Edinburgh bus tours: Lothian Buses launches new 'Regal' route to highlight Capital's royal connections

Lothian Buses' has launched a new sightseeing tour to highlight the Capital's royal connections.

Edinburgh Bus Tours, the company's open-top bus division, introduced its brand-new Regal Tour on Sunday March 24. It joins the two existing tours on offer - the guide-led Edinburgh Tour and the CitySightseeing Edinburgh Tour.

The new Regal tour will take in the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Royal Yacht Britannia and Royal Botanic Garden.

The 80-minute Regal Tour takes in key attractions such as the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the Royal Yacht Britannia, and the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, as well as Leith and Newhaven, where visitors can hop off to explore the independent shops, bars and restaurants lining Leith Shore and Newhaven Harbour.

With a multilingual audio commentary highlighting all the key sights as visitors work their way around the city, Lothian Buses says the Regal Tour is a great way to see landmarks and attractions while exploring further afield beyond the city centre boundaries.

Managing director Sarah Boyd said: “We’re delighted to welcome visitors on board our new Regal Tour, which adds another dimension to our already fantastic five- star tour portfolio. We hope visitors to the city will take advantage of our ‘hop-on-hop-off’ tours and take the opportunity to explore our stunning capital city from the top deck.  All of our tickets include excellent added value offers from key partners across the capital.

“The launch of the Regal Tour marks an exciting moment in our long history in the city of Edinburgh and we look forward to welcoming visitors on board. With Edinburgh Bus Tours, visitors can be confident of quality, reliability and value for money”.

And the new tour was welcomed by Neil Christison, regional director at VisitScotland. He said: “It’s great to see Edinburgh Bus Tours investing in the visitor experience in the city and expanding their exceptional tour offering. Edinburgh is steeped in the history of Scotland’s monarchs, and recent events have shown there remains a keen fascination from visitors to our royal connections. Bus tours are a fantastic way to get around Edinburgh and help encourage visitors to explore beyond the city centre and into the bustling communities of Leith and Newhaven.”

The Regal Tour, like the other two, costs £18. Edinburgh Bus Tours’ visitors can also enjoy discounts and offers to other city attractions, such as Lind and Lime Gin Distillery, Johnnie Walker Princes Street, and the Real Mary King’s Close.  And customers can also buy tickets directly from its ticket sellers and drivers for Edinburgh Castle, Edinburgh Zoo, Edinburgh Dungeon and Dynamic Earth.