Edinburgh is two cities side by side: the medieval Old Town strung along the Royal Mile between the castle and the Palace of Holyroodhouse, and the 18th-century New Town laid out to the north, with Waverley station in the valley between them. Edinburgh Castle, the Festival Fringe and the Royal Yacht Britannia are on the United Kingdom page; this page covers the rest of the Old Town, the hills, the free national museum and gallery, the restaurants of Leith, Hogmanay and Rosslyn Chapel.
Almost everything is walkable, but the city is steep and the weather turns quickly, so keep the clearest day for Arthur's Seat and Calton Hill. The National Museum of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery are free, while St Giles' Cathedral has charged visitors from outside Scotland since 5 October 2026. Since 24 July 2026 the council also adds a 5% visitor levy to the first five nights of paid accommodation.
Walk the Royal Mile and step into St Giles' Cathedral
Royal Mile
No booking needed
Walk downhill almost exactly a mile from the castle to the palace, ducking into steep closes between the tenements.
What it is
The Royal Mile runs downhill for almost exactly a mile from the Castle Esplanade to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, through Castlehill, the Lawnmarket, the High Street, the Canongate and Abbey Strand. Halfway down stands St Giles' Cathedral, the High Kirk of Edinburgh. By the West Door, a heart set into the cobbles marks the old Tolbooth prison, with the Mercat Cross just beyond. Lower down, John Knox House marks the old city boundary.
How to do it
Walk it from the top and duck into the steep closes that drop away on both sides between the tenements. St Giles' opens at 10:00 on weekdays, 09:00 on Saturday and 13:00 on Sunday.
Good to know
Since 5 October 2026 St Giles' has charged visitors £12, for a ticket valid 12 months that includes the Thistle Chapel and the guided tours; residents of Scotland and under-16s still enter free, and services are free.
Tour Holyroodhouse, from Mary, Queen of Scots' rooms to the abbey
Foot of the Royal Mile
Book ahead
Stand in the rooms where Mary, Queen of Scots saw her secretary seized at supper, then end in the roofless ruins of Holyrood Abbey.
What it is
The King's official residence in Scotland closes the bottom of the Royal Mile beside Holyrood Park. Its State Apartments lead to the Great Gallery, where Bonnie Prince Charlie held court and gave balls during the Jacobite rising of 1745. The rooms people remember are in James V's tower, where Mary, Queen of Scots lived from 1561 to 1567: on 9 March 1566 her secretary David Rizzio was seized at supper in front of her and dragged into the outer chamber, where he was stabbed to death. The visit ends in the roofless ruins of Holyrood Abbey, founded by David I in 1128, and the palace gardens.
How to do it
It opens to visitors all year. Opening days and prices change with the season, and the ticket includes a self-led multimedia guide through the State Apartments and the Great Gallery.
Good to know
It closes when the royal family is in residence, so check the dates before you go.
Go beneath the Royal Mile at The Real Mary King's Close
Royal Mile
1 hourTimed entry
Walk a street buried beneath the Royal Mile, led by a costumed guide playing one of its real former residents.
What it is
When the Royal Exchange, now the City Chambers, was built over it from 1753, Mary King's Close was partly demolished and buried, and its lower houses survived as a sealed street beneath the Royal Mile.
How to do it
The only way in is a guided tour of about an hour, led by a costumed guide playing a real former resident, starting from 2 Warriston's Close. It opens seven days a week. It often sells out, so book a time online: adult tickets start at £25 in 2026, and the £28.50 Standard ticket allows free changes up to four hours before. Audio guides are available in Spanish and eight other languages.
Good to know
Children under five are not admitted. The route has 58 steps over several floors, with uneven surfaces and steep slopes, and you stand for most of the hour.
Meet Dolly the sheep at the National Museum of Scotland
Chambers Street
Free
See Dolly the sheep, Lewis chessmen and a beheading machine older than the guillotine for free, then the city from the roof.
What it is
Scotland's most visited attraction in 2025, with more than 2.3 million visitors, joins two buildings on Chambers Street: a Victorian museum begun in 1861, whose light-filled Grand Gallery, inspired by the Crystal Palace, is the main entrance, and the Museum of Scotland, clad in golden sandstone and opened in 1998. Inside are Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, 11 of the 12th-century Lewis chessmen, the Maiden, an early Scottish beheading machine older than the French guillotine, and the Millennium Clock, a kinetic sculpture that chimes on the hour.
How to do it
It is free and open daily from 10:00 to 17:00.
