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Edinburgh

Edinburgh (Gaelic: Dùn Èideann) is the capital of Scotland, located in the Central Belt of the country. With a population of 526,470 in the urban area in 2021, and 901,455 in the metropolitans, Edinburgh fizzes with a cosmopolitan yet uniquely Scottish atmosphere. Old volcanoes ensure a dramatic natural setting, with the imposing castle atop one. The city combines medieval relics, Georgian grandeur and a powerful layer of modern life with contemporary avant-garde. Medieval palaces, Gothic churches and fascinating historical buildings rub shoulders with the best of modern architecture, such as the Scottish Parliament and the National Museum of Scotland. Variously dubbed "Auld Reekie" or "Athe

See
521
Do
278
Eat
1024
Drink
1132
Buy
250

43 places match

  1. SeeArt museumNew Town

    National Galleries of Scotland: National

    This holds much of Scotland's fine artwork from Renaissance to 20th century, with changing exhibitions. These rotate seasonally, so an exhibition put on for the Festival typically stays to the end of the year, allowing quieter times to view. Enter from the plaza between gallery and Royal Scottish Academy, and a basement passage connects the two exhibition spaces. The Scottish Galleries on the lowest floor reopened in 2023 after several years of redevelopment, and show a good collection of local work and views which may inspire trips.

    Daily 10AM-5PM · Free, charges for major temporary exhibitions · Free entry

  2. SeeMonumentOld Town

    St Giles

    It's often called a Cathedral, but the Church of Scotland brooks no such episcopal entity, and Charles I dubbing it "cathedral" in 1633 was one reason his head was chopped off. Safer to call it "High Kirk", though they're nowadays lenient with first time offenders. The present building is from 14th century with much Victorian Gothic, notably its crowned spire. Highlight is the Chapel of the Order of the Thistle, Scotland's chivalric company of royal knights. Services are M-F at noon and 9:30AM and 11AM on Sunday, with choral music at 6PM.

    Mon-Fri 10AM-6PM, Sat 9AM-5PM, Sun 1-3PM · Free · Wheelchair accessible

  3. SeeBotanical gardenStockbridge and Canonmills

    Royal Botanic Garden

    Impressive gardens with a large collection. Great place to wander around on a sunny day, or to sit and have a picnic. Highlights include the Rock Garden; the 165-m-long herbaceous border, backed by a huge, century-old beech hedge, and the Palm House, the tallest of its kind in Britain. (However the Palm House and all the glasshouses are closed until 2025 for rebuilding, and a small section of the garden is only open at weekends.) A number of sculptures, including two by Barbara Hepworth, are displayed around the gardens. The east gate has a bus service but the west gate is grander, with the John Hope Gateway building containing the restaurant, shop, and exhibitions. Botanic Cottage is an education centre in a house that was built in 1764-5, designed by John Adam and James Craig and moved to the garden in 2014. They also run the gardens at Benmore near Oban, Dawyck above Peebles, and Logan near Stranraer.

    Daily Nov-Jan 10AM-4PM, Feb-Oct 10AM-5PM, last entry 15 min before closure · Free · Free entry · Built 1670

  4. SeeMuseumOld Town

    National Museum of Scotland

    Superb museum of Scotland's heritage. You enter into the lofty Victorian Grand Gallery, where the millennium clock chimes on the hour. Exhibition halls cover Scottish and world history and culture, science, technology, art and design, and natural history. Dolly the sheep, the 12th-century Lewis chess pieces, and dinosaurs are some of the highlights. NMS also run the War Museum in the castle, the Museum of Flight near Gullane, and the Museum of Rural Life in East Kilbride.

    Daily 10AM-5PM · Free · Wi-Fi · Free entry · Wheelchair accessible

  5. SeeLibraryOld Town

    National Library of Scotland

    A venerable reference library, which you need membership to access, but it has public exhibitions about literature. "Treasures" is its permanent exhibition. But don't stumble in here mistaking it for Central Library across the street.

    Mon-Sat 9:30AM-5PM · Free

  6. SeeHistory museumOld Town

    Museum on the Mound

    Museum about money and coins, in the basement of the Palladian pile of the former Bank of Scotland headquarters. Scotland developed a banking sector in the 18th century to support long-distance trade, and still prints its own banknotes.

    Tue-Fri 10AM-5PM, Sat 1-5PM · Free · Free entry · Wheelchair accessible

  7. SeeChildrens museumOld Town

    Museum of Childhood

    Concepts and imagery of childhood are ever-changing. See if you can find your (or your grandparents') old toys in the collection, and your place in history.

    Daily 10AM-5PM · Free · Free entry · Wheelchair accessible

  8. SeeHistoric siteOld Town

    Museum of Edinburgh

    Museum of city history in a mustard-hued mansion built in 1570.

