48 Hours of Fun on a Budget in Edinburgh for the Harry Potter Lover

In this blog series I show you how easy it is to budget travel anywhere and I also give you a quick overview of a new city each time in a brief 48-hour itinerary.

In an attempt to reign in all my ideas for visiting Edinburgh, Scotland this year, I'm bringing back my old 48 hours series for two separate posts on the city. While I'll be there for a week, two of those days will be attending wedding festivities, so that leaves me with four days to sightsee. I want to see all the great stuff Edinburgh has to offer, but I also want to indulge myself in all the Harry Potter goodness there is. So, this first post will be for the Potterheads and my next post will be for those who aren't.

Photo by Joe Tree on Unsplash

As always, we assume you got into Edinburgh early in the morning or the night before we begin our two days.

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Day 1

Start your day off with a nice little breakfast, or just a cuppa and a pastry, at Elephant House. While not exactly “the birthplace” of the Potter books as the restaurant claims, Rowling did do a fair amount of writing here. Maybe you can soak in a bit of inspiration while you’re sipping your coffee or tea, knowing that such an amazing book series was partially conceived here. Don’t forget to take a trip to the bathroom before you leave for a wonderful homage to the Boy Who Lived. Since I can't find any menus online, I'm estimating a meal of $30 for two, assuming they upcharge for the popularity of the cafe. 

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Greyfriars Kirkyard

This cemetery has quite a few similar names as those found in the Harry Potter books including a Thomas Riddell and a William McGonnagal. It’s perhaps true that JK Rowling didn’t actually use names from this churchyard for her characters, but that doesn’t make it any less special. The historic church was built in between 1602 and 1620 and was the site for the signing of the National Covenant, which can be found in the small museum there. And even if you don’t believe the residents of the graves here were used for your favorite books, you can find Greyfriar’s Bobby (and John Gray), the the loyal dog who sat next to his master’s grave for 14 years. Tours are available for £8 for adults, and £6 for children, but you can visit for free (or a donation). At most, this means you're paying ~$20 for two adults.

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George Heriot’s School, built in 1628, was opened as an orphanage and hospital for boys. It’s now a fancy school for boys and girls and not available to the public, though it may have been an inspiration for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Whether true or not, there’s no real reason to not want to wander by and see an awesome historical building. In fact, you don’t even need to go all the way there. You can see it from Greyfriar’s Kirkyard. Free to look!

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Believed to have inspired Diagon Alley, Victoria Street in the Grassmarket District is colorful, narrow, and has similar shops as those found in the books. I mean, you won’t find Quality Quidditch Supplies or Eeylop’s Owl Emporium, but that doesn’t make it any less magical. With the pointed roofs and the shops on a steep incline, one could certainly lose themselves here and very well imagine being inside the books. This is a fantastic place to stop and grab lunch, as the street is packed with cafés, shops and more.

Don’t forget to stock up on all things Potter at the Museum Context, which is also known as Diagon House. The Boy Wizard on Victoria Street also specializes in Potter products, so don’t forget to bring your reusable shopping bag for all your goodies. Maybe also your restraint, so you don’t overdo it. Depending on how much time you spend here, you may want to grab dinner at another Victoria Street restaurant that you saw in your wanderings. Free to browse and take pics. I've chosen Bertie's Proper Fish and Chips for lunch: £10 per entree, though some portions are big enough to share = $35 for two | Howie's for early dinner: 2-course for £14.95 = $58 for two, including beverages and maybe dessert. Lunch and dinner together comes to around $93.

I'd call it an early evening and go back to my room to save my feet for all the sightseeing and walking I'll be doing on my next day. 

Photo by Adam Wilson on Unsplash

Day 2

Get ready for an interesting day by having breakfast at Spoon. This restaurant is the setting for Rowling’s first book writing. When she was laying the groundwork for what would become one of the best-selling series in history, this restaurant was called Nicolson’s Café. It then closed and briefly became a Chinese restaurant, and now it’s Spoon. The building is still the same, and therefore still keeps the “magic” alive. Breakfast entrees are £9 or less. Including a nice cup of coffee, I'll estimate £13 per person, so $40 for two.

Head to the Royal Mile and view Rowling’s handprints in gold in front of Edinburgh City Chambers. You’ll also see other handprints here of those that contributed to the city and won the Edinburgh Award. Free!

Photo by Jörg Angeli on Unsplash

Though it may or may not have been an inspiration for Hogwarts, Edinburgh Castle is a wonderful historic castle built in the 12^th century and a fantastic way to spend your time in the city. Though you may find it very busy with tourists, one of the most popular times to visit is around 1pm when they do the firing of the gun. Admission is £17pp if you purchase ahead of time (saving you £1.50pp). $54 for two.

You can choose to eat at the castle cafe if a simple meal is what you're looking for, but nearby is a cute and well-reviewed American diner where you can grab a substantial lunch with favorites like nachos, mac ‘n cheese, burgers and more. The prices at The City Café are affordable and they even serve vegan and gluten free options, so everyone is happy. Entrees average around £10, which makes a lunch for two around $40.

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This is where you want to make reservation. The Department of Magic houses a potions bar, where you can create your own cocktails, and several escape rooms that are Potter themed. You can easily spend a fair amount of time here, depending on what you want to do. Choose from Prophecies Quest and Dark Lord Resurrection for the escape rooms. You will also need to make a reservation for the Potions Tavern if this is on your list. Two people for the escape room is £40 and two for the Potions Tavern is £34. Doing both of these will set you back $95.