Good to know
Finish in the roof garden, planted with Scottish species, for a free panoramic view over the city.
Best time
Any day from 10:00, on the hour for the Millennium Clock
See Velázquez, Vermeer and the new Scottish galleries for free
The Mound
Free
See Velázquez's Old Woman Frying Eggs and Landseer's Monarch of the Glen for free in Playfair's temple on the Mound.
What it is
William Henry Playfair's temple on the Mound opened in 1859 and holds the national collection of Scottish and international art from the Renaissance to the early 20th century. Among the old masters are Velázquez's Old Woman Frying Eggs, Vermeer's Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, Titian's Diana and Actaeon and Diana and Callisto, and a Rembrandt self-portrait. The Scottish galleries on the lowest floor reopened in 2023 after years of redevelopment, with work running from Raeburn's Skating Minister and Landseer's Monarch of the Glen to painters of the Glasgow School such as James Guthrie.
How to do it
It is free and open daily from 10:00 to 17:00, with charges only for major exhibitions.
Good to know
Come in January for the Turner watercolours, traditionally put on show that month.
Best time
January, when the Turner watercolours are traditionally shown
Climb Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcano in the middle of the city
Holyrood Park
Free
Climb the main vent of an ancient volcano, ten minutes from the car park, for a view over the city and the Forth.
What it is
Arthur's Seat, 251 m high, is the main vent of a volcano that erupted some 340 million years ago, and rises in Holyrood Park, a short walk from the bottom of the Royal Mile. The summit looks over the city, the Firth of Forth and the hills of Fife.
How to do it
The park is free to walk in, and the hill can be climbed from almost any direction, but the simplest ascent is from the east, a ten-minute walk up from the car park at Dunsapie Loch on the High Road. From the city side, to the west, the way up is a steeper scramble.
Good to know
The Radical Road under Salisbury Crags has been closed since a rockfall in 2018, so leave it out of your route, and climbing on the crags is no longer allowed. Wear shoes with good grip and pick a clear day.
Watch the light over the Old Town from Calton Hill
Calton Hill
Free
Climb the steps to a hill of monuments, where a round monument frames the view over the Old Town to the castle.
What it is
Calton Hill, 103 m high, is part of the city's World Heritage Site. The round Dugald Stewart Monument frames the view over the Old Town to the castle. Behind it stand the National Monument, a Parthenon begun in 1826 for the dead of the Napoleonic Wars and left unfinished in 1829, and the Nelson Monument, shaped like an upturned telescope, whose time ball drops as the One O'Clock Gun fires from the castle. The old City Observatory is now Collective, a gallery. On 30 April the Beltane Fire Festival draws more than 12,000 people to the hill.
How to do it
Steps lead up from Waterloo Place and Royal Terrace to the top. You can climb the Nelson Monument daily from 10:00 to 15:30; Collective opens Wednesday to Sunday from 10:00 to 16:00, and Cafe Calton serves until 20:30.
Follow the Water of Leith through Dean Village to Stockbridge
Dean Village to Stockbridge
About 45 minutes from Roseburn to StockbridgeFree
Follow the river through an old stone milling village and under Telford's Dean Bridge to Stockbridge.
What it is
The Water of Leith Walkway follows Edinburgh's river for 13 miles from Balerno to Leith, and its best short stretch runs through Dean Village, just north-west of the centre. Dean Village was a milling settlement for more than 800 years, with as many as eleven mills driven by the river, and the Incorporation of Baxters, the bakers' guild, built a granary here in 1675. Its stone houses crowd around the old bridge at the foot of Bell's Brae. Beyond, the path runs under Thomas Telford's Dean Bridge, opened in 1833 and 106 feet above the water, and on to Stockbridge.
How to do it
Start at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art on Belford Road, which the walkway passes, and follow the signs downstream. Roseburn to Stockbridge is about 2 miles and 45 minutes.
Good to know
The current path closures, near Currie and at Powderhall, are off this stretch.
Learn the whisky regions with a tasting on Castlehill
Castlehill
50 minutes for the Silver Tour, 75 for the GoldBook ahead
Taste a dram from the whisky region you choose, surrounded by a collection of 3,384 bottles in glass cabinets.
What it is
The Scotch Whisky Experience, at 354 Castlehill near the top of the Royal Mile, is the easiest introduction to Scotland's whisky regions and styles without leaving the city. The tasting takes place amid the Diageo Claive Vidiz Collection, 3,384 bottles in glass cabinets, here since 2009.