    Daily 10AM-5PM · Free

  9. SeeArt galleryOld Town

    Fruitmarket

    Gallery of contemporary art, refurbished in 2018. From 1936 to the 1970s this was where soft fruit and veg were traded, handy for the trains and delivery vans.

    Daily 11AM-6PM · Free · Free entry · Wheelchair accessible

  10. SeeArt galleryOld Town

    Talbot Rice Gallery

    David Talbot Rice (1903-72) was in the louche crowd at Oxford that inspired Brideshead Revisited and became a distinguished scholar of East Mediterranean and Russian art, with extensive contacts in those parts - how come this fellow was never implicated in a spy ring? His spell as University Vice Principal is commemorated in this gallery with changing exhibitions of contemporary art. It's housed within Old College of Edinburgh University, a fine building built between 1789 and 1827 by Robert Adam and Henry Playfair. The Georgian Gallery has a Playfair interior and a mixture of Old Masters and modern installations.

    Tue-Sat 10AM-5PM during exhibitions · Free · Free entry · Wheelchair accessible

  11. SeeAttractionOld Town

    Greyfriars Kirk

    This church was built in 1620 on the grounds of an abandoned Franciscan Friary, but seriously damaged by later calamities or Acts of God so the present structure is mostly Victorian. It remains active, as other Presbyterian churches have closed and their congregations moved here. The main visitor interest is the ancient graveyard: notable denizens include the architects William and John Adam, the notorious hell-rake Colonel Charteris, Captain Porteous lynched after he fired on rioters, William McGonagall the worst poet in Scotland, and Greyfriars Bobby plus his owner. The mortsafe kept coffins locked until burial, else the body-snatchers would make off with them.

    Mon-Sat 11AM-4PM, Sun 11:30AM-2PM · Free · Wheelchair accessible

  12. SeeMuseumOld Town

    The Peoples' Story Museum

    This is housed in Canongate Tolbooth, the medieval centre for governance and justice (preferably gruesome) as Canongate was a separate jurisdiction until 1856. The museum covers the story of working class life, and of organised labour, from the late 18th century to the present.

    Daily 10AM-5PM · Free · Free entry

  13. SeeArt galleryNew Town

    Royal Scottish Academy

    An august neo-classical building on The Mound, fronting onto Princes St, and its main function is to be confused with the National Gallery behind. The RSA is a separate organisation promoting contemporary Scottish art. The building hosts temporary exhibitions but doesn't have a permanent display - the Academy's extensive collection is dispersed across many galleries. That might include your own home, as they run an art rental scheme.

    Free entry

  14. SeeHistoric siteOld Town

    Dunbar's Close Garden

    This close was re-modelled in the 1970s to recreate a 17th-century physic and knot garden, a hidden quiet place in the busy city.

    Daily 7AM-dusk · Free

  15. SeeArt galleryOld Town

    City Art Centre

    Four-floor gallery run by the city council. They rotate artwork from their extensive Scottish collection and have changing exhibitions.

    Daily 10AM-5PM · Donation £3 · Free entry · Wheelchair accessible

  16. SeeHistory museumStockbridge and Canonmills

    Museum of Scottish Fire Heritage

    Volunteer-run museum within McDonald Road fire station. History of Scottish firefighting from the era of rival commercial fire companies, through early wooden fire engines to more recent appliances.

    Mar-Nov Tue-Sat 10AM-4PM · Donation · Free entry

  17. SeeArt galleryOld Town

    Stills

    Photography gallery with three exhibitions a year. They also support photographers through courses and hire of equipment, darkroom and digital lab.

    Tue-Sat 11AM-5PM · Free · Free entry

  18. SeeMuseumOld Town

    Anatomical Museum

    Large collection of anatomical specimens and life and death masks. Best known is the skeleton of William Burke, hanged in 1829 after he and William Hare killed at least 16 people to sell the bodies for dissection. Limited opening as the area is in continual use for teaching, booking essential.

    Last Sat of Sept-Nov and Jan-May · Free

  19. SeeArt galleryWest

    Edinburgh Printmakers

    Creative centre for printmaking & visual arts, Two free galleries & shop. Vegan Cafe.

    Sun & Mon closed; Tue 10:00-17:30; Wed & Thu 10:00-21:00; Fri & Sat 10:17:30 · Free for galleries

  20. SeeArt galleryNew Town

    National Galleries of Scotland: Portrait

    Completed in 1890, this is a striking red sandstone neo-Gothic building. It holds portraits of Scots from down the ages, with new faces being added all the time: Billy Connolly and Tilda Swinton mingle with Mary Queen of Scots. The entrance hall has a grand frieze of notable Scots in procession.

