Arriving in Edinburgh

This page covers getting from Edinburgh airport or train station to Informatics and accommodation, checking in to your room, etc. Go to the following pages for

From Edinburgh airport

From Edinburgh Airport, you will either

  • get a taxi direct to either the venue the accommodation (~ £20 if you just get one at the airport - cheap flight airlines say taxis booked via them cost £15)

or

  • you will get the airport bus (£6 return, less if pre-booked online) or the Park&Ride bus (walk to edge of airport, ~ £2.20 IIRC) to Waverley rail station at the east end of Princes Street.

From other airports, you will likely arrive by train at Waverley station (do not get off at Edinburgh Haymarket).

From Waverley rail station

You can walk to either Informatics or Pollock. It is a mile to the accommodation and almost half a mile to Informatics, so if you have heavy luggage, you may prefer a bus.

  • Use the bus tracker to see specific stops, then click on a stop to see which bus numbers stop there, then click on a bus number to see its route.
  • If you're arriving at an unusual time, you can check that bus number's timetable here (if a bus number begins with N, that means 'Night bus'.)
  • Use the route map for a quick overview of which bus numbers serve your required journey.

The 41 and 42 buses stop in the road at the west side of Waverley station. They will take you to Informatics. (Ask to be let off near Potterrow's junction with Crichton Street; the entrance to Infomatics is on the north side of Crichton Street.)

The 48 stops in Princes Street (north side of the station). The 48, 33, 30 and 14 also stop on the North Bridge east of the station (N.B. walk to North Bridge from Princes Street - you cannot reach it directly from the station). All go past Holyrood Park Road. (Ask to be let off near the Royal Commonwealth pool or the Pollock Halls of Residence.)

[Sadly, the Royal Commonwealth pool is being renovated just at the time we are there; it will not be open.]

At Informatics

Informatics' address is 10 Crichton Street, Edinburgh, EH8 9AB. The building is at the junction of Crichton Street and Potterrow. The main entrance is on the north side of Crichton Street. If you expand our map to maximum scale, then click on the 'Informatics Forum' symbol next to the ESUG symbol, you will see its exact location, and can get a street scene.

Informatics will be open as follows:

  • Camp Smalltalk
    • Saturday 20th August: 10:00 - 19:30
    • Sunday 21st August: 09:30 - 19:30
  • Conference
    • Monday 22nd August: 08:30 - 20:00
      • The Innovation Award Demos and Informatics reception are 17:30 - 19:30.
    • Tuesday 23rd August: 08:30 - 19:30
    • Wednesday 24th August: 08:30 - 18:00
      • The social event starts earlier, but geeks who would rather program can stay till six.
    • Thursday 25th August: 08:30 - 19:30
    • Friday 26th August: 08:30 - 18:00
      • The conference proper ends at lunch, after which the Seaside sprint will start.

At Pollock Halls

The conference accommodation address is 18 Holyrood Park Road, Edinburgh, EH16 5AY. The marker for it on our map shows where tne entrance to the campus is in Holyrood Park Road. As you enter, trees hide the large word 'Reception' on the side of the building you want - incline slightly to your right, rather than your left after you go in to see the low building, centrally-placed near the entrance, that is Reception.

Reception is open 24-hours per day. Give your name (you can also say ESUG and/or my name and/or mention event 119331) and check in.

  • If you are in a single standard room, you are in Grant building.
  • If you are in a superior room, you are probably in John Burnett building.
  • If you are in a twin room, you are in Chancellor's Court.

Rooms are available from 14:00 on date of arrival. Check-out is at 10:30 on date of departure.

Payment: your room will already have been paid when you arrive.

Wifi: your conference registration includes wifi that works at Informatics and at (parts of - see below) the accommodation (and it should work at any other University of Edinburgh location). To get this wifi activated, you must see a conference organiser. Do not request wifi from Reception - they would charge you for it.

Wifi at the accommodation: we have discovered that, at the accommodation, our Informatics-arranged wifi works in the reception building, the building with the meal and bar area, and in your room if you have visibility of these bulldings: strong signal for some, signal when jammed against window for others, zero signal for yet others. You can spend £15 on ethernet guaranteed to work in your room - or you can spend that £15 in the bar while doing your online work there; your choice.

I apologise that my earlier tests of it in the accommodation were not comprehensive enough to reveal these limitations.

Keys: single standard rooms in Grant building have two keys, a normal key for opening the room itself and a blue disc attached to the keychain for opening the building's outer doors and for operating its lift.

Walking from accommodation to venue

Conference organisers will be at the venue when it's open. At other likely arrival times on Friday afternoon and over the weekend, we'll be at the accommodation reception - or they will know where we are.

Obviously, if you're going to arrive at the accommodation when we are at the venue, make sure you know the way between the two - you'll need to find us before you can get your maps, or use your wifi to read the website's map. For the shortest route, turn right at the end of Holyrood Park Road and walk north up St Leonards road till you see the entrance to East Cross Causeway on your left. Walk west along this, crossing over Nicholson street / Clerk street (it changes its name near where you cross - and, at rush hour, it is not a place to forget that, in the UK, cars drive on the left). East Cross Causeway ends at a T junction with Chapel Street. Cross to the far side of Chapel street, turn right and walk north past Windmill Lane till the entrance to Crichton Street appears on your left. You are now looking at Informatics; the entrance is a short way down Crichton Street.