Whilst every effort is made to ensure accuracy, please confirm event/venue details in advance.
COUNTRY CODE:
Dial +44 for Scotland
FROM THE AIRPORT
Car Hire :
Take advantage of the special easyJet inflight rates. Visit the Europcar desk on arrival or call +44 (0)131 333 2588. Open from 6.55am-11.15pm seven days a week.
Taxi :
The journey takes about 25 minutes and costs £15.
Bus :
The Airlink 100 service goes to Waverley Bridge in the centre of Edinburgh. The journey takes about 25 minutes. Buses leave every 10 minutes from 4.40am-0.12am. Tickets: £3 single; £5 open return.
(45 Market Street, Old Town. Tel. 0131 226 1843) The window of this trendy gallery near Waverley station provides a great lunchtime rendezvous. The sharing platters and sandwiches are delicious but the cakes are the real treat.
(18 Eyre Place, New Town. Tel. 0131 556 0006) The international cuisine has a distinctly French flavour at this newly opened restaurant with a neighbourhood feel. The 'slurpies', such as large French tapas, provide plenty of cheaper options.
(15 George IV Bridge, Old Town. Tel. 0131 226 3131) Deliciously clean and unfussy dishes, that work with the flavours without stifling them, mark out this airy bistro that succeeds in being intimate at the same time. It's worth booking ahead and asking for a table with a castle view.
(Balmoral Hotel, 1 Princes Street, New Town. Tel. 0131 557 6727) Michelin-starred chef Jeff Bland emphasis the creative side of his dishes while using only the finest and freshest Scottish ingredients. Formal dining at its very grandest with a price tag to match.
(15 Niddry Street, Old Town. Tel. 0131 556 0444) Deep in the vaults under South Bridge, the music is of an indie-goth bent and the clientèle know how to keep going right to the wee small hours.
On the ground
Shop
The arrival of Harvey Nichols' first Scottish store in 2002 was a coup for Edinburgh's stylish credentials over Glasgow. The five-storey landmark building is a crucial destination for those with designs on sartorial excellence (30 St Andrew Square, New Town. Tel. 0131 524 8388).
Insider Tip
Bruntsfield Links, between Tollcross and Morningside, is known as the oldest continually played golf course in the world. Just turn up with an iron and a putter to play pitch-and-putt across the area where the city once buried its unmourned dead (www.bruntsfieldlinks.co.uk).
Key Area
Running below the Old Town, the Cowgate is pedestrianised by night when revellers spill out from its large bars and clubs. The tiny closes which worm up to the High Street are Edinburgh's hidden treasures by day and its underbelly by night.
This month
The Traverse, Scotland's new writing theatre, premieres Nova Scotia, the much-anticipated fourth part of the Slab Boys, er, trilogy by Tutti Frutti writer John Byrne this month (ends 24 May. 10 Cambridge Street, West End. Tel. 0131 228 1404).
Day Tripping
Dunbar
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Forty minutes east of Edinburgh by train, Dunbar is the birthplace of John Muir, founder of the conservation movement, and reputed to be the sunniest place in Scotland. Although small, its pretty harbour and easy clifftop walks make it a pleasant day trip.
No way!
Nineteenth-century royal refugees from France were so taken by the taste of Edinburgh's gypsum-rich beer that they dubbed it "Scottish burgundy".
Royal refugees from France in 1831 were so taken by the taste of Edinburgh's gypsum-rich beer that they dubbed it "Scottish burgundy".
