Charming Edinburgh City Victorian Villa
4 bedroom self catering house and apartments for Holiday Rental
Copyright 2006 - 2010 Edinburgh Villa
www.edinburghvilla.com
Arriving By Airport
Edinburgh Airport is Scotlands capital airport with over 50 airlines and serving around 85 destinations. We use the airport every year and find the airport extremely pleasant and user friendly. They have their own efficient bus service (the number 100 bus) which will take you from the Airport into the centre of Edinburgh and back. This is currently £6 for a return ticket and the buses are frequent, about every 10 minutes during the day. You can't miss the bus either as there always seems to be at least one sitting outside the entrance doorways. Taking this bus to our rental house you will ask to be dropped off at the zoo bus stop. The airport isn't huge and you'll easily find all the car hires adjacent to your luggage pick up. Though car is really not necessary (and discouraged) if you are planning to only explore the Edinburgh area.
Edinburgh Airport, Edinburgh EH12 9DN, UK
Number of terminals: 1
Location: 12km (8 miles) west of Edinburgh
Country code: 44
Edinburgh Airport code: EDI
Website: http://www.edinburghairport.com/
Taxis from Edinburgh airport to the City Centre (our villa) generally take 20 minutes depending on traffic conditions.
Travelling around Edinburgh city centre with Lothian Buses - Travelling from the Airport to our holiday rentals
Award winning Lothian buses are a safe, clean, and popular method of travelling around Edinburgh. Used by locals and tourists alike. Buses are frequent and so are the bus stops. Lothian bus schedules and route maps can be found here. Buses are simple to use, adult tickets are £1.30 a journey or £3.20 for a day ticket where you can hop on and off as many Lothian buses as you like during the day, children are 70p single or £2 for a day ticket. Exact change only which you pay into a machine when you get on the bus. Thankfully you dont have to prepay for Edinburgh buses!
If you click on the Lothian route map above you will see the area that Lothian buses cover. They can take you all around Edinburgh and are excellent value. It would cost an adult £1.30 to get to Rosslyn Chapel from the city centre by taking the #15 bus. If you are staying at the Quartermile or the Royal Mile apartment you can also catch the #35 bus which stops at the airport and this takes you past the Quartermile and Royal Mile, all for £1.30. I would recommend the airport bus or taxi if you have big pieces of luggage though.
Check the back of your lothian bus ticket, they often have buy 1 get one free for Edinburgh dungeon.
Travelling By Train To Edinburgh
Edinburgh also has an excellent rail system. Waverley railway station and Haymarket Station. Waverley is located in the very heart of Edinburgh, near to the Royal Mile, Castle and Princes Street. Haymarket station is just a 5 minute walk to the West End of Princes Street, there is a rail service every 15 minutes to Glasgow and regular services to all other stations in Scotland and the UK. Haymarket Railway Station is 25 minutes by bus or taxi from the airport.
Waverley Website: http://www.networkrail.co.uk/aspx/807.aspx
You may also wish to consider purchasing a Scotrail 'Central Scotland Rover' which is a 3 out of 7 consecutive days travel pass for £30. For places to visit see our day trip guide.
If you're deciding on heading a few days up north, to Inverness for instance, you may wish to purchase your train tickets ahead of time, prices are usually a lot cheaper.
Try trainline for good train ticket prices. It's where we usually buy ours.
TIP #1 Travelling with children? Then purchase the family and friends railcard and you'll save quite a lot of money!
Hiring a Car
Here are a few car rental companies in Edinburgh that I have rented from when I lived in the USA and visited Edinburgh. Booking Alamo with Costco discounts usually gives good rates for estate cars in automatic (Saab, Volvo or similar). Remember to call your credit card company as many credit cards provide overseas car rental insurance providing you use that card to rent the vehicle.
Most major rental car companies offer child safety and infant seats for rent. Please be sure you reserve these ahead of time!
Ensure that all quotes shown online are fully inclusive of VAT, insurance (if applicable), and unlimited mileage for day trips.
Edinburgh Travel Guide
with train fare saving tips
travel planner
TIP #2 Scotlands First railway group offer KIDS GO FREE tickets for rail travel as well as free entry to many of Edinburghs tourist sites such as the Zoo, Camera Obscura, Dungeon...
Sleeps max 7
Sleeps max 2
Sleeps max 5
Sleeps max 4
