Field guide
Edinburgh tips & weather
Practical things worth knowing before you head out — getting around by bus and train, money, food, weather by season, and safety advice for coastal walks, Pentland Hill episodes, and the outer towns.
Getting around
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Lothian Buses — the city and most outer areas
Lothian Buses covers Edinburgh and most of the surrounding area, including South Queensferry, the Pentland Hills (Hillend), Roslin, Dalkeith, and Musselburgh. The Lothian Buses app gives real-time arrivals and sells mobile tickets. A day ticket (Ridacard day) is worth it if you're making more than three journeys. Buses in Edinburgh are frequent and reliable by UK standards.
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ScotRail — for East Lothian, Fife, and Falkirk
ScotRail trains connect Edinburgh Waverley to North Berwick, Dunbar, Prestonpans, Musselburgh, and Linlithgow (on the Glasgow line), and to Kirkcaldy and Dunfermline via the Forth Bridge. Advance tickets are significantly cheaper than walk-up fares — buy on the ScotRail app or website. Tap-to-pay ticketing is being rolled out but not universal yet. For Bo'ness and Falkirk, the Falkirk Grahamston station is closest.
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Cycling — flat in the city, hilly in the Lothians
Edinburgh's city centre and Leith are cycleable. The Water of Leith pathway and the Union Canal towpath give traffic-free routes into and out of the city. East Lothian is flat and has good cycle infrastructure, particularly along the coast. The Pentland Hills and Midlothian are hilly — suitable for mountain bikes or e-bikes, not for road bikes. Just Eat Cycles (hire bikes) are available across central Edinburgh.
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No Oyster equivalent — use contactless or the app
Edinburgh doesn't have a London-style travel card. Pay per journey with contactless bank card (buses and trams accept contactless), or buy through the Lothian Buses or ScotRail apps. The Edinburgh tram (airport to Newhaven) accepts contactless. There's no daily cap system like London's, so buy a Lothian day ticket if you're making multiple bus journeys in a day.
Money and paying
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Scotland is card-friendly, outer areas less so
Edinburgh city centre and most of the larger towns accept contactless everywhere. Outer area pubs, market stalls, small bakeries, and rural farm shops may be cash only or card-minimum. Carry £20 in cash for outer episodes — particularly for Tranent, Bo'ness, and any East Lothian pub that doesn't look like it's updated its card machine since 2015.
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ATMs — free at supermarkets and banks
Bank of Scotland, RBS, and Tesco ATMs are generally free. Standalone machines in corner shops and petrol stations often charge £1.75–2.50 per withdrawal. In smaller East Lothian towns, the nearest free ATM may be at the local Co-op or Tesco Express. Cashback at the Co-op till is free and available without minimum spend.
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Tipping — optional, round up if you liked it
Scotland has no strong tipping culture outside restaurant dining. In cafés and pubs, no tip is expected. In restaurants, 10% for good service is appreciated. Say the amount you want to pay when handing over cash — don't leave coins on the table in a pub, as this can be misread.
Food and drink
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The Scottish morning roll is non-negotiable
A morning roll — soft white roll, square sausage, HP sauce — from a local bakery or café is the correct pre-walk breakfast. Available across Edinburgh and in every town in this guide. Costs £1.50–2.50. Better than anything a Pret or Costa will give you. Find your local bakery the night before so you know where it is in the morning.
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Fish suppers and Fife pies
Scotland's fish supper (haddock, not cod — always haddock in Scotland) is genuinely excellent. The best are in East Lothian coastal towns and the East Neuk of Fife. A Forfar bridie (a crimped pastry filled with beef and onion) is the correct alternative. Greggs is ubiquitous and cheap — the sausage roll is reliable. East Lothian high streets have good local bakers; use them.
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Scottish pub culture — different from England
Scottish pubs serve alcohol from 11am without the English licensing complexity. No Sunday trading weirdness, no afternoon closure. The traditional 80 shilling ale (a malty, sessionable Scottish bitter) is what you order at the bar, not a craft IPA with a name like "Hopscotch Tropical Waterfall". Tennent's lager is the Irn Bru of beers — entirely local and not apologising for it.
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Supermarkets are open on Sundays — different rules from England
Scotland has no Sunday trading restrictions on supermarkets — they can open the same hours as any other day. This is different from England. For packed lunch provisioning, any day of the week works.
