Edinburgh in one day

Avoid paying to go see the castle mate, you'll get the best views of it from street level and for free. If it's a nice day (unlikely but you never know your luck) try to climb Arthur's Seat,an extinct volcano by Holyrood Park- the view of the city from the top is spectacular.

The festival is in full swing at the moment, so get yourself along to the Pleasance Courtyard for a beer and take a chance on some of the comedy performers at the fringe, then hit the Royal Mile for the mental street theatre. The city is really small, so pick up The Scotsman newspaper which has a daily festival guide with maps and listings. You'll see the best of the city by following the festival through the streets. Hope you have a good time

Just going by the responses of family and friends from abroad who tend to be disappointed by the interior when they visit. I went when I was a kid but all I remember is the 1 o'clock gun being fired which, admittedly, is pretty cool and still scares the tourists to this day. It won't eat up too much of your day,mind you, so it might be worth having a punt on it. Plenty other stuff to do afterwards.

The castle is nice enough to look at inside, and it isn't too time consuming if you don't drag your heels.

I would also recommend a tour of the old underground cities (official website for the tour company). I never got to see this on my last visit because it was so popular it sold out, but I have friends who said it's great.

Also, try some haggis if you get the chance.

I second this. The tour was lots of fun, plenty of good and creepy stories.

Yeah, the problem with finding English food is you usually have to get pretty regional get any of the proper stuff, if you're in a city then it's usually a more international flavour.

Luckily there is an abundance of haggis in Edinburgh. You can even get it battered and deep fried at chip shops instead of cod, which is surprisingly good too. There's also a bar near one of the cathedrals that serves proper haggis and has a rather nice whisky selection too, if you like a good drink. Sadly, I'm at an absolute loss as to which cathedral it is, or the bars name, but that won't be a problem because, like I said, you should be tripping over places that serve the stuff.

I had a day in Edinburgh in April last year and I can highly recommend the tour in the underground streets mentioned above. We took the guided tour through Mary King's Close and though a bit pricey, was extremely interesting and a little spooky as well. Fascinating stuff. We also went inside the castle, and I didn't find it boring at all, but maybe that's just me - I found the Dog Cemetary quite touching as a memorial and the views over the city are pretty awesome. There's also a much more informative installation regarding the Scottish royal jewels than you'll find for the English version of same in the Tower of London. Wish we could have had a go at climbing up Arthur's Seat but I think I would have passed out halfway up. Definitely take the time to walk all the way down The Royal Mile - it's got all kinds of fascinating stuff all the way along (and not just the Whiskey shops!). We also sprung for the tourist bus round-city tour to get our bearings and it was pretty good value in that respect, but I understand if some folks don't go in for that sort of thing. We stayed directly opposite the Walter Scot memorial and the whole cityscape, especially the St Giles Cathedral and the castle was just amazing from a bird's eye view. My older brother and I just took a walk in the evening and managed to stumble upon this amazing cemetary where David Hume happens to be interred, amongst other luminaries. There's also this big science museum thing to do with geothermal something or other down the bottom end of the city, and frankly, you have to see the new Council Chambers to appreciate just how damn weird they look (pseudo thatching???).

From that one day I'd have to say Edinburgh's a pretty damn fun town.