Edinburgh Christmas Market & Ice Skating

I actually can’t believe that it’s two weeks until Christmas day! It doesn’t feel as though it should be so soon, this month has just flown past. The lead up to Christmas used to feel so long when I was younger and now it’s pretty much over in the blink of an eye. In order to make the most of the lead up, I’ve been trying to do some fun, festive things to feel Christmassy. One of those things was going to the Edinburgh Christmas market and ice skating in George Street. 

It had been three years since I was last at the Edinburgh Christmas market. My friend and I went on a Saturday evening. We took the train in and headed straight for the markets. There was a large queue to get in and at one point one of the event workers said we’d be at least 45 minutes until getting in however it was actually only about 10 minutes waiting to get in. We had a quick look around all the stalls and made a mental note of places we wanted to properly go to as we had ice skating booked at George Street and had to save ourselves enough time to get there. 

I hadn’t been ice skating in many years but it’s always been one of my absolute favourite things to do and as soon as I stepped on the ice, it all came back to me and I was skating round with ease. It was busy but not so busy that you couldn’t move around which was good. We booked in for 7pm and you get 40 minutes on the ice - I wish it was a longer time slot though because 40 minutes goes by so quickly that you feel as though you’ve had hardly any time on the ice before they’re calling you off. I still had a great time though. There was Christmas music playing and it was all so festive and fun. 

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After our ice skating slot was over, we headed back out to the Christmas market. Again, it only took us about 10 minutes in the queue before we were back in again. We headed straight to the potato on a stick stall and, once we finally reached the front of the queue and secured our potato on a stick, it was well worth the wait! I had it with salt and vinegar and it was so tasty. We then had a hit chocolate topped with marshmallow, whipped cream and crushed biscoff biscuit on top and it was also very delicious and festive. We had a good look around all of the other stalls and took in the sights round about. There was Christmas music blasting from speakers and the smells of all the food. It really did put me in such a Christmassy mood. 

When we had seen everything the market had to offer, we decided to go for a little night time walk around Edinburgh to see all of the Christmas lights - like at the dome and around other restaurants and cafes. Some places really do go all out for Christmas! It was really nice to be able to get to Edinburgh this year. Especially as last  year, when I had planned to go to the Christmas markets with some friends, I found out the day before we were going to go that I had covid and so I hadn’t been able to go. It was really nice this year and definitely put me in the festive mood. 

What are some things you’ve done to feel more festive this year?

Bye for now, xo