Edinburgh is a must stop on your UK backpacking tour. But when the city is hosting its Scottish New Year’s celebrations, the Edinburgh Hogmanay festival, you are going to be hard pressed to find a youth hostel with a vacancy though, so get reservations early.
You’ll want to enjoy the many celebrations, cultural events and the living history of the area, and stay safe too. Living in hostels lets you stay in many convenient locations, but even in a city that is relatively safe like Edinburgh, there are a few neighborhoods to avoid.
Other youth hostel guests have mentioned these areas to be watchful of: Muirhouse and Pilton in the North, Craigmillar and Niddrie in the Southeast, and Wester Hailes and Sighthill in the West. Try to arrive early in the day as many of the youth hostels are a 10 to 15 minute walk from the transportation stations and walking through the neighborhoods in daylight can help you assess the area. The most important tip for staying safe and enjoying your stay in Edinburgh’s youth hostels is to drink responsibly and not get too drunk.
Some other festivals that draw in lots of visitors to the city are the Edinburgh International Festival, the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, the Fringe and Edge Festivals and festivals in the themes of jazz, blues, books, film, television, theater and science. Once again, during festival times you will find vacancies harder to find than normal so make reservations if your backpacking adventure is going to take you into Edinburgh in August through September.
All year around, Edinburgh has great choices to eat out for the backpacker in all price ranges. Around Edinburgh Castle and the Grassmarket area, hostel guests say the restaurants are oriented to the tourist trade and you may want to venture to other areas of the city. Deep frying is big in Edinburgh and pizza, hamburgers, Black Pudding, haggis are to be found deep fried and crispy.
In fact, if you have a sweet tooth, you can get deep fried Mars bars for your dessert. And for those backpackers who love the UK taste treat of fish and chips, Edinburgh has a twist. Their fish and chip shops serve the meal with Edinburgh’s own special sauce, or you can still get the traditional UK vinegar sauce.
A main pedestrian precinct that is loaded with pubs for an Edinburgh pub crawl is located on Rose St. The pubs have a tremendous selection of drinks along with a variety of pub foods. Once again, if you have sampled more of the alcoholic beverages than you planned to, stay safe by taking a taxi back to the hostel.
There are so many great landmarks for the backpacker to experience and see in Edinburgh and the surrounding area. Located on a high point of the city is the royal fortress Edinburgh Castle, the place to be for the Edinburgh Tattoo Festival. “The Da Vinci Code” novel and film has made Rosslyn Chapel a fun destination for fans of this blockbuster. And the Royal Botanic Gardens are a fantastic place to picnic and wander about enjoying the tremendous landscaping and plant collection.