Top 20 activities in Edinburgh
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 the north 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. 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 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 first). You'll have stared up at it a dozen times before you actually walk through the gates, but the view from the castle is just as 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 and 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.
Busiest during the Edinburgh Fringe Festival - quietest in January and February, if you're after a calmer visit.
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
Camera Obscura & World of Illusions
Arthur's Seat & Salisbury Crags
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.
