Double-Decker Bus Routes in Edinburgh: A Local's Guide

Edinburgh rewards anyone willing to sit upstairs. The centre is a tight knot of tenements, spires and volcanic rock, and much of what makes it handsome sits above head height — which is exactly where a double-decker puts you. Lothian Buses, the council-owned operator whose maroon-and-white fleet is part of the streetscape, runs double-deckers on most city routes. Ride a scheduled service and you get castle views, Old Town closes and a coastal day trip for the price of an ordinary fare. The skill is knowing which route to take, which side to sit on and when to get off.

Princes Street: the castle view done properly

Every visitor ends up on Princes Street, and rightly so. The gardens fall away on the south side, the Castle sits on its crag above them, and the whole panorama unrolls at first-floor height. What many people miss is that you do not need an open-top tour to see it. Ordinary service buses — among them the 1, 11, 16, 22, 25 and 26 — run the length of the street, and from the front seats of the upper deck you look straight across the gardens to the Half Moon Battery.

Seat choice matters more than you would think. Travelling east towards Waverley, the Castle is on your right. Coming back west, take a left-hand window seat. The buses rarely crawl, so have your bearings before you board rather than scrambling across the aisle as the view appears.

For a closer look at the rock itself, get off at the West End and walk up King's Stables Road towards the Grassmarket. The Castle looms directly overhead, and you can pick up another bus from Lothian Road once you have had enough of craning your neck.

The Old Town from the upper deck

The Royal Mile is largely closed to through traffic, so no bus will carry you along its full length. The next best thing is the Bridges. Routes such as the 3, 7, 8, 14, 29, 31 and 49 cross North Bridge and South Bridge, and the top deck gives you a view down into the Cowgate, across to the Scott Monument and up towards the crown of the Hub. Sit on the left heading south for the best of the skyline.

Useful places to break the journey:

• North Bridge — five minutes uphill to the Royal Mile and St Giles' Cathedral.
• South Bridge — the starting point for the closes that drop steeply down to the Cowgate.
• Lothian Road — a short walk to the Grassmarket and the colour of Victoria Street.
• Waverley Bridge — the station, the Scott Monument and the open-top tour departure points.

One route worth knowing if you are arriving by air: the Airlink 100 is a double-decker from Waverley Bridge out to the airport, with luggage space downstairs and some of the best views of the western approach on the way.

Coastal day trips by double-decker

Edinburgh's coast is closer than it looks, and the buses that serve it are double-deckers all the way. The trick is to travel outside the morning and evening peaks, when these routes fill with commuters rather than day-trippers.

Portobello and Joppa

The 26 and 44 head east from the centre and drop down to the seafront at Portobello. The promenade, the wide beach and the Victorian pool are all a couple of minutes from the stop, and the top deck gives you a long view along the Forth before you get there. Stay on past Portobello and you reach Joppa, quieter and with a clear line of sight across the water to Fife.

Musselburgh and East Lothian

Continue east and the same corridor takes in Musselburgh, with its racecourse and harbour. Beyond that, East Coast Buses — Lothian's sister company — runs double-deckers further out to Prestonpans, Longniddry, Aberlady, Gullane and North Berwick. The 124 is the classic coastal run, and you should allow well over an hour each way. The final stretch past the mudflats and dunes is worth the fare on its own, and North Berwick town is a comfortable base for a walk to the harbour or a look at the Law.

South Queensferry and the Forth bridges

Go west instead of east and the 43 runs out to South Queensferry, where the Forth Bridge, the Forth Road Bridge and the Queensferry Crossing stand in a row. From the upper deck on the approach you can see all three at once — a different prospect from the one you get through a train window. Check the current timetable before you set out, as these routes change with the seasons.

A half-day route that works

If you want one plan that covers the best of it, this sequence holds up in almost any weather:

1. Board any eastbound service at the West End of Princes Street and ride to North Bridge.
2. Walk up the Royal Mile to the Castle Esplanade, then back down through Victoria Street to the Grassmarket.
3. Return to Princes Street or North Bridge and pick up a 26 or 44 heading east.
4. Stay on to Portobello, walk the promenade, and ride the same route home.
5. If the weather turns, swap the coast for the 16 out to Silverknowes and walk the Cramond foreshore instead. The Forth looks dramatic in the rain.

Done briskly, that is half a day. Done slowly, with a stop for lunch, it is most of one — and it costs about the same as a couple of coffees.

Fares, timing and top-deck etiquette

Lothian uses a simple flat fare across the city zone, and contactless cards and phones are accepted on the bus. If you are making more than two or three journeys in a day, a day ticket usually pays for itself; buy it on the operator's app or from the driver, and keep the paper ticket handy in case you are asked to show it.

Timing is the difference between a window seat and a crush. Avoid roughly eight to nine in the morning and half four to six in the evening, and remember that the top deck fills quickly when schools come out in the mid-afternoon. Stops across the city have real-time displays, and the app shows live departures, so there is no need to guess.

A few small things make the ride better. Keep hold of the handrail on the stairs, stay seated while the bus is moving, and give up the front seats for anyone who needs them. If you want commentary with your views, the hop-on hop-off tours are a different service at a higher price and are genuinely useful for a first visit — but for castle views, Old Town rooftops and a run to the sea, the ordinary double-decker does the job perfectly well.

Photo: Sinitta Leunen / Pexels