Home > Rick on TV > Guide to Shows > Edinburgh

Edinburgh

This is a quick and handy source for details on the sights, hotels, tour guides and restaurants featured in the "Edinburgh" show. For much more (and updates), see this year's edition of Rick Steves' Great Britain guidebook.

New Bell Restaurant

The New Bell serves up filling modern Scottish fare from steak and salmon to haggis in a Victorian living-room setting above the lovable Old Bell Inn. Along with wonderfully presented meals, you'll enjoy white tablecloths, oriental carpets on hardwood floors, and a relaxing spaciousness under open beams (two-course £12.50 special until 18:45, £15 plates 17:30–22:00, always a veggie option, open daily, 233 Causewayside, tel. 0131/668-2868).

Museum of Scotland

This huge museum has amassed more historic artifacts than everything I've seen in Scotland combined. It's all wonderfully displayed with fine descriptions offering a best-anywhere hike through the history of Scotland. Start in the basement and work your way through the story: prehistoric, Roman, Viking, the "birth of Scotland," Edinburgh's witch-burning craze, clan massacres, all the way to life in the 20th century. Free audioguides offer a pleasant description of various rooms and exhibits, and even provide mood music for your wanderings (free, daily 10:00–17:00; free 30-min intro tours generally at 10:30, 12:30, and 15:30; 2 long blocks south of Royal Mile from St. Giles Cathedral, Chambers Street, off George IV Bridge, tel. 0131/247-4422, www.nms.ac.uk).

The Writers' Museum

This aristocrat's house, built in 1622, is filled with well-described manuscripts and knickknacks of Scotland's three greatest literary figures: Robert Burns, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Louis Stevenson. Edinburgh's high society would gather in homes like this in the 1780s to hear the great poet Robby Burns read his work. Burns' work is meant to be read aloud rather than in silence. In the Burns room, you can hear his poetry — worth a few minutes for anyone, and essential for fans (free, Mon–Sat 10:00–17:00, closed Sun).

Edinburgh Literary Pub Tour

This two-hour walk is interesting even if you think Sir Walter Scott was an arctic explorer. You'll follow the witty dialogue of two actors as they debate whether the great literature of Scotland was high art or the creative recreation of fun-loving louts fueled by a love of whisky. You'll wander from the Grassmarket, over the Old Town to the New Town, with stops in three pubs as your guides share their takes on Scotland's literary greats. The tour meets at The Beehive pub on Grassmarket (£8, book online and save £1, June–Sept nightly at 19:30, April-May and Oct Thu–Sun, Nov–March Fri only, call 0131/226-6665 to confirm, www.edinburghliterarypubtour.co.uk).

Cadenhead's Whisky Shop

The shop is not a tourist sight. It's a firm, founded in 1842, that prides itself on bottling good malt whisky from kegs straight from the best distilleries, without all the compromises that come with profitable mass production (coloring with sugar to fit the expected look, watering down to lessen the alcohol tax, and so on). Those drinking from Cadenhead-bottled whiskies will enjoy the distilleries' pure product as the owners of the distilleries themselves do, not as the sorry public does. If you want to learn about whisky — and perhaps pick up a bottle — they love to talk (Mon–Sat 10:30–17:30, open some Sun 12:30-17:30 — call ahead to confirm, 172 Canongate, tel. 0131/556-5864).

The Britannia

This much-revered vessel, which carted around Britain's royal family for more than 40 years and 900 voyages before being retired in 1997, is permanently moored at the Ocean Terminal Shopping Mall in Edinburgh's Port of Leith. It's open to the public and worth the 15-minute bus or taxi ride from the center. Explore the museum, filled with engrossing royal-family-afloat history. Then, armed with your included audioguide, you're welcome aboard.

This was the last in a line of royal yachts that stretches back to 1660. With all its royal functions, the ship required a crew of more than 200. The captain's bridge feels like it's preserved from the day it was launched in 1953. Queen Elizabeth II, who enjoyed the ship for 40 years, said, "This is the only place I can truly relax." This sunny lounge just off the back Veranda Deck was the Queen's favorite, with teak from Burma (now Myanmar, in Southeast Asia) and the same phone system she was used to in Buckingham Palace.

The back deck was the favorite place for outdoor entertainment. Ronald Reagan, Boris Yeltsin, Bill Clinton, and Nelson Mandela all sipped champagne here with the queen. When she wasn't entertaining, the queen liked it quiet. The crew wore sneakers, communicated in hand signals, and (at least near the queen's quarters) had to be finished with all their work by 8:00.

The dining room, decorated with gifts given by the ship's many noteworthy guests, enabled the queen to entertain a good-size crowd. The silver pantry was just down the hall. The drawing room, while rather simple, is perfect for casual relaxing among royals. Princess Diana played the piano, which is bolted to the deck. Royal family photos evoke the fine times the Windsors enjoyed on the Britannia (£9, daily admission times April–Oct 9:30–16:30, Nov–March 10:00–15:30, these are last entry times, tel. 0131/555-5566, www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk).