Things to do
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Edinburgh Castle
Come for the view over Edinburgh from the castle rock, then spend half a day among Scotland's crown and sword, a medieval siege gun and the vaults where prisoners of war were held.
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Hogmanay
Buy your Street Party ticket before you book flights. It is the part of Hogmanay that sells out, and without one you see the New Year in outside the barriers.
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Arthur's Seat
An extinct volcano rising some 250 metres above Holyrood Park, this is the high point of Edinburgh and a climb that begins in the city centre. The usual route from Dunsapie Loch takes about forty minutes; the Salisbury Crags path is longer and more exposed. Wind at the summit is constant, and the basalt turns slippery after rain.
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Calton Hill
At the east end of Princes Street, Calton Hill has two ways up, each about ten minutes: steps from Regent Road beside the old Royal High School, or a ramped path with no stairs. The hill is free and always open; only the gallery of the Nelson Monument is ticketed. From the Dugald Stewart Monument the view runs back over the Old Town to the castle.
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Dean Village
Tucked into the river gorge below Dean Bridge, northwest of the city centre, this old village sits on the New Town side of the Water of Leith. The riverside path through it runs on flat ground and is mostly shaded by trees. Upstream, the same path passes the Scottish Gallery of Modern Art.
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Leith
Edinburgh's old port lies northeast of the centre, where the Water of Leith meets the Firth of Forth. Buses, trams and taxis link it to the Old Town and New Town. The Royal Yacht Britannia is moored at Ocean Terminal, and its tickets are also sold combined with the castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse.
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New Town
Across Princes Street Gardens from the castle, the New Town is a planned district of flat streets, easy to walk and calmer after dark than the Old Town. The Scottish National Gallery stands on the Mound at its edge, close to Princes Street, with Scottish and international painting from the Renaissance to the early twentieth century. The gardens below the castle rock suit an evening stroll.
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Old Town
Climbing a ridge to the castle, the Old Town is a tangle of steep closes, stairs and sudden turns. On its southern edge, Greyfriars Kirkyard holds some of Scotland's finest early seventeenth-century mural monuments, and the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street is free to enter. Most museums close around 5pm.
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Palace of Holyroodhouse
At the eastern end of the Old Town, below Canongate, stands the official Scottish residence of the British monarch, built around the ruined nave of an Augustinian abbey. The state apartments, the Great Gallery and the chambers linked to Mary, Queen of Scots are open except when the monarch is in residence. The palace closes for Royal Week, which normally runs from the end of June to early July.
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Royal Botanic Garden
On Inverleith Row, north of the New Town, the Royal Botanic Garden is free to enter, and two to four hours covers most of its grounds. Lothian buses 8, 23 and 27 stop near both the East and West Gates, and the Water of Leith Walkway passes nearby on its way to Leith. The garden has no car park of its own.
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Royal Mile
Four linked streets run downhill from the castle esplanade to Holyrood, with closes and wynds dropping away between the tenements. Most shops on the main street sell tartan and souvenirs; the reasons to stop are the side alleys, Gladstone's Land and St Giles' Cathedral. In August the High Street fills with festival performers, and crossing it is slow.
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Stockbridge
North of the New Town on the Water of Leith, Stockbridge has the feel of a village inside the city, and its market runs every Sunday from 10am to 4pm. A room here is a walk from the castle and the High Street, not beside them, with the riverside path running through the neighbourhood.
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Water of Leith Walkway
The riverside path follows the Water of Leith from Balerno to the docks, and the stretch to walk runs through the city. Roseburn to Stockbridge, through Dean Village, is about 3 km and 45 minutes. Stockbridge to Leith is a further walk of about an hour, past the Royal Botanic Garden, and parts of the path turn muddy.