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Though you could drop a hefty chunk of your travel budget to stay in the very room where Jo finished writing Deathly Hallows (552) at the Balmoral Hotel, I’d skip that and instead enjoy visiting the hotel and grab dinner or a drink at one of their restaurants or bars. The brasserie is a bit of a splurge for dinner out, but the menu looks tasty and you can make a reservation online. You could get away with a meal for just £21pp, which I'll round up with drinks to $70 per couple. 

Head back to your room/rental to reflect on all the cool things you did the last two days and to rest your feet from all the walking. Though this hardly includes all the stuff you could do that's Potter-related, it hits on all the best things you can include in a longer itinerary. Your two days, not including the accommodations you stayed in, will cost you around $422, more if you take the tour at Greyfrier's Kirkyard, and less if you start your mornings will a coffee and pastry or choose some more affordable lunch/dinner options. 

Of course, if, like me, you're planning to spend more time in the city, you can always make up your budget by including some cheap and/or free activities on the rest of your trip. 

Have you visited Edinburgh? What were your favorite things to see/do/eat?

Main Areas To Save Money When Traveling

We all know that traveling is certainly not the cheapest thing in this day and age, but that doesn’t mean that it has to majorly break the bank either, and there are definitely plenty of great ways to travel the way you want to without spending a fortune and actually saving a lot of money, so in this post I'm going to share with you some of the main areas that typically cost a lot of money when it comes to travel and how you can save money in this areas.

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Flights:

Flights, whilst certainly a lot cheaper than they were perhaps 20 years ago can still be quite costly depending on things like what time of year you’re traveling, where you’re traveling to, and also how many people you’re getting tickets for, but when it comes to finding cheap tickets there are definitely ways to do this. The first thing you should do when looking for tickets is to use a tool like Skyscanner or Google Flights that will search all of the airlines to get the best prices, you can also look across a broad range of days and dates to see when tickets are cheapest.

Accommodation:

Accommodation is typically one of the biggest travel costs, but you can avoid things like high hotel costs by staying in places like hostels and even doing couchsurfing or looking for other alternative forms of accommodation since there are certainly no shortage of options designed to cater for travelers on a budget.

Activities:

Though not all activities are going to cost a lot of money, some will definitely cost a bit more, but you can do things like book tickets online, so for example you could click here to book places for things like indoor shooting and get better prices than you’d have to pay on the day.

Food:

Food is typically the second biggest expense when traveling, so it’s important that if you’re traveling on a budget then you’re able to plan ahead for this and perhaps do some research before you leave. One of the best ways to avoid overspending on food is by choosing to eat at the places the locals do instead of in the main tourist spots since those will be over-hyped and over-priced. Another way to save money on food is by cooking for yourself if you’re staying in a private apartment or are couchsurfing.

Domestic Travel:

Traveling between places such as visiting another country or city close to the one you’re visiting is perhaps something you’ll want to do during your trip, and this doesn’t come without a price - however, that doesn’t mean it has to cost a fortune either, so for example instead of flying, you could take the bus, train, or even hire a car to drive if you prefer to.

Hopefully this post has helped you see that it’s actually quite easy to save money when traveling and that you don’t have to spend a fortune to have a great time or travel the way you want to.

Expect the Unexpected

Travel is awesome, but it doesn't always go smoothly even at the best of times. You have to learn to roll with the punches and be ready to employ a backup plan at any given time. If you're a person who does as little travel planning ahead of time as you can, you're probably used to that, but if you're not, it's sometimes hard to change things up at a moment's notice.

Know your alternatives

As an avid planner, I generally schedule out all my vacation days so I get to all the cool stuff I know I want to do. That said, I always add the alternate open times for things just in case something happens and I can't go or I find something last minute that I really want to do. That way I can move things around if needed.

Be open

You never know what you'll find when you travel. Sometimes someone suggests a thing you've never heard of or an amazing opportunity pops up that is only available at a certain time. Don't lock yourself into everything you want to do ahead of time.

Book most of your activities ahead of time

Avoid sold out tickets for things that you really want to do by purchasing tickets or making reservations before you leave home. Some things book months in advance, so it's good to know what those are and to lock those in beforehand. 

I'm not going to Scotland until September, but I've already booked my falconing experience. I'll also be booking things like my visit to the Cauldron Experience and the Harry Potter Studios pretty soon here too.

Don't overbook yourself

Yes, I schedule out my days, to the point that we have an itinerary, but I always allow more time than I think we'll need like, and usually that gives us extra downtime or time to wander around more or to do things we see on the fly. 

I also plan in time to do laundry, which forces me to go back to my room and chill. I unwind from the day, rest my feet and go to bed on time to get enough sleep for my next day. Sometimes we get takeaway on these evenings, and then we don't have to go back out. If you're in a rental or a place with a kitchen, this might be when you make a meal in or eat leftovers.

Knowing that things don't always work out the way you want them to doesn't mean you can't have a great vacation. Expect the unexpected and you'll never be disappointed, or at least learn how to deal with it so you don't feel like your whole trip has been ruined or you're too stressed to go on. Knowing things can and will change is your key to making the most of your trip and the time you have at your destination.

How do you roll with the punches when you travel?