Edinburgh: getting around by bus...ahh, I mean coach

The joke in the original title still lands, so here it is explained. In Britain a bus runs around a town and stops every few hundred metres. A coach goes between towns, has luggage lockers underneath and seats you are expected to stay in. Asking for the bus to Inverness will get you a patient correction.

Edinburgh is a compact city and you can walk most of it. For the rest, here is how the system works.

Getting around the city

Lothian Buses runs the network and it is genuinely good: frequent, clean and comprehensive. The maroon and white buses go everywhere you need.

Two things to know. Drivers take contactless cards, and there is a daily cap, so you tap on each journey and stop being charged once you hit the cap for the day. And if you are paying cash, exact change only, because the drivers do not give change and will not make an exception for you.

There is also a tram, running from the airport through the city centre and down to Newhaven on the waterfront. The airport service is the useful bit for most visitors.

The airport

The tram takes about 35 minutes from the airport to the centre. The Airlink 100 bus takes about 30 and runs through the night, which the tram does not.

Both are a fraction of a taxi fare. Take whichever is leaving.

Coaches out of the city

Edinburgh Bus Station at St Andrew Square is where the intercity coaches go from, and it is a two minute walk from Princes Street.

Scottish Citylink covers Scotland, including Glasgow in about an hour and a quarter, and the Highlands. National Express and Megabus run to England, including overnight services to London that take around nine hours and cost very little if booked ahead.

For Glasgow the train is faster, about fifty minutes from Waverley or Haymarket. For most Highland destinations the coach goes places the train does not.

Walking, which is the real answer

Edinburgh's old and new towns are together a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the whole of it is walkable. The Royal Mile runs downhill from the castle to Holyrood in about twenty minutes.

What the map does not show is the vertical. The city is built on volcanic rock and glacial ridges, and streets cross each other at different levels: you will find yourself on a bridge looking down at a street you thought was next to you. The closes and stairs off the Royal Mile are shortcuts if you know them and calf exercises if you do not.

Arthur's Seat, an extinct volcano 251 metres high, is inside the city and takes about 45 minutes from the bottom.

In August, forget all of this

During the Festival and the Fringe the city takes on something like a million visitors, the buses slow to a crawl and the Royal Mile becomes impassable.

Walk, allow twice the time for everything, and book accommodation months ahead.