After studying abroad in Lyon, France in the spring of 2022, I spent a month traveling visiting friends and family throughout Europe! In the middle of my travels, I took a solo trip to Scotland and it was so beautiful. The only part that went wrong was I lost all my luggage!

In this blog, I will be sharing my solo weekend itinerary for visiting Edinburgh, and sharing some of my favorite memories of the beautiful country.

At a Glance:
Staying in a Hostel
New Friends
Exploring Edinburgh
Hiking to Arthur’s Seat
Losing My Luggage
Recap

Staying in a Hostel

I stayed at the Castle Rock Hostel which is right next to the Edinburgh Castle. I really liked the location of it, it was only a 10 minute walk from the tram that I took from the airport. It was also decorated really well inside – it matches the medieval vibe of the city!

Sometimes being in a hostel alone can be intimidating since it feels like you know no one, but once you make one friend it all becomes so much easier! It’s also a great idea to eat your meals in the common areas since everyone will hang out there when they aren’t out on the town.

New Friends in Edinburgh

I met some wonderful people that made the city even more memorable for me. I first met Josh at my hostel when I was checking in the first night. We stayed up for a while chatting and exchanging travel stories and I immediately felt more at home in this new foreign city.

He happened to be heading home the next day, but met up for lunch and had fish & chips from Bertie’s and it was so good! This is known as one of the best spots for fish and chips in Edinburgh and I highly recommend it.

For dessert, Josh insisted on getting gelato from Mary’s Milk Bar. At first I was skeptical because I thought, how good can gelato from Edinburgh be? But it was some of the best gelato I’ve ever had, even better than the gelato I had in Italy!

The next day, I met another solo traveler named Rita while we were both waiting in line at The Edinburgh Larder for brunch! We had both looked up online “The Best Scottish Breakfast in Edingburgh” and the Larder popped up for us both. We had started chatting in line, and then when the hostess asked if we were a party of 2 we said why not! The Scottish breakfast was absolutely amazing and I totally recommend coming here for a brunch, it’s worth the wait if there is a long line!

We ended up visiting the oldest bookstore in Edinburgh after our lunch, and then later on we met up again for drinks.

Exploring Edinburgh

The streets of Edinburgh were so so pretty. It didn’t rain much when I was there (though I expected it to since it normally rains a lot here!). I loved the cobblestone, I really felt like I was walking through the city during the medieval time period with all of the gorgeous and ancient architecture.

I took a self guided tour of the Edinburgh Castle which was really neat to learn more about the city’s history! It also offered amazing views of the city below and of the North Sea.

About a 15-20 minute walk from the main center is Dean’s Village. This little village was founded in the 12th century and used to be a center for milling! Today, there’s a museum you can stroll through, and it’s also super peaceful to walk down the stream.

Hiking to Arthur’s Seat

One of the things I really wanted to do while in Edinburgh was to hike Arthur’s Seat. The path I went took me just over an hour and was about 2.1 miles long – out and back. I did this hike in rain boots + jeans because that’s all I had with me, and it was still a great hike! It was so beautiful seeing how green Scotland was, and seeing the North Sea from the top. It was super windy at the top so just be prepared!

I decided to treat myself after my hike to a hot chocolate with Bailey’s from Black Sheep Coffee & Cocktails and it was so tasty. The perfect sweet treat on this rainy day!

Losing My Luggage

Traveling after spending a semester in France proves to be a little bit difficult since I’m traveling with ALL of my belongings. I had a giant suitcase, carryon, and big backpack with me. I traveled to Edinburgh, Scotland after spending a week in Switzerland. I flew by KLM from Zurich to Edinburgh, and I knew my big suitcase was 10 kilograms overweight going into check in, but since I was going directly home after traveling, I needed it all with me otherwise I’d have to throw it out. I even mentioned it to the KLM customer service person, but he put my bag through without being charged! He even said I could check my carryon for free, so I said why not!

That’s where I went wrong. ALWAYS keep your carryon with you, even if they offer to check it for free. The thing is, I packed my carryon perfectly so I only needed that when staying at the hostel in Edinburgh and so I could put my large suitcase in the luggage storage.

Long story short, I lost all of my luggage and didn’t receive my luggage until 3 weeks later….. at my house in New York….. and I had a few more places to travel to before going back to NY! I had to buy all new clothing, shoes, toiletries, and another suitcase to put it all in. KLM, I’m STILL waiting to be reimbursed for everything like I was promised!

Anywayyyyys besides losing my luggage and having to go to the airport each day to see if they received it, I really loved Edinburgh.

Recap

Despite the setback of losing my luggage, I had a great weekend in Edinburgh. I almost wish I had more time in Edinburgh since I spent a decent amount of my time there trying to track down my luggage, but I was still able to see a lot. I would love to visit the other parts of Scotland one day!