There are audio guides at Britannia and the Palace of Holyroodhouse. At the Palace of Holyroodhouse, there are ones with British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation. Here are all of Britannia’s accessibility notes—they even have ASL guides in addition to the BSL ones! I did not know that! They also include dimensions which I think is really helpful.
The National Gallery had elevators, which was very helpful. Here’s the accessibility info for all the National Galleries of Scotland (the National Gallery, Portrait Gallery, and Modern One and Two.)
And some things are just flat out not accessible, like Camera Obscura (A very popular tourist attraction). There’s no elevator, and it’s not wheelchair accessible.
Cabs:
I noticed that many of the City Cabs we used had a telecoil function—fabulous! I didn’t have to use it because I was with Amilia, but I loved that. I’m not sure what there is in terms of wheelchair accessible cabs—their website says all cabs are wheelchair accessible, but I didn’t actually have to test this.
One of the reasons we took so many cabs is that, while things seem close on the map, the topography of Edinburgh is very hilly. If you’ve been to Pittsburgh, imagine Pittsburgh on steroids, and you’re close. I had good shoes, so when we did walk, my muscles didn’t complain and I never felt sore or painful, foot or leg wise, when I was in Scotland (win!). But I also know my own limitations and so taxis were the way to go, most of the time. Yes, we had a cabby comment on this: “Oh, you can just walk this!” I do not care. Take my money, cabby.
(For example, to get to the National Gallery, which was quite close to our hotel, one would have to walk up Market Street, which becomes rather steep, and then down it to reach the National Gallery’s main entrance—then repeat this, on the way back. Not a far walk, but a demanding one.)
Airport:
Edinburgh Airport is small. It’s different than American airports in that it’s not quite as “direct”—you don’t walk in and see the check in desks, you don’t walk out and see a taxi stand right away. But there are lots of places to sit, there is a telecoil system in the airport, and they even have these lovely things….