Edinburgh - tourist advice

[Littlepeahead]

My 9 year old nephew has yet to go on an aeroplane so I've promised him a trip this spring and Edinburgh seems the most likely choice as it won't require me to arrange a passport for him.

Any recommendations on hotels that do family rooms?

Also need some ideas where to take him once we are there. We'll arrive Saturday morning and fly home Sunday late afternoon so two half day excursions with a wet weather option would be good.

Any suggestions?

[SoulKiss]

Go to Glasgow instead

[Bri w]

Depends on your budget but the Holiday Inn Express, Piccardy Place is about £60 per room/night. There's rooms with a sofa bed, or for another £60 you can have two rooms with interconnecting doors. There's also a H. Inn Express at the bottom of the Royal Mile that does similar rooms for the same price.

TBH there's loads of choice up there. I quite often stay at the Holiday Inn next to the zoo, and just get a tax into town.

Depends what he's into.
Zoo, now with giant panda.
camera obscura,
EICC indoor climbing walls
National museum of flight (30mins out of city)
Ghost walks
Castle.
There may be a kids matinee show on at the playhouse.

Alternatively if its about the flight why not look at a sightseeing / aerobatic flight in a private plane, or combine it , airplane flight + helicopter flight or Glider flight. Most small airports do these things.

Hotel wise, depends what you want, chains, premier inn etc are all in the city and do family rooms, lots of smaller boutique hotels and b&bs that have family rooms or twin rooms as well.

HTH

What are you taking for photographic ID for him then? Most airlines require photo ID (ie passport) for internal flights.

In Edinburgh there's also the National Museum of Scotland, it has loads of kid-related things in, my small person loves it. The Dungeons are good too and both are fairly central. There's usually always a street performer or two going about even outwith festival time. Like KG has said, the Zoo is usually a winner (tho it is expensive), there's also the Edinburgh Capitals Ice Hockey team - they might have a home game on depending on when you're here.

As for hotels, you wont go wrong with premier or holiday inn.

[Paul the 6th]

I hope you are happy killing the planet with your needless domestic flight Claire.

Only kidding, I set fire to some old tyres for a laugh the other day.

King Marys Close is underground/indoors - lot of imagination required since most of it is just low ceiling'd empty rooms below street level where "many people would have live in close proximity" etc. but lots of interesting history and I would definitely do it again when I'm there next time.

The dungeons will get your nephews heart racing (make sure you look for some 2 for 1 or similar discount vouchers as they're always floating around on the internet/on the back of pay & display parking tickets..)

Would he appreciate the Hard Rock Cafe Edinburgh?

Asside from that lots of parks for a picnic (although you might want to dodge the one on princes street after they tell you about the 'norloch' during king marys close tour). There's the monuments, the castle is great (albeit expensive, £14/ticket to get in now! Me and dani were only in there for an hour while I proposed to her - £28 for the privellege!) and also Edinburgh Zoo which is a bit out of the centre but worth visiting if he's big into animals. Does anyone know if the one-eyed tiger is still there?