Coming up: <\/em><\/strong>buses, trams, Edinburgh airport, ridesharing, the city\u2019s famous Royal Mile, Lothian Buses, and all the basics (and beyond!) on how to get around Edinburgh.<\/em><\/p>\n So, you\u2019re visiting Edinburgh.<\/p>\n \u2026 and you want to know how to get around the city.<\/p>\n Well, in this guide, your good friends at Travelness have covered it all. Expect how to get around the city (and the city centre), how to get beyond the city, and how to get to Edinburgh from the airport.<\/p>\n Pack some sandwiches and come join the fun!<\/p>\n Getting to Edinburgh is easy, cos it has MANY transport links (and it <\/em>is<\/em><\/strong> Scotland\u2019s capital, so it would be pretty weird if it were hard to reach<\/em>).<\/p>\n You can reach the city by air, bus, car, and rail\u2026<\/p>\n \u2026 so next up, more details on all four:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Edinburgh Airport has direct connections to more than 150 places around the world. They include:<\/p>\n (<\/em>here\u2019s a list of them all<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n The airport is only 8 miles (13 km) from the city centre\u2014and you can get from the airport to Edinburgh city centre in a variety of ways:<\/p>\n Edinburgh has two main train stations:<\/p>\n Edinburgh Waverley is<\/strong> the busiest, most well-connected and most central of the two\u2014and it sits right beside the Royal Mile, the most famous part of the city. Usually, if you\u2019re coming to Edinburgh from England, this is where you\u2019ll be arriving. From Edinburgh Waverley, you can get direct connections to London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, and plenty more places.<\/p>\n Edinburgh Haymarket is<\/strong> in the west of the central part of the city. It links with Edinburgh Airport (by tram)\u2026 and if you\u2019re reaching Edinburgh from another part of Scotland, your train will probably (though not necessarily) <\/em>arrive into Edinburgh Haymarket. Edinburgh Haymarket has direct connections to Glasgow, Fife, North Berwick, Aberdeen, and lots more places.<\/p>\n Broadly speaking, train travel is the most popular and common form of long-distance travel in the UK.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Long-distance bus travel is pretty popular in the UK (especially with younger people and budget travelers)<\/em>, cos it\u2019s WAY cheaper than taking the train. For example, if I was to book an advance ticket now to ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh, I could get one for as little as \u00a34. Bargain!<\/p>\n \u2026 and because the UK\u2019s trains are regularly late, taking the bus is often more reliable (and some routes aren\u2019t much slower by bus).<\/p>\n Anyway, if you\u2019re gonna travel by long-distance bus, your three options are<\/strong> Megabus<\/a>, National Express<\/a>, and CityLink<\/a>. Megabus is usually cheaper, and they typically offer MANY more departure times. If I travel by long-distance bus in the UK, I pretty much always use Megabus.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s easy to reach Edinburgh by car.<\/p>\n England\u2019s roads are very safe and well-signposted, traffic isn\u2019t too bad in most places (especially inner-city traffic), and all roads are well-maintained.<\/p>\n To make your journeys as fast as you can, it\u2019s best to use motorways: <\/strong>motorways are the widest, fastest UK roads, and they\u2019re labeled with an \u2018M\u2019 at the beginning of their name. The main motorways leading into Edinburgh are the M90, M8, and M9\u2014but if you\u2019re approaching Edinburgh from the south, you\u2019ll probably drive via the A1 (which heads to Edinburgh from my home city of Newcastle<\/a>).<\/p>\n \u2026 <\/em>for more road-tripping around the UK<\/em><\/strong>, drive to our guides on:<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n When you\u2019re traveling within<\/em><\/strong> Edinburgh by public transport, you\u2019re usually using a bus.<\/p>\n \u2026 local bus companies have super-frequent connections (you should never wait more than a few minutes for your next ride), and most buses run between 6am and midnight. For late travelers, the city is also home to some pretty frequent night buses.<\/p>\n Most people pay for buses by card\u2014you simply tap onto a bus when you enter<\/strong>. That said, you can only do this when you have a card that works in the UK (so, if you don\u2019t have one, it\u2019s worth getting a bank account with Monzo or Wise or Revolut or whatever).<\/p>\n It\u2019s also possible to pay for your bus tickets with cash\u2026 but you need to have the exact change. Stupid, I know.<\/p>\n With both cash and card, you pay when you get on<\/strong> the bus (not before you embark).<\/p>\n Typically, single tickets are around \u00a31.80, and day tickets are around \u00a34.50 (at the time of writing, anyway).<\/p>\n Though many bus companies run within Edinburgh, most routes are serviced by <\/strong>Lothian Buses<\/strong><\/a> and <\/strong>First Bus<\/strong><\/a> (and you\u2019ll take the majority of\u2014probably all of!\u2014<\/em>your journeys with one of these two companies; especially Lothian Buses). Remember: if you buy a day ticket for one bus company, your ticket is only valid on buses operated by that company.