Mid-range · 12-hour walk · Edinburgh
Edinburgh in a day: castle to Arthur's Seat
The castle at opening, Victoria Street and the Grassmarket, Greyfriars and the national museum, St Giles and the hidden close, Holyrood and the climb up Arthur's Seat.
Edinburgh is built on a ridge with a castle at one end and a palace at the other, and a day here walks it top to bottom. The castle goes first because it is the one real queue in town; the old town's museum and kirkyard take the middle of the day; and the evening climbs Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcano at the foot of the Royal Mile, for the whole city at sunset. Bring a jacket, whatever the forecast says.
The route, stop by stop
-
Edinburgh Castle
The Honours of Scotland, the oldest crown jewels in Britain, are the queue to join first. The one o'clock gun fires from the Mills Mount battery every day except Sunday.
-
Victoria Street
The curved, brightly painted street down from the Royal Mile to the Grassmarket, with shopfronts on two levels and a terrace walk above them.
20 min here Walk here → -
Grassmarket
Lunch in the old market square under the castle rock, where public hangings drew crowds until 1784. The pubs along the north side were coaching inns.
45 min here Walk here → -
Greyfriars Kirkyard
Up Candlemaker Row to the kirkyard where the National Covenant was signed in 1638, and where Greyfriars Bobby kept watch on his master's grave. The statue of the dog is at the corner outside.
20 min here Walk here → -
National Museum of Scotland
Free. Dolly the sheep, some of the