Even though I lived in London for most of my life, I’d never taken the short journey up to Scotland until this Christmas. It was definitely worth it! In this post, I’ll share a few of the places in Edinburgh that we visited.

My family and I set off from Kings Cross Station in London and took the four-hour train ride to Edinburgh. Let me tell you, for someone who is a big Harry Potter fan this trip was really interesting. We saw platform 9 3/4  as we left London and the train from Kings Cross to Edinburgh felt like we were on the Hogwarts Express – I loved it!

For someone who lives in Dubai – a desert – I found Edinburgh REALLY cold. It’s a city where you need to walk around, so I basically survived off hot chocolate and wrapped myself up in lots of scarfs and jackets! On our first afternoon there we headed to the Botanical Gardens for the light show; this was one of the coolest things ever! We walked through the gardens and each section of it had a special Christmas light showcase with music and special effects (I’ve included some photos so you know what I’m talking about). Unfortunately, the show is now over since it’s January but I thought I would still share it with you as it’s definitely something you should try this December!

On our second day, we visited Edinburgh Castle, which is the must-do tourist activity, but there’s a reason why it’s so popular. The castle is so grand and impressive, and the view looking out from the castle was amazing. If you’re a history fan you won’t be disappointed, and you even get to take a look at the Crown Jewels during your tour!

We hopped on a tour bus around Edinburgh, touristy I know, but it is a good way to see the whole city without walking it all! We drove past all the famous sites and got to see the Christmas market! We also took a stroll around town and I stumbled across this really cool store full of Harry Potter merchandise. Literally, if you’re a Harry Potter fan, Edinburgh is the place for you, in fact, it’s where J.K. Rowling wrote some of the books!

In terms of food, there was one cafe that we visited that I would say you need to try! It’s called the Little Larder and it was so cute and cozy; I had the grilled cheese and a matcha latte which were super tasty. Shoutout to my dad for finding this place!

Other than all these activities we just enjoyed walking around the city and soaking in the festive atmosphere. It was a pretty chilled trip, we didn’t try and fit in lots of sightseeing over the weekend, but I know that we’ll be back, maybe in the summertime, so we can do a bit of hiking in the countryside – who knows!

Have you ever visited Edinburgh, if so, what are your top recommendations?

See you next week,