A winter weekend in Edinburgh

Photography, Travel

January 4, 2020

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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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!

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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,

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  1. We were in Edinburgh just before Christmas and enjoyed it very much too. There are so many things to see and do there. Happy New Year!

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