    Daily 10AM-5PM · Free

  21. SeeArt galleryNew Town

    National Galleries of Scotland: Modern One

    The original modern art gallery, established in 1960, was in the Botanic Gardens. In 1895 it moved into this neoclassical building, originally a refuge for fatherless children, and in 1999 it expanded across the road into the neoclassical orphanage now known as Modern Two. The gardens of Modern One have been sculpted. Both buildings have extensive contemporary collections and most visitors find that seeing one of them is plenty for an afternoon.

    Daily 10AM-5PM · Free · Free entry · Wheelchair accessible

  22. SeeOld Town

    Canongate Kirk

    In 1687 James VII (II of England) chucked the Protestants out of Holyrood to convert it to a royal Roman Catholic chapel, the sort of behaviour that got him ousted from the monarchy the following year. The congregation moved to Infirmary St then to this building on its completion in 1691. From 1952 Queen Elizabeth II regularly attended when at Holyrood, and in 2011 her granddaughter Zara Phillips married former England rugby captain Mike Tindall here. Notables in its graveyard include George Drummond (1788-1866) co-founder of the New Town, poet Robert Fergusson (1750–1774), and economist Adam Smith (1723-90). Memorials also commemorate soldiers dying at Edinburgh Castle, for which this was the graveyard, and coachmen of the London-Edinburgh stagecoach, which had its terminus here.

    Open Sun afternoon, otherwise erratic; Services Sun 10:30 · Free

  23. SeeOld Town

    Dovecot Studios

    Tapestry studio and gallery housed in the former public baths. There is a cafe, shop, and viewing gallery where you can look down on weavers at work.

    Mon-Sat 10AM-5PM · Free

  24. SeeOld Town

    Edinburgh Central Mosque

    Stately mosque and minaret completed in 1998 in a modern variant of Turkish style. You can generally look in between prayer times.

    Daily noon-11PM · Free

  25. SeeWest

    Lauriston Castle

    This 1590s tower house was extended in the 1820s and housed a series of prosperous families. It passed into council ownership in 1926 and the interior has been preserved in its last occupants' plush Edwardian style. Visit by pre-booked guided tour. There is free entry to the gardens (daily 8AM-4:30PM), where the centrepiece is the Japanese garden. The castle is also used as an event space.

    Sat Sun 11AM-3PM · Tour adult £8, conc £6

  26. SeeOld Town

    Scottish Parliament

    A unique building, designed by Spanish Catalan architect Enric Miralles, completed in 2004. It's either a daring showpiece of postmodern architecture or a national embarrassment or a bit of both, time will tell. Parliament meets Tu-Th and you can watch debates from the Public Gallery, ask for tickets at reception. First Minister's Question Time is normally Th noon-12:45PM, and you need to reserve this up to 7 days in advance. Waiting list places may be available from 10AM on the day, otherwise watch from the Overspill Room. On non-business days (M F Sa) you can view the debating chamber from the Public Gallery without tickets. In the lobby area there are often exhibitions.

    Mon Fri Sat and public holidays 10AM-5PM, Tue-Thu 9AM-6:30PM · Free

  27. SeeArt gallery

    Scottish National Portrait Gallery

    National Galleries Scotland: Portrait is an art museum on Queen Street, Edinburgh. Portrait holds the national collections of portraits, all of which are of, but not necessarily by, Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collection.

    Mo-Su 10:00-17:00; Th 10:00-19:00 · Free entry · Wheelchair accessible · Wi-Fi

  28. SeeNew Town Not mapped

    St Andrew's & St George's West Church

    Completed in 1784, this is the parish church of the New Town. It's Italianate with an unusual elliptical interior, with an ornate ceiling blending Roman, Pompeian and Scottish elements. The steeple holds Scotland's oldest complete peal of bells, cast in 1788. In 1843 this church was the scene of The Great Disruption, when a third of ministers broke with the Presbyterian Church of Scotland to found their own Free Kirk. St George's Church was part of the breakaway, but there was a reconciliation in the 20th century, and in 2013 that congregation merged here. The Undercroft Cafe has homemade food M-F 10:30AM-2PM.

    Daily 10AM-2PM · Free

  29. Do Not mapped

    Degree Show

    Around the end of May the Edinburgh College of Art opens its doors and exhibits the works on art, design and architecture of their students. A similar event, the Masters Degree Show, takes place in August as part of the Edinburgh Art Festival. See the ECA event calendar for details.

    Free

  30. Do Not mapped

    Samhuinn Fire Festival

    Fire Festival marking the beginning of winter (evening of October 31). Procession and enacted fight between the King of Summer and Prince of Winter with great accompanying percussion.

    Free, donations are collected