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To Waverley station and Princes Street · One way · 2 adults · All service hoursPrices are whole-party totals. Times are recorded journey durations; no walking or waiting has been added.
All prices are totals for 2 adults. Group fares included.
For one traveler the cheapest way is the Airlink 100 at £6, 24–41 min; the fastest is the Edinburgh Trams at £7.90, 25–35 min. Every option below is priced as a total for your party and says where it leaves you.
Not everything runs around the clock: the Edinburgh Trams runs 06:30–22:52. Outside those hours, the Airlink 100 is what remains.
The Airport Single is £6.00 in cash (exact fare), by contactless at the door, or in the app; children 5 to 15 pay £3.00, and up to three under-fives ride free with a paying adult. An open return is £8.50 (£4.25 child); a family open return for two adults and three children is £22.00. The £6.00 City DAY is not valid on the Airlink, but the £14.00 Network DAY is.
The Airport Single is £7.90 at the platform machine or in the app, £7.50 bought in advance online. Children 5 to 15 pay £4.00; up to three infants travel free with a paying passenger. An Airport Open Return is £9.50 (£5.00 child); a family airport open return for two adults and three children is £28.00. The £2.40 city single, the £6.00 City DAY and the £5.70 daily contactless cap are all void at the airport stop.
Luggage. Six luggage racks on each tram, including racks for large suitcases, by the operator's own account.
Hours. From the airport, seven days a week. Every 7 minutes from 06:30 to 19:00 on weekdays and from 09:30 to 21:00 at weekends, every 10 minutes otherwise. Towards the airport the last tram leaves St Andrew Square at 00:16 on weekdays.
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Road journey times vary with traffic. Prices and availability should be confirmed with the operator.
A combined tram-and-train ticket is sold at vending machines in the check-in hall, for onward rail journeys from stops like Haymarket or Edinburgh Gateway. It is a shortcut to buying the two separately.
The official operator is Capital Cars, with its rank at the East Terminus, a short walk from arrivals. A booking is required by the council's private hire rules — arrange one online in advance or at the rank on arrival.
Uber picks up at the multi-storey car park, lanes 1 and 2 on the ground floor. From the terminal exit, follow the signs for pick up and car parks, then cross the road to reach it.
The Airport Single is £6.00 in cash (exact fare), by contactless at the door, or in the app; children 5 to 15 pay £3.00, and up to three under-fives ride free with a paying adult. An open return is £8.50 (£4.25 child); a family open return for two adults and three children is £22.00. The £6.00 City DAY is not valid on the Airlink, but the £14.00 Network DAY is.
It is £1.90 cheaper than the tram to the same square and runs when the tram does not. The trade is a bus rather than a tram, and a road that slows to 41 minutes around 08:15 on weekdays.
Lothian's timetable makes the ride 24 minutes at night and early morning, 36 through most of the day and 39 to 41 in the peaks. The airport calls it "an average of 30 minutes".
It runs all night, every night, but expect up to 40 minutes between buses from 01:00 to 04:00 — timetables disagree on the exact departures. Night journeys do not run on the mornings of 25 and 26 December and 1 January.
The Princes Street set-down stop is closed "until further notice" after the fire of 9 July 2026: buses set down at Shandwick Place or Hanover Street instead, then Waverley Bridge as usual.
Paying cash on board needs the exact fare. Contactless at the door is the same £6.00 and, on the same card all day, caps at the £14.00 Network DAY — which is only worth reaching if you also return to the airport the same day.
Airlink 100: what it costs for one to eight travelers →
Check Airlink fares with Lothian BusesThe Airport Single is £7.90 at the platform machine or in the app, £7.50 bought in advance online. Children 5 to 15 pay £4.00; up to three infants travel free with a paying passenger. An Airport Open Return is £9.50 (£5.00 child); a family airport open return for two adults and three children is £28.00. The £2.40 city single, the £6.00 City DAY and the £5.70 daily contactless cap are all void at the airport stop.
It costs £7.90 because the airport is its own fare zone; every other stop is the £2.40 City Zone. Only the Airport Single works here — any city ticket, a City DAY or the daily contactless cap is invalid, and the on-board fare is £10.
Buy or activate before you board: the operator has a pre-purchase policy and machine tickets must be used within 30 minutes of purchase.
If you pay by tapping a card or phone, tap off at your stop with the same card. A missed tap-off is charged as a full Airport Zone fare and does not count towards any cap; a different card tapped off is two incomplete journeys.
Journey time is 35 minutes to St Andrew Square, 32 to Princes Street and 25 to Haymarket. Since Princes Street reopened on 29 August 2026 after a fire, trams pass through it under a 15 mph limit until further notice.
The last tram from the airport is 22:52 and the first 06:30. Outside those hours the Airlink, £1.90 cheaper, is the public transport.
The tram pays for itself only by where it goes: Leith, Newhaven and the Edinburgh Gateway rail interchange. For Waverley and Princes Street the Airlink does the same job for less.
From the airport, seven days a week. Every 7 minutes from 06:30 to 19:00 on weekdays and from 09:30 to 21:00 at weekends, every 10 minutes otherwise. Towards the airport the last tram leaves St Andrew Square at 00:16 on weekdays.
