take about 30 minutes for around 5.50 EUR (4.50 GBP) single. A taxi is roughly 30 EUR and no faster in traffic..
The strongest free sights in Edinburgh: The Royal Mile, Arthur's Seat and Holyrood Park, Calton Hill, Princes Street Gardens. Several paid sights also have free or reduced windows; check the tips on each itinerary page.
Leith. Edinburgh's old port, a couple of miles north and now on the tram line, Leith has turned its dockside warehouses into some of the city's best restaurants, including a cluster of Michelin kitchens along The Shore. It is grittier and more mixed than the centre, with a real working-city edge, craft-beer bars and the Royal Yacht Britannia moored at Ocean Terminal. Good value and full of life if you do not mind commuting in to the sights.