A tourist has hit out at the 'chaos' of their Edinburgh Castle experience and is urging others to take the trip to Stirling instead.
The visitor was in the capital for the Fringe and said they were disappointed by their trip to 'such a famous place'. In particular, they ranted about the unfriendliness of staff and lack of information boards as they hailed Stirling Castle as 'far more enriching'.
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Edinburgh Castle staff were quick to defend the iconic attraction, saying they believe there's 'a wealth of things to do and see' at the landmark.
In an angry one out of five star Trip Advisor review, titled 'don't bother', the tourist fumed: "Very disappointing experience. The gate staff were exceedingly unhelpful and entering the castle was chaos.
"The castle itself was also disappointing for such a famous and seemingly large place. There was very little to actually see and near no information boards (even the Scottish honours / crown jewels, had nothing to tell you what you were actually looking at). There wasn't any obvious tour guide service available at the castle either. We were pushed to stretch our visit to last an hour.
"I would recommend that if you are wanting to visit a castle whilst in Edinburgh, you get the train to Stirling; a far more enriching experience with regular tours, informative signs and loads to see - we spent five hours there."
A reply from the marketing team at Historic Scotland on the travel review site said it was 'disappointing' their visit did not meet expectations.
They commented: "We have introduced timed ticketing arrangements as part of our advance on-line ticket sales. However, this time of year is our busiest, and the growth in our overall popularity has resulted in increases in both on-line sales and walk-up business each day. We are very aware that this growth in numbers has an impact on the visitor enjoyment of the site and we continue to review and consider ways to improve this situation. I can assure you we continue to monitor and assess this situation.
"We take value for money very seriously, and we believe there are a wealth of things to see and do at the castle. From the Crown Jewels, The One O’clock Gun and The Prisons of War exhibition to the National War Museum of Scotland, unrivalled views of the city, the Royal Palace and St Margaret’s Chapel, the oldest building in Edinburgh."
"We are very sorry that our guided tours have not been resumed yet, but we do offer audio guides featuring the voices of four time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan, celebrated TV and movie actor Bill Paterson and Outlander’s Andrew Gowar."
Despite the negative review, Edinburgh Castle remains one of the city's most-visited and most popular attractions, scoring an average rating of 4.5 out of 5 on Trip Advisor.
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