£7.50 gets you from EDI to St Andrew Square in about 30 minutes
The Edinburgh Trams Airport stop sits just outside the terminal, a signed 2–3 minute walk from arrivals, and runs into town in roughly 30 minutes to St Andrew Square. Trams run every 7–10 minutes most of the day, dropping you at key city stops like Edinburgh Park, Murrayfield Stadium, Haymarket, West End and St Andrew Square without dealing with road traffic.
An adult Airport–city centre single is £7.50 and a return is £9.50, which locals on r/Edinburgh regularly label a “tourist tax” compared with normal city fares. For that price you get a fairly steady timetable: the published schedule says around 30 minutes to St Andrew Square and regulars say it’s “almost bang-on 30 minutes every time,” even in the peak commuting window.
Services typically start early morning and run until around 11:30pm–midnight from the airport, with headways stretching to about 15 minutes at the edges of the day. The tram is not 24/7, so if your flight lands after midnight you’re into taxis or night buses rather than the line that serves the Airport stop. Check the specific last-tram time for your date; it can shift slightly between weekdays and weekends.
Contactless is the move here: you can tap a contactless bank card or phone at the gates instead of queuing at the machines, which helps when two Ryanair flights dump a few hundred people into the tram area at once. Regulars on r/Edinburgh say they almost never bother with paper tickets unless they’re sorting returns for a whole family and want the exact £9.50 Airport return locked in.
If you’re staying near Murrayfield or Haymarket, get off there rather than riding all the way to Princes Street or St Andrew Square and backtracking on Lothian Buses. Some locals hop off at Haymarket and transfer to ScotRail for places like Fife or West Lothian, using the tram only for the Airport–Haymarket leg to avoid airport taxis.
Crowding is the main gripe: during August festival dates and weekend evenings, Reddit threads describe the Airport tram as “rammed,” with suitcases filling the multi-purpose areas and a lot of standing-only rides. Build the buffer if you’re landing into a Friday Fringe crowd and aiming for a specific train connection at Haymarket or a dinner reservation in the West End around 20:00.
Step-by-step from arrivals at EDI
- 1. From baggage claim, follow the “Trams to City Centre” signs for about 200–300 metres to the dedicated Airport stop outside the terminal.
- 2. Before entering the platform, decide if you’re using contactless or a paper ticket; if contactless, just have your card or phone ready for the validators, if not, use the machines next to the barriers to buy the £7.50 single or £9.50 return.
- 3. Validate at the gate line and step onto the next city-bound tram, which on the daytime timetable should be within 7–10 minutes, and stash luggage in the marked multi-purpose spaces instead of blocking the doors.
- 4. For West End hotels, get off at West End–Princes Street after around 27–28 minutes; for New Town locations, stay on to St Andrew Square, typically the 30-minute mark from the Airport stop.
- 5. If you need onward rail, step off at Haymarket after roughly 25 minutes, follow signs 1–2 minutes into the mainline station, and transfer to ScotRail rather than riding the tram into central and doubling back.
One final tip: during peak festival weeks or Friday rush hour, let one packed tram go and take the next if you can spare 7–10 minutes; that small delay often buys you a less crushed 30-minute ride into town.