Edinburgh from Calton Hill
I first visited Edinburgh as an adult, about twenty years ago now. My friend had already fallen for its beauty, and though I'd spent part of my childhood in Scotland, it was in a different part of Scotland and nothing like the city that waited for me at the other end of that first train journey.
What's stayed with me, is the smell. The malty, yeasty smell of hops drifting from the old breweries, or the smoky curl of peat on a cold evening. The smell always feels like a “welcome back” Lee!
I must have travelled to Edinburgh maybe 50 times and even now, I'll find myself teary as the train slows into Waverley or Haymarket. It's a strange thing to admit, but I feel more at home in this city and other parts of Scotland, than I've ever felt in Australia. I couldn't tell you why. For years I assumed it was just because I loved this city so much, a private sentimentality. But my friend went to Scotland recently and described the same feeling. So maybe it isn't just me. Maybe it's Scotland itself. Maybe some places simply hold a kind of magic that has nothing to do with logic, and everything to do with belonging.
I've built up a fairly reliable list of what to enjoy and where to stay, eat, and drink so you can skip the trial and error and get straight to falling in love with the place yourself.
What to do in Edinburgh
I won't pretend Edinburgh is cheap - it isn't. Prices for everything are much more expensive since my first visit twenty years ago, and on a recent trip I found a few things that actually cost more in Edinburgh than in London. But here's the thing that makes Edinburgh worth it regardless: half the best experiences cost nothing at all. Just wander. Turn down a close you haven't noticed before, follow a street uphill for no reason - you'll find something worth stopping for.
Edinburgh Castle: Guided Walking Tour
It's the obvious Edinburgh tourist attraction, the thing most visitors do. But it's obvious for a reason. Edinburgh Castle sits on top of an extinct volcano and looms over the whole city. I've seen it maybe a hundred times now and I still think about how cool it is to have a castle sitting right in the middle of the city (yes, I know - there wasn't a city there when the castle was built). You'll have stared up at it a dozen times before you actually walk through the gates, but the view from the castle is also spectacular. Going with a guide makes a real difference - you're not just looking at old stone, you're hearing about the Crown Jewels, the Stone of Destiny, and Mons Meg, a cannon so enormous it sounds made up. Over 2 million people visit every year, so it's clearly not just me who thinks it's worth it.
The Real Mary King's Close
Right beneath the Royal Mile, hidden under the streets you've been walking on all day, is an entire preserved 17th-century street - and this tour takes you straight down into it. It sounds like a gimmick until you're actually standing in it: real houses, real rooms, real lives frozen in place, from plague outbreaks to a royal visit that's still talked about centuries later.
It's not for everyone - there are 58 steps down and 38 back up, it's dimly lit, and it's genuinely unsuitable if you're claustrophobic or need wheelchair access - but if none of that puts you off, it's worth the $.
Palace of Holyroodhouse
Holyroodhouse is the King's official residence in Scotland - and honestly, a fair few visitors reckon this one edges out the castle entirely. It's still a working palace, which is a strange thing to wrap your head around as you wander through state rooms with plasterwork ceilings and Brussels tapestries, into the Throne Room, and through Mary Queen of Scots' actual chambers, where her secretary Rizzio was murdered by her own husband right in front of her. Grim, yes, the ruined 12th-century abbey out the back is also a highlight. No photos allowed inside, so you'll just have to actually look at things instead of through a screen - a nice change, honestly. Give yourself a proper hour and a half, and don't skip the gardens on the way out.
The Royal Mile
Honestly, one of my favourite places in the entire city - not for any single reason, just the whole package. The buildings alone are worth the walk, but it's really the atmosphere that gets me: buskers, the smell of the closes, that particular hum of a street that's been doing this for centuries. Throw in the shops, the ones actually worth browsing, a bowl of cullen skink somewhere warm, and a pint of whatever's on tap, and you've got a perfect few hours without even trying.
