The Chronic Illness Guide to Edinburgh

I’m not really a travel blogger, but travelling is something that most people like to do, whether or not they have a chronic illness. So with my recent trip to Edinburgh I thought I would try my hand at a bit of travel writing. 

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Travelling to Edinburgh with a Chronic Illness

The first thing I will say is, Edinburgh is not really well suited to chronic illness. The place is nothing but hills! Even the zoo is on a hill!

If you do decide you want to go to Edinburgh be prepared for the sheer amount of hills there are to go up and down – my legs felt completely broken after the four days we spent there.

Secondly, if you are travelling from as far away as Cheltenham (or further) it’s definitely worth planning in some rest stops. It is such a long way! We stayed with friends in Liverpool on the way there, and made the full drive back. After a 7 1\2 hour journey I was basically in a daze for two days. 

I still think it was worth the trip though. Edinburgh is so beautiful. I’ve also never been to Scotland before and it was so different from what I was expecting. It was wonderful!

Edinburgh Old Town

The old town is really pretty and picturesque. Once you’ve walked up all the hills there are great views of the city, and some lovely old buildings. We enjoyed walking through the streets and trying to figure out what each building was.

One building looked like the magistrates courts, but actually turned out to be the council building. Not as interesting but the building itself was beautiful! 

Plus, there were men in full Scottish dress playing the bagpipes in the streets. That was quite fun.

There were only two downsides to the old town.

Firstly, the streets were FULL of tourists. It was madness. The city centre is very busy too, but tourist busy is different from normal town busy. It’s a very tourist-y area, so the shops in that area are also aimed at tourists.

Secondly, all the roads in this area of town are paved with cobblestones. Very pretty, but not very accessible. For me, after a bit of walking around, my feet became very sore, and these stones only made it worse. 

Edinburgh Castle

Once you’ve got to the very top of the old town, you will find the castle, which looks like it’s on its own mountain (it’s pretty impressive). There’s so much to do there as well.

The castle houses the Scottish National War Museum (as well as many other museums that we didn’t have time to see). You can also see the Scottish Crown Jewels if you’re up to walking up a few stairs.

I really enjoyed the castle. There was loads to see, the views were incredible, and there were lots of places for me to sit and rest while my other half looked around at things. 

At first I was shocked at how much the tickets were (£19 seemed like a lot for a castle), but you could easily spend a whole day there and there was so much to see it was totally worth it in the end.

My highlights were the war prison, the dog cemetery and the chapel (which is the oldest building in all of Edinburgh, and it’s tiny). We also got to see the birthplace of James VI, the son of Mary Queen of Scots. 

Again though, the whole thing is a hill, and all the paths are cobblestones. Most exhibits are accessible with lifts and ramp entry, but as far as I could see the crown jewels exhibit was only accessible via a spiral staircase. 

Edinburgh Zoo

Yes, another part of Edinburgh that is a hill. I loved the zoo though. 

Edinburgh Zoo is the only zoo in the UK that has Koalas and Pandas. I’ve seen pandas before, but as Koalas are my favourite animal I was amazed by them. In all honesty I could’ve just looked at (and talked to) the koalas all day, they were gorgeous! And one of them gave birth this year so there were four of them! (Sorry for all the exclamation marks, it was just so exciting).

They also have anteaters, which we watched walk around in circles, pygmy hippos, penguins, a wallaby walkthrough and lots of monkeys. At the end, when I was feeling particularly tired, I sat and sang ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ to the capuchin monkeys – for those who don’t know, that is a F.R.I.E.N.D.S reference.

It’s definitely a whole day trip. I was shattered by lunch time, and started needing rests at each enclosure. Luckily most of them had seats where you could still see the animals, so it doesn’t feel like you’re missing out. But it is all completely accessible, it’s just all up hill (until you get to the top at least). There’s even a mobility bus, which I definitely should’ve taken advantage of!

One tip I have for you is to have your lunch on the picnic benches behind the penguin cafe. It’s right by penguin rock, so you can watch the penguins while you eat. (Or as Benedict Cumberbatch would say, pengwings.)

Good Food

There is SO MUCH good food in Edinburgh! We were only there for a few days but loved everything we had.

There’s a little hog roast sandwich place in town called Oink. They are a bit like a mission burrito, but for hog roasts. They serve only one thing, so it’s super easy! All you have to do is choose the size of your sandwich, what stuffing you want and what sauce to top it with.

I’m not a massive fan of pork, but this was delicious and I think you should definitely give it a go. 

Edinburgh is also home to the gourmet mash bar, Makkers. They serve a variety of mains with your choice of mashed potatoes – perfect for a mash lover like me! We loved it, and would definitely go again so we can try all of the different types of mash. The staff are lovely, and they’re clearly very popular as we went on a Monday night and it was packed (I’d advise going for an early dinner to ensure you get a table).

There are so many great options for places to eat, just take a look on trip advisor – it did not steer us wrong!

Where we stayed

We do normally opt to stay in a hotel when we go away, mainly because I am a sucker for a hotel breakfast, but this time we didn’t. All the hotels were so expensive by the time we came to book, and the only rooms within our budget had no windows. 

Instead, we rented a little one bedroom apartment, for half the price. It wasn’t the most amazing place we’ve ever seen, but it was just right for us. Not a bad size, we had a fully equipped kitchen, and more than enough space for our holiday. 

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The best thing about this arrangement was that there was space for Will to chill out in while I was resting. I slept in a couple of mornings, and had a nap one afternoon, but he could sit in our living room on our comfy sofa and do his own thing. Perfect!

I definitely recommend doing it this way if you can – and if you want to check out the exact one we stayed in you can find it here. 

Final thoughts

Edinburgh was exhausting, but so worth it. It’s so beautiful, and there’s lots to see and do (and eat). 

As long as you plan lots of rest time throughout the trip, there’s no reason why you can’t enjoy it as much as I did. 

I’d also advise having a few rest days after the trip to recover, especially after the journey. I spent a couple of days in a daze and found myself very thankful for the time I could rest before returning to work.

Do you have any other tips for travelling with a Chronic illness?

If you liked this post, make sure you check out my post about my weekend away in Scarborough!