Edinburgh

Usher Hall

The city's main concert hall, capacity 2200, and home to the Royal Scottish National Orchestra. It was completed in 1914, funded by Andrew Usher the whisky distiller and blender.

Box Office Mon-Sat 10AM-5:30PM, Sun 1-2PM · Wheelchair accessible

The Scotch Whisky Experience

Tour of the history and craft of whisky distilling, with expert guides - the basic or "silver" tour works well for beginners. They have a huge selection; the core of it is the 3384 bottles collected by Brazilian whisky enthusiast Claive Vidiz.

Daily 10AM-5PM · Basic tour £23 adult, £21 conc, £10 child · Wheelchair accessible

Edinburgh Playhouse

Built as a cinema in 1929 and refurbished in 1980, this is now Scotland's largest performance space, with a capacity of 3059. That's about 1000 more than can comfortably be seated and 2000 more than they have toilet provision for. It's run by ATG, Ambassador Theatre Group.

Wheelchair accessible

The Queen's Hall

Performance space for musical events across all genres. The neo-classical building was a chapel from 1824 and converted to a concert hall in 1979, with a capacity of 900.

Wi-Fi · Wheelchair accessible

The Edinburgh Dungeon

"Haunted House" experience, where you take a 70 min tour through 11 shows and 2 rides loosely based on Scotland's horrible history: William Wallace, Mary King's Ghost, cannibal Sawney Bean, Burke and Hare and more.

Mon-Thu 11AM-4PM, Fri-S 11AM-5PM · Adult £19, child £15 · Limited wheelchair access

Festival Theatre

Large performance venue, home of the Scottish Ballet and Scottish Opera. It also hosts contemporary dance, ballet, musicals and panto.

Wheelchair accessible

Dominion Cinema

Art deco cinema opened in 1938 with plush leather sofas for an upscale experience.

Mo-Tu 15:00-21:00; We-Su 12:00-21:00

Edinburgh Filmhouse

The Filmhouse

A four-screen Edinburgh institution showing largely arthouse and some mainstream films. Additionally houses a 100-seat cafe-bar.

£12 adult, £10.50 concession, wheelchair users/access tickets £5, carers free · Wheelchair accessible

Reid Concert Hall

General Reid (1721-1807) endowed the School of Music at the University of Edinburgh. They put on occasional free lunchtime concerts here, especially on 13 Feb, Reid's birthday. You may also be able to look in on their collection of antique instruments.

Heart of Midlothian

Hearts aka "the Jambos" and "the Gorgie Boys" play soccer in the Scottish Premiership, the top tier. Their home ground Tynecastle Park (capacity 20,000, all-seater) is a mile west of Haymarket station in the Gorgie area of the city; take any bus up Gorgie Road or a tram to Murrayfield.

Traverse Theatre

Since 1992 this has hosted Traverse theatre company, dedicated to new works.

Monkey Barrel Comedy

Intimate comedy venue with several acts each night. Drink and some food available.

Venue 6PM-midnight · Adult £8, student £6

Cineworld

Mainly mainstream cinema with some art-house & foreign cinema. IMAX screen.

Wheelchair accessible

Inverleith Park

Large park with several sports pitches for rugby, football and cricket, and public tennis courts. The south of the park has a pond divided into a wildlife area popular with swans, and a boating pond which is often used for model boats. The banked area near the pond offers good views over the New Town of the Castle, and there is a small floral area in the Sundial Garden.

Edinburgh Festival Fringe

The Fringe

As the name might suggest, this festival developed on the fringe of the main International Festival and offers more alternative performances, with an emphasis on comedy and avant-garde; it is now the largest arts festival in the world. Many shows offer cheaper preview tickets on the first two days of the festival or a 2-for-1 ticket special on two selected dates. There are a few sub-festivals that are part of the Fringe such as the Assembly Festival, Summerhall Festival and CtheFestival. Part of the Fringe are also many free events (with donation if you liked the show) across the city grouped mostly under the PBH's Free Fringe or Free Festival.

In August

Edinburgh International Festival

The original that spawned all the rest. Founded in 1947 and still seen as more "high-brow" than any of its offspring. Surprisingly, tickets are often priced more reasonably than for many Fringe shows. Some events have preview performances at a much lower price.

In August

King George V Park

Park with a couple of children's play areas and many quiet benches to sit on. A path through an old railway tunnel links the park with Cannonmills Tesco, making this an ideal lunch spot.

King's Theatre

Reopened in August 2026 after 4 years of refurbishment.

Wheelchair accessible

Arthur's Seat

Arthur's Seat is an ancient extinct volcano. It is the main peak of a group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park. Robert Louis Stevenson described it as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design".

251 m high

The Lost Close

Underground experiences and tours led by expert Storytellers. Whisky, gin and beer tastings available - starting from £15.

Summerhall

Contemporary art exhibitions and event venue in a confident Edwardian building, home of Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies from 1916. In 2011 the vets moved out to Easter Bush campus, birthplace of Dolly the Sheep. See below for the distillery, brewery and pub within Summerhall.

Limited wheelchair access · Wheelchair accessible

Hidden Door

Annual non-profit art, music, theatre, etc. event taking place in unused spaces in the city that change from year to year. End of May/beginning of June.

Glenogle Swim Centre

Council-run Victorian swimming pool with partial glass roof. Also has a gym and sauna.

Mon-Fri 7AM-10PM, Sat Sun 8AM-3PM · Pool £6.30

Midlothian Snowsports Centre

This has a main slope of 400 m, a loop alongside, 3 nursery slopes, a chairlift and 2 tows. Equipment hire is available or bring your own. Wear long trousers, long sleeves and gloves as the dendrex matting will skin you when you fall. Some disruption as a restaurant and other facilities are being built, and limited parking.

Mon-Fri 9AM-9PM, Sat Sun 9AM-7PM

Royal Commonwealth Pool

The pool was built for the Commonwealth Games in 1970, and was used again for the 1986 and 2014 games.

Mon-Fri 5:30AM-9:30PM, Sat 5:30AM-8PM, Sun 7:30AM-8PM

Cameo Cinema

Mainstream, arthouse and alternative films, with an Edwardian interior.

Edinburgh International Climbing Arena

formerly Ratho Adventure Centre

Huge indoor and outdoor climbing centre in a disused quarry, developed from 1995 but taken over and completed by Edinburgh City Council in 2007.

Hibernian FC

The "Hibs" play soccer in the Premiership, Scotland's top tier. The all-seater stadium, capacity 24,000, is at the south edge of Leith. Hibs have played at Easter Road since 1893; in 2000 the pronounced slope of the ground was levelled out. Their traditional city rivals are Hearts. Buses 1 and 35 run down Easter Road but there are more frequent buses down Leith Walk just west or along London Road (A1) just south.

Murrayfield Stadium

The main stadium has a capacity of 67,000 and hosts all Scottish rugby internationals. The premier tournament is the Six Nations held each February-March: in odd-numbered years, Scotland hosts Wales, Ireland and Italy, and in even-numbered years the visitors are England and France. These games almost always sell out, and the city is mobbed when they're on; you've more chance of tickets and accommodation for other internationals which take place each November, or, if it's a Rugby World Cup year, warm-up friendly games in the summer. Stadium tours are available on non-match days.

Royal Highland Showground

An exhibition ground with several halls and large grounds. The premier event is the Royal Highland Show for 4 days in late June. Other events are held throughout the year, some of these are public, others are trade only.