Edinburgh trams?

[Nod]

Only a couple of years later than originally planned, we're heading up to Edinburgh in a few weeks and will need to get from the airport to the city centre (staying just off the Royal Mile) so I'm guessing that the tram will be the best way (mid-day sort of times, both ways). Just wondering how regular and reliable the service is (timetable suggests every 7-8 minutes).

Also, wondering how far it is from a tram stop to the Zoo - easy walk (under a mile) or would we be better getting a bus pretty much door to door?

 

[boogie man]

We were up there for a week in January. We got a bus from right outside the airport terminal into the city centre. It stopped at various points, including right outside the zoo. It’s a regular service and was pretty cheap.

Not sure about the tram service, they were doing a huge amount of extension work to the system in one part of the city that didn’t look like it’d be finished anytime soon.

Enjoy the trip. We loved it, can highly recommend the castle, Holyrood Palace, Britannia and the National Gallery.

 

[paulmck]

Trams are fine and very regular (10 minutes or less at that time of day). I've never used them to get to the zoo, only the airport. The only issue I can see is that you will need to get off somewhere along Princes Street for the Royal Mile, but it's a fair walk from Princes Street to the Royal Mile. And if you're at the Holyrood end, it will be a bit of hike.

The bus app is brilliant - search for Transport for Edinburgh (at least that's what it's called on the Apple Store).

 

[tarric]

Balgreen is the nearest tram stop to the zoo less than a mile but the bus stops just a few yards from the zoo if memory serves me it's the 100.
If going from Edinburgh to the zoo there are a number of buses this might help.
www.lothianbuses.com/live-travel-info/journey-planner/

 

[Nod]

Thanks for the answers. I'll look into the busses as well as the trams. We're there for 4 days (Friday to Monday) and I saw that there is a 4 day pass for the trams, probably something similar for the busses.
We've been up a couple of times but both were over 10 years ago (probably closer to 15 now!) and at that point, the trams were still being laid. I have a feeling that the current extension is down to Leith.
I'm told we'll be travelling light so rucksacks only which'll make any walks across from Princes Street to the Royal Mile bearable!
Hoping the Swatch shop has stock of the Omega/Swatch Speedmaster in the Neptune when we get there...

 

[MartynK]

Thanks for the answers. I'll look into the busses as well as the trams. We're there for 4 days (Friday to Monday) and I saw that there is a 4 day pass for the trams, probably something similar for the busses.
We've been up a couple of times but both were over 10 years ago (probably closer to 15 now!) and at that point, the trams were still being laid. I have a feeling that the current extension is down to Leith.
I'm told we'll be travelling light so rucksacks only which'll make any walks across from Princes Street to the Royal Mile bearable!
Hoping the Swatch shop has stock of the Omega/Swatch Speedmaster in the Neptune when we get there...

Pretty much as above. You can get the tram or a bus from the airport to the city city, but the extension to Leith isn't open yet. The trams don't go past the zoo but there are bus and taxi alternatives for this.

Walking from Princes Street to the Royal Mile (High Street) involves a steep climb up The Mound, next to the National Galleries of Scotland. I'd rather walk to the east end of Princes Street and turn right at the Balmoral Hotel (Big Victorian hotel above Waverly railway station, and used to be called the North British), and walk up North Bridge to the High Street. It's a gentler climb!

Have a good time!

 

[Nod]

Thanks for that, Martyn. Last time we were there, we had Mrs Nod's Mum in tow and Princes Street wasn't an easy option (all fenced off for most of its length and Mrs Nod Snr. wasn't up for the walking.) I don't think our hotel is that far from the Balmoral and we're not (quite) too decrepit for a reasonably steep climb! Not sure I'm up for Arthur's Seat though.

 

[Nod]

Just back from the long weekend. Chatting to a g*lf buddy raised the point of traffic at the times we would be getting in and out of Edinburgh so we decided on the tram both ways since it avoids more roads than the busses. We also decided to give the zoo a miss since it's school holiday time... Since we had very good weather for the weekend, we decided to walk everywhere rather than use the busses - last time we were up there, we either had Mrs Nod's Mum in tow or me at my fattest (close to 21 stone...) so walking wasn't really a popular option! Missed out on tickets for the castle so walked down to the Dynamic Earth to see what had changed (not much but it was still worth the walk and entrance charge) but decided that not enough would have changed in the Camera Obscura etc. to warrant the cost of it this year. Made it up to the top of Calton Hill but decided against Arthur's Seat, not least because a friend of ours made it into the news a while back when he slipped and broke his leg up there (well, that was my excuse - a niggling bad back was closer to the truth!)