<\/p>\n Buses from all companies run a little less frequently on Sundays.<\/p>\n You can buy passes to cover multiple trips<\/strong>, but we\u2019ve covered that soon in the \u2018tickets and transport passes\u2019 section of this guide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Edinburgh\u2019s tram system opened in 2014. It has only one line, with 15 stops.<\/p>\n As we\u2019ve covered, you can use the tram system to get to the airport and back\u2026 but aside from that, you probably won\u2019t use it very often. That said, here\u2019s the map<\/a>.<\/p>\n Trams typically run every 10 or so minutes<\/strong> (though less frequently on Sundays), and run from around 6am until around 11pm.<\/p>\n\n An adult day ticket currently costs \u00a34.50\u2014and a single adult ticket currently costs \u00a31.80. <\/strong><\/p>\n You don\u2019t buy tickets on<\/em> the tram\u2014instead, you buy them at the tram station machines before you board (and if you don\u2019t have a ticket for the tram, you can be fined \u00a310). Again, you can pay either by card or cash (cash needs to be the exact change again).<\/p>\n Again, you can buy more passes that cover multiple trips<\/strong>, but we\u2019ve covered that soon in the \u2018tickets and transport passes\u2019 section of this guide.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n These days, most people who want a taxi in Edinburgh just use Uber.<\/strong><\/p>\n So that\u2019s what you should do too. It\u2019s popular in the city, and you\u2019ll rarely wait more than 5-10 minutes for a ride.<\/p>\n \u2026 but if you\u2019re a horrendous technophobe, there are still some local taxi companies you can call the old-school way. Get their contact numbers from your guesthouse or hotel or whatever.<\/p>\n Ridesharing apps<\/strong> aren\u2019t<\/em><\/strong> popular in Edinburgh.<\/strong> I know BlaBlaCar runs in the UK, but I don\u2019t personally know anyone who\u2019s ever used it.<\/p>\n Many Edinburgh locals regularly cycle.<\/p>\n That said, many of the city\u2019s very-central streets are cobbled.<\/strong> And because they\u2019re cobbled, they\u2019re horrible for cycling on. So if you want to cycle in Edinburgh, don\u2019t get a thin-tyred road bike (the wheels will probably slip between the cobbles, and you\u2019ll fall off your bike, and you\u2019ll have a bad time)<\/em>.<\/p>\n (oh, and using a bike with some suspension can stop you from pounding your butt into chafe-ville).<\/em><\/p>\n You can find longer rides from Edinburgh (and around the UK) by using the officially waymarked National Cycle Network<\/strong>, operated by Sustrans. Made up of a massive 12,739 miles (20,501 km) of signed routes, it\u2019s varied and extensive\u2014and some of its most famous routes pass through Edinburgh. Here\u2019s a big map of them all<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Royal](\"https:\/\/travelness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/royal-mile-street-edinburgh-1823517977.7e8ceb4b.jpg\")
<\/picture>![\"Calton](\"https:\/\/travelness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/calton-hill-in-city-of-edinburgh-2415848987.5348324e.jpg\")
<\/picture>Getting to Edinburgh<\/h2>\n
Flying into Edinburgh Airport<\/h3>\n
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![\"Airplanes](\"https:\/\/travelness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/airplanes-parked-in-airport-2364157247.0da59321.jpg\")
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Getting to Edinburgh by train<\/h3>\n
![\"Waverley](\"https:\/\/travelness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/waverley-station-in-edinburgh-1139944391.bb96f96a.jpg\")
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![\"Waverley](\"https:\/\/travelness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/waverley-train-station-1017711292.4ee663f4.jpg\")
<\/picture><\/noscript>Getting to Edinburgh by bus<\/h3>\n
![\"Edinburgh](\"https:\/\/travelness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/edinburgh-by-bus-193976294.e40cb6e9.jpg\")
<\/picture><\/noscript>Getting to Edinburgh By car<\/h3>\n
![\"Speed](\"https:\/\/travelness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/speed-limit-sign-on-royal-circus-edinburgh-2491515963.cc59c211.jpg\")
<\/picture><\/noscript>Getting around Edinburgh<\/h2>\n
Buses in Edinburgh<\/h3>\n
![\"Bus](\"https:\/\/travelness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/bus-on-south-bridge-in-edinburgh-717406.68dfb2c3.jpg\")
<\/picture><\/noscript>Edinburgh\u2019s trams<\/h3>\n
Taxis and ridesharing apps in Edinburgh<\/h3>\n
![\"Taxi](\"https:\/\/travelness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/taxi-in-scotland-2075526580.c923bf4a.jpg\")
<\/picture><\/noscript>Cycling in Edinburgh<\/h3>\n
![\"Bicycles](\"https:\/\/travelness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/bicycles-in-a-central-street-of-edinburgh-165989936.307eb902.webp)
<\/picture><\/noscript>![\"Bicycle](\"https:\/\/travelness.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/bicycle-scotland-2472667267.52bd36a2.jpg\")
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