National Museum of Scotland
If the weather turns (and in Edinburgh, it will), this is where you want to be. It's free, it's right on Chambers Street, and it's one of those museums where you plan to pop in for an hour and somehow lose the whole afternoon. The main Grand Gallery is worth walking into just for the space itself: a huge Victorian hall flooded with light. From there it's everything from Scottish history and natural world galleries to fashion, science and technology. And yes, Dolly the sheep is here, the world's most famous clone, looking a lot more ordinary than you'd expect.
Don't leave without heading up to the rooftop terrace. Hardly anyone seems to know about it, and it gives you a brilliant view across the Old Town to the castle, all without paying a penny.
Camera Obscura & World of Illusions
I'll be honest: I went in expecting a tourist trap for kids. I came out having spent two hours laughing at myself in mirrors. It's been sitting at the top of the Royal Mile, just below the castle, since the 1850s, and the Victorian camera obscura at the top is still the main event. A guide uses a rotating lens and mirror to project live images of the city onto a viewing table while telling stories about the streets below. It's a strange, lovely bit of old-fashioned magic.
The floors underneath are packed with optical illusions, a mirror maze, and a vortex tunnel that will make you question whether you've had one pint too many (even if you haven't). Great with kids, but don't write it off if you're without them. It's pricier than you might expect for what it is, so book online, and go early or late in the day to avoid the school-holiday crowds.
Arthur's Seat & Salisbury Crags
The castle sits on an extinct volcano, and so does this. Arthur's Seat rises right out of Holyrood Park, a short walk from the palace, and it's the closest thing to wild countryside you'll find in the middle of a capital city. The climb to the top takes roughly 45 minutes to an hour depending on your route and your legs. It's steep in places and slippery when wet, so wear proper shoes, not the nice ones you brought for dinner. Once you're up there, you get the whole city laid out beneath you, all the way to the Firth of Forth.
If you don't fancy the full summit, the Salisbury Crags give you the dramatic cliffs and a cracking view for a lot less effort. It's free, it's open all hours, and on a clear morning, it might just be the best thing you do in Edinburgh. Some paths around the crags have been closed in recent years for safety reasons, so check before you go.
Calton Hill
This one's free, it's five minutes from the city centre, and it is a popular view of Edinburgh. Calton Hill is scattered with slightly random monuments (an unfinished Greek-style structure that looks like Edinburgh ran out of budget halfway through, an old observatory, a Nelson memorial you can climb) but honestly, you're not going up there for the buildings. You're going for sunset. Get there for golden hour, look back across the skyline toward the castle, and you'll understand why half of Instagram's Edinburgh photos are taken from this exact spot.
Princes Street Gardens
Sitting in the valley between the Old Town and the New Town, Princes Street Gardens is where Edinburgh goes to sit down. Hard to believe it was once a loch (a rather foul one, by all accounts) before it was drained and turned into the green space you see today. Now it's lawns, benches, and one of the best views of the castle you'll get from street level.
Keep an eye out for the Ross Fountain, which is gloriously over the top, and the floral clock near the Mound, made entirely of plants and replanted every year. The Scott Monument towers over the eastern end, and you can climb it if you're up for nearly 300 narrow steps. Grab a coffee and a sandwich from somewhere nearby and have lunch on the grass. Come in December and the whole place turns into Edinburgh's Christmas market. It's busy and touristy, but you'd have to be very grumpy not to enjoy it a little.
Dean Village & the Water of Leith walkway
Ten minutes' walk from the West End and it feels like you've stepped into a different century. Dean Village was once a busy milling village on the Water of Leith. Now it's a cluster of old stone buildings, little bridges and a river that sounds like the countryside, all tucked down in a hollow you'd never know was there from the street above. It's postcard-pretty, and yes, you'll be sharing it with a few photographers, but it's earned the attention.
Don't just take a photo and leave. Follow the Water of Leith walkway downstream to Stockbridge, it's an easy, leafy stroll of about 20 minutes. Stockbridge is one of my favourite neighbourhoods in the city: independent shops, good cafés, and a Sunday market worth timing your walk for. Or head the other way to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art. Either way, this is exactly the kind of wander I was talking about at the start. It's free, unhurried, and full of little surprises.
Recommended Edinburgh Activities
Recommended Edinburgh Accommodation
Deans Village, Edinburgh