How to do it
The Silver Tour, £25 for adults, lasts 50 minutes, leaves every 20 minutes and includes one dram of single malt or blended whisky from the region you choose, so families can come along. The Gold Tour, £39.75 for 75 minutes and for over-18s, adds a tray of four contrasting regional single malts with tasting notes. A Taste of Scotland stretches to three hours, with a three-course meal and six whiskies, for £95. It opens 10:00 to 20:00.
Good to know
Bring physical photo ID, and note that bookings can be moved up to 48 hours before.
Eat at the Michelin-starred restaurants on the Shore in Leith
The Shore, Leith
Book ahead
Eat where the Water of Leith meets the docks, at three tables that held a Michelin star in the 2026 guide.
What it is
Leith, Edinburgh's old port, gathers its best tables along the Shore, where the Water of Leith meets the docks. Three of them held a Michelin star in the 2026 guide: The Kitchin at 78 Commercial Quay, Restaurant Martin Wishart at 54 The Shore and Heron, a corner restaurant by the Shore at 87 Henderson Street, which serves lunch and dinner from Wednesday to Sunday. For something simpler, Fishers in Leith has served Scottish seafood since 1991 from a 17th-century watchtower at 1 The Shore.
How to do it
Book all three starred restaurants ahead. Getting there is easy: the tram, extended to Newhaven in June 2023, stops at The Shore.
Good to know
Ocean Terminal, where the Royal Yacht Britannia is moored, is two stops further on, so lunch here pairs naturally with a visit to the yacht.
Best time
Lunch from Wednesday to Sunday, when all three starred restaurants serve
See in 2027 at Edinburgh's Hogmanay, from torchlight to fireworks
Old Town and Princes Street
29 December 2026 to 1 January 2027Timed entry
Walk behind pipers and Shetland Vikings with a torch, then see in the new year under the castle's midnight fireworks.
What it is
Edinburgh's Hogmanay 2026/27 runs over four days. It opens on 29 December at 18:30 with the Torchlight Procession, when torch bearers led by massed pipes and drums and Vikings from Shetland's Up Helly Aa walk through the Old Town. On the 30th, the Night Afore Party in Princes Street Gardens has The Fratellis from 18:00. On the 31st, from 20:00, choose the Street Party on Princes Street or Hogmanay in the Gardens with Underworld, both beneath the castle for the midnight fireworks. On 1 January, First Footin' is a free music trail through city venues.
How to do it
Procession tickets start at £5.75, with at least one torch per two people, for ages 12 and up. The Street Party costs from £10, also for ages 12 and up.
Good to know
Buy only from edinburghshogmanay.com, Ticketmaster or tickets-scotland.com: resale is banned and there is no readmission.
Time needed
29 December 2026 to 1 January 2027
Best time
The Torchlight Procession on 29 December and the Street Party on the 31st
Take a half-day trip to the carvings of Rosslyn Chapel
Roslin
Half a day from EdinburghBook ahead
Hunt for Green Men and the Apprentice Pillar in a 1446 chapel where practically every stone surface is carved.
What it is
Rosslyn Chapel, founded in 1446 and still a place of worship, stands in the village of Roslin, seven miles south of Edinburgh. Practically every stone surface inside and out is carved, and the free carvings map sends you looking for the Green Men, the plant carvings and the Apprentice Pillar; the chapel also features in The Da Vinci Code.
How to do it
Book online to guarantee entry, as walk-ins may have to wait: full tickets cost £12 and under-17s go free. It opens Monday to Saturday from 09:00 to 17:00 and Sunday from 12:00, and each time slot includes a talk, for example at 11:00 or 14:30 except on Sundays. Lothian bus 37, signed Penicuik/Deanburn via Roslin, takes 45 to 60 minutes from Princes Street or North Bridge.
Good to know
Photography is not allowed inside.
Time needed
Half a day from Edinburgh
Best time
A slot that includes one of the talks, Monday to Saturday
With no selection committee, anyone can stage anything at the Fringe, in venues from pub cellars to lecture theatres.
What it is
The Fringe is an open-access festival, and comedy makes up more than a third of the programme. In 2025 it sold more than 2.6 million tickets for 3,893 shows across 301 venues.
How to do it
The 80th edition runs from 6 to 30 August 2027. Buy tickets through edfringe.com or the venues, and leave gaps in the day for the free street performances on the pedestrian stretch of the High Street. Tickets for the best-known comedians go first, so book those as soon as the programme is out.
