Tourist office Edinburgh
The City of Edinburgh Council, through its Forever Edinburgh destination brand, is the official tourism body of the city, and it keeps no walk-in tourist information office of its own. VisitScotland closed the Edinburgh iCentre on the Royal Mile on 1 February 2025 as it shut its national network, so the capital no longer has a dedicated tourist office. Visitor help on the ground now comes from other public bodies, the 3 points listed below: the two city centre TravelHubs of Lothian Buses, the council-owned bus operator, and the customer information point at Edinburgh Waverley station.
Find the nearest tourist office
The City of Edinburgh Council runs no visitor counter of its own, and its Forever Edinburgh brand works online rather than from a walk-in office. The three points below help visitors in person, but each belongs to another public body rather than to the city's tourism service.
Waverley Bridge TravelHub
Location: 31 Waverley Bridge, EH1 1BQ, beside Edinburgh Waverley station and the airport bus and tram stops
Opening hours: Monday to Thursday 08:30 to 19:00, Friday and Saturday 08:30 to 17:30, closed on Sunday
Not run by the city's tourism service: a Lothian Buses TravelHub, run by the council-owned bus operator, for tickets and travel advice.
Shandwick Place TravelHub
Location: 49 Shandwick Place, EH2 4SD, at the west end of Princes Street
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 09:00 to 17:30, closed on Saturday and Sunday
Not run by the city's tourism service: a second Lothian Buses TravelHub, with a coffee shop, for tickets, Ridacards and travel advice.
Edinburgh Waverley information point
Location: Main concourse opposite the departure boards, Edinburgh Waverley station, EH1 1BB
Opening hours: Monday to Friday 04:00 to 00:45; the full opening times are published on the official station page
Not run by the city's tourism service: the customer information point is staffed by Network Rail, which manages the station.
Get to know Edinburgh in detail
Get to know Edinburgh in detail
The Edinburgh guide on Tourist Office gathers things to visit in Edinburgh in one place: a first day on foot that climbs from Edinburgh Castle down the Royal Mile to St Giles' Cathedral and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, then out to Arthur's Seat and the National Museum of Scotland.
It also picks out what costs nothing, from Calton Hill and Princes Street Gardens to the Royal Botanic Garden and the Grassmarket, the darker corners such as Mary King's Close and the Surgeons' Hall Museums, and the concerts and shows coming up in the weeks ahead.
Bank holidays and local festivities in Edinburgh
Public holidays change the rhythm of a visit more than most travellers expect. Council offices and banks close, many shops and museums move to holiday hours, and public transport runs a reduced service, so a day built around an errand or a single attraction can fall flat. Scotland keeps a different bank holiday calendar from England, and 2026 is an unusual year: alongside the regular dates it carries a one-off World Cup bank holiday on 15 June, added by royal proclamation to mark the men's national football team reaching the finals. That makes ten bank holidays in all, though each employer and council decides whether to take the extra day, and the City of Edinburgh Council's own list of holiday closures does not include it.
National holidays in Scotland 2026
- 1 January New Year's Day
- 2 January New Year holiday, the 2nd January bank holiday
- 3 April Good Friday
- 4 May Early May bank holiday
- 25 May Spring bank holiday
- 15 June World Cup bank holiday, a one-off day for the 2026 finals
- 3 August Summer bank holiday
- 30 November St Andrew's Day
- 25 December Christmas Day
- 28 December Boxing Day, the substitute day as 26 December is a Saturday
Local holidays in Edinburgh 2026
- 20 April Spring Holiday, local
- 18 May Victoria Day, local
- 21 September Autumn Holiday, local
On top of the national calendar the City of Edinburgh Council sets its own local public holidays, the days its own services close, and these are the ones that catch visitors out because they fall on ordinary working days elsewhere. The Lothian Buses TravelHubs and the Edinburgh Waverley information point follow the transport timetables rather than the office calendar, so they tend to stay open on bank holidays while the trains keep running.