In the city
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Dress for the weather, not the forecast
Edinburgh's weather is famously changeable — warm sun in the morning can become cold haar (sea mist from the Forth) by lunchtime, or cold drizzle can clear to a brilliant afternoon. Dressing in layers and carrying a waterproof is the only correct approach. The haar is an Edinburgh phenomenon: the city can be warm while the coast is grey and 8°C colder — plan accordingly if your episode is at Portobello or Musselburgh.
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Deer in Holyrood Park and the outer countryside
Red deer roam freely in Holyrood Park (Arthur's Seat area) and across East Lothian. During the October rut and May–June calving, stags and hinds can be defensive. Keep 50 metres away, don't approach for photos, keep dogs on leads. On Pentland Hills episodes, deer are present but less concentrated than in Holyrood Park.
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Midges from June to September — in the west, not Edinburgh
The feared Scottish midge (Culicoides impunctatus) is a west coast and Highland problem — Edinburgh and East Lothian are largely midge-free. The Pentland Hills have minimal midge activity compared to Loch Lomond or the Highlands. If you venture west for any reason, take repellent. For all episodes in this guide, midges are not a concern.
🌤 Weather by season
Edinburgh has a cool maritime climate — wetter than most people expect, frequently overcast, but rarely extreme. Haar (cold sea mist off the Forth) can make coastal areas feel much colder than the city centre temperature suggests. Snow is occasional in winter and rarely severe. Here's what to expect.
October – March Cold, often grey, low light
Edinburgh winter is cold but rarely brutal — below -5°C is unusual. The dominant conditions are grey, damp, and windy. In December, useful daylight runs roughly 8:30am–3:30pm — plan to be in position by 9am on short-day episodes. The upside: the coastal towns and Midlothian villages are completely empty of tourists, the Pentland Hills have the light to themselves, and the East Lothian pubs are back to serving only the people who live there.
March – May Spring, variable but brightening
Spring comes later in Edinburgh than in London or Berlin — a warm March morning is unusual, a cold April morning is not. The light extends fast from mid-March onward and May gives Edinburgh some of its finest weather: clear, bright, and often genuinely warm by afternoon. The Fife coastal villages and East Lothian coast are at their best in May, before the summer crowds arrive and before the haar season fully begins.
May – June Best weather window
Late May and June are Edinburgh's best weeks. Long light — dusk after 10pm at midsummer — warm enough for outdoor lunches, and not yet overrun by the August Festival crowds. The East Lothian coast, the Fife fishing villages, and the Pentland Hills are all at their most accessible. The haar can still roll in off the Forth on summer mornings, sometimes lifting by noon and sometimes not — check the coast forecast separately from the city forecast.
July – September Summer — and Festival season
July is warm but rarely hot — above 25°C is a news event in Edinburgh. The Fringe (August) fills the city centre with visitors; the outer episodes in this guide are unaffected and actively more peaceful. August is often wetter than June. September is the best kept secret: warm, clear, and the city returns to itself. The East Lothian coast in September is as good as it gets — warm enough to sit on the beach, quiet enough to feel like you've discovered it.
⛑ Safety
Edinburgh and Southeast Scotland are very safe regions. Most episodes in this guide are in working towns and communities where problems are rare. A few specific things are worth knowing.
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Hill episodes — tell someone your plan
For Pentland Hills episodes: tell someone where you're going, download the OS Maps offline area before leaving, and carry a power bank. Signal in the Pentlands is patchy. In winter, start early — useful daylight is limited and paths get dark quickly. Carry a head torch on late-season hill days.
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Coastal edges and tides
East Lothian and Fife coastal paths run close to the water in places. The Firth of Forth is tidal — check tide times for any coastal episode where you plan to walk on the foreshore. Cliff paths at Dunbar and the Fife East Neuk are fully exposed; stay on marked paths and away from cliff edges.
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Emergency: 999 (or 112)
999 for police, fire, ambulance, and coastguard. For hill rescue in the Pentlands: call 999 and ask for Police Scotland who coordinate Lothian and Borders Mountain Rescue. NHS 24 on 111 for non-emergency medical advice. Minor Injuries Units in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary, St John's Hospital (Livingston), and Midlothian Community Hospital (Bonnyrigg) for minor injuries without an A&E wait.
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A note on liability
Kiez Traveller is a guide, not a tour operator. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at time of writing, but locations change — paths close, services stop, weather is unpredictable. Always use your own judgement. We genuinely want you to have a good day.