Good to know
The real constraint is a bed: the city fills months ahead, so book accommodation the moment your dates are fixed, or stay in Glasgow, about an hour away by train.
Walk the decks of the Royal Yacht from the bridge and state apartments down to the engine room, and stop for tea on board.
What it is
Britannia is moored at Ocean Terminal in Leith. You follow a set route through the decks, from the bridge and the state apartments to the crew quarters and the engine room, and the Royal Deck Tea Room on board serves lunch and tea.
How to do it
The visit starts on the second floor of the shopping centre, not at the quayside. The tram and local buses from the city centre stop outside, about 20 minutes away, and there is a free multi-storey car park in Ocean Terminal. Visitors take two hours on average, though you can stay as long as you like within opening hours.
Good to know
Tickets are cheaper online; if you buy on arrival, note that the desk takes contactless payment only.
Edinburgh Airport is linked to the centre by tram, about 30 minutes to Princes Street, and by the Airlink 100 bus, £6 for a single in 2026. LNER trains leave London King's Cross almost every half hour through the day and take about 4 hours 20 minutes to Waverley, in the heart of the city; Lumo runs a few cheaper trains a day on the same line, and the Caledonian Sleeper comes overnight from London Euston. Glasgow is about an hour away by train.
Getting around
Walk: the Old Town, the New Town and Calton Hill are close together, though the closes and stairs between them are steep. Lothian buses and the trams share fares: a single costs £2.40 in 2026, and tapping the same contactless card caps the day at £5.70, except on the airport tram, which costs more. The tram runs from the airport along Princes Street to Leith and Newhaven, which makes it the easy way to the Shore and to Britannia at Ocean Terminal. Rosslyn Chapel is on the number 37 bus.
How many days
In must30's view, three full days: one for the castle and the Royal Mile down to Holyroodhouse, with Mary King's Close; one for the National Museum, the Scottish National Gallery and Dean Village, ending on Calton Hill; and one with Arthur's Seat in the morning and Leith and Britannia in the afternoon. Add half a day for Rosslyn Chapel, and more if you come for the August festivals or Hogmanay.
When to go
August is festival month, when the Fringe fills the city and beds sell out months ahead. Hogmanay runs from 29 December to 1 January, with the Street Party on the 31st. The rest of the year is calmer, but winter days are short and wind is the real risk: an orange weather warning closed the castle and the Nelson Monument on 24 and 25 October 2026. On the hills, Historic Environment Scotland warns of slippery ground, so pick a dry day for Arthur's Seat.
Where to base yourself
The Old Town puts the Royal Mile, St Giles' and Mary King's Close on your doorstep, but it is the busiest part of the city. The New Town, north of Princes Street Gardens, is flatter and close to Waverley, the trams and the airport bus. Stockbridge and the West End are quieter and a short walk from Dean Village and the Water of Leith. Leith, on the tram, has the restaurants of the Shore and Britannia nearby. Every option adds the 5% visitor levy for up to five nights.
Questions travellers ask
Do you have to pay to go into St Giles' Cathedral?
Since 5 October 2026, yes, if you are 16 or over and do not live in Scotland: general admission costs £12, includes the Thistle Chapel and the guided tours, and stays valid for 12 months. Residents of Scotland enter free with a Resident Pass, and so do under-16s. Services remain free.
Where do you start the climb up Arthur's Seat?
The hill can be climbed from almost any side of Holyrood Park, but the easiest ascent is from the east, up the grassy slope above Dunsapie Loch. The park is free and open 24 hours a day. Do not plan on the northern Radical Road under Salisbury Crags, which has been closed since 2018 because of rockfall.
Do I need to book The Real Mary King's Close?
Yes, if you can. The attraction often sells out, and the only way in is a guided tour of about an hour at a set time. Adult tickets start at £25 in 2026, children under five are not admitted, and the route has 58 steps over several floors.
When is Edinburgh's Hogmanay 2026/27?
It runs over four days: the Torchlight Procession on 29 December at 18:30, the Night Afore Party with The Fratellis on the 30th, and the Street Party or Hogmanay in the Gardens with Underworld on the 31st from 20:00. On 1 January, First Footin' is a free music trail through city venues. Tickets for the ticketed events are sold only through official sellers.
Is there a tourist tax in Edinburgh?
Yes. For stays from 24 July 2026, Edinburgh charges a visitor levy of 5% of the cost of paid overnight accommodation, on the first five nights only. It is calculated before VAT and not charged on extras such as meals or parking. UK and Scottish residents pay it too.
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