Edinburgh Trams: what it costs for one to eight travelers →
Check tram fares with Edinburgh TramsThe ordinary Lothian city single is £2.40 adult, £1.20 child, valid to and from the airport on this route. The £6.00 City DAY is valid here too — the only way a day-ticket holder reaches the airport without buying anything extra. After midnight the night single is £3.50.
It is £5.50 cheaper than the tram to Ocean Terminal and takes about the same time by day, 35 minutes late in the evening. It does not go to the city center.
From 13 September 2026 it no longer calls at Ingliston Park & Ride; that changes nothing for the airport stop.
A city bus with no luggage rack, every 30 minutes or so. Exact fare if you pay cash.
From the airport, the same on all seven days, roughly every 30 minutes; read from Lothian's timetable in force from 13 September 2026. The last bus at midnight reaches Ocean Terminal at 00:35.
Bus 17 to Leith: what it costs for one to eight travelers →
Check city fares with Lothian BusesThe ordinary Lothian city single, £2.40 adult and £1.20 child, valid to and from the airport on this route since 6 April 2025, when the Skylink 400 became city service 18. The £6.00 City DAY is valid here.
Over an hour to the Royal Infirmary on a suburban route; the airport quotes an hour and a quarter to Fort Kinnaird. It exists here because it is £2.40 and it is the direct bus to the hospital.
A city bus with no luggage rack. Exact fare if you pay cash.
From the airport on weekdays; the first bus at weekends is 05:30 and the last 23:10 every day. Read from Lothian's timetable in force from 13 September 2026.
Bus 18 to the Royal Infirmary: what it costs for one to eight travelers →
Check city fares with Lothian BusesFor one traveler, the Airlink 100 at £6. Per-person fares multiply with the size of your party and per-vehicle fares do not, so check the total for your group rather than the single fare.
One tram reaches Waverley station and Princes Street: the Edinburgh Trams, £7.90 for one traveler, 25–35 min, to St Andrew Square. It is not the cheapest way in: the Airlink 100 at £6 is. See every option by tram →
One bus reaches Waverley station and Princes Street: the Airlink 100, £6 for one traveler, 24–41 min, to Waverley Bridge. For one traveler that is the cheapest way into Edinburgh by any means. The fastest way overall is the Edinburgh Trams, 25–35 min. See every option by bus →
Airlink 100: 24–41 min. Edinburgh Trams: 25–35 min
Edinburgh Airport does not publish a distance to the city. By time: the fastest way in, the Edinburgh Trams, takes 25–35 min; the cheapest, the Airlink 100, 24–41 min.
Uber picks up at the multi-storey car park, lanes 1 and 2 on the ground floor. From the terminal exit, follow the signs for pick up and car parks, then cross the road to reach it.
Stop A on the plaza outside the terminal, by the Edinburgh sign. Follow the signs from arrivals. It leaves you at Waverley Bridge, beside Waverley station, via Haymarket, the West End and Princes Street.
The Edinburgh Trams runs 06:30–22:52. Outside those hours airlink 100 is what remains, at £6 for the vehicle. From the airport, seven days a week. Every 7 minutes from 06:30 to 19:00 on weekdays and from 09:30 to 21:00 at weekends, every 10 minutes otherwise. Towards the airport the last tram leaves St Andrew Square at 00:16 on weekdays.
It runs through the north-western suburbs to Newhaven and Ocean Terminal and never comes near Princes Street or Waverley. Useful only if you are staying in Leith or along its route.
It skirts the whole south side of the city and never enters the center. For the hospital, the southern suburbs or the Fort Kinnaird retail park only.
The tram costs £7.90 to St Andrew Square, near Waverley; the Airlink 100 costs £6.00 to Waverley Bridge, next to the station. Both leave from the plaza outside the terminal and take about 35 minutes by day; the tram is never the cheaper option.
City tickets do not cover the tram to the airport: a £2.40 city single becomes £7.90 for that one stop, and the £6.00 City DAY is not valid on the tram or the Airlink at all. It is valid on buses 17 and 18, which reach the airport on a £2.40 city fare. On the tram, tap off with contactless: a missed tap-off is charged as a full Airport Zone fare outside any cap, and boarding without tapping on is a £10 fare.
The taxi runs on a meter: £3.60 by day, £4.80 at night and weekends, then £0.30 per 141 metres, for up to three passengers (£0.50 each beyond that). The driver can add the airport's own £8.50 pick-up charge. The airport rank is run by Capital Cars and booking is required; for journeys ending outside the council area, agree the fare before you set off.
The Airlink runs 24 hours; the tram does not, running only 06:30 to 22:52. Overnight, expect up to a 40-minute wait for the Airlink between 01:00 and 04:00 — timetables disagree on the exact gaps. Night journeys do not run on the mornings of 25 and 26 December and 1 January.
There is no railway station at the airport; take the tram. Edinburgh Gateway, seven minutes away, has trains to Fife, Perth, Dundee, Aberdeen and Inverness, with an escalator straight from the tram platform. Haymarket, 25 minutes, is the stop for Glasgow. The tram fare is a flat £7.90 regardless of distance, and combined tram-and-train tickets are sold from machines in the check-in hall.
The £14 Network DAY covers the Airlink, the tram to the airport and every city bus for a day, but usually costs more than you need: an Airlink single plus a £6.00 City DAY comes to £12.00 in town. It only pays if you return to the airport the same day. For a return on another day, the £8.50 Airlink open return beats £12.00 in singles and has no expiry date.