Question of the week: Could you recommend a favourite weekend break destination in the UK? "Edinburgh's a fantastic city for a weekend away - lots to see, good nightlife, and even the journey there and back can be part of the adventure.
I recommend taking the train - if you can swing it so that one leg of your journey will be arrive/departing Edinburgh while it's still daylight, the scenery along the rail line from Doncaster on up is beautiful - there are moments when you're running right along the cliff tops. The other option to think about is taking a sleeper train, which, with prices starting at £19 one way is pretty cheap as a mode of transport, and a positive bargain when you think of it as a night's accommodation as well. You can get direct flights from London on the usual bargain airlines, but I don't think that can begin to compare with the practicality and the romance of taking the train.
Once you're in Edinburgh, the Castle is the obvious must see, but don't forget, down at the other end of the Royal Mile there's the historic Palace of Holyroodhouse and the contemporary Scottish Parliament. (If you have any interest at all in either politics or architecture, the free guided tours of the Parliament building are fascinating.)
If your tastes lean more towards the literary, you can spend an evening on a literary pub tour, the morning at the Writer's Museum, lunch at The Elephant House coffee shop, where JK Rowling wrote the first Harry Potter books, and then spend the afternoon exploring the Princes Street area to find traces of Sir Walter Scott, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Robert Louis Stevenson, or, if you've ever read Hogg's Justified Sinner, climbing Arthur's Seat, for the literary reference as well as for the view.
For gigs, and other evening activities, check out The List and Time Out Edinburgh. If you're planning to do a bunch of bus tours and suchlike things, investigate whether or not the Edinburgh Pass will save you money over doing each thing separately, or for a bargain option, consider buying and downloading one of the MP3 walking tours."
- Miss Alice
* Photo by veggiesosage, used under Creative Commons, with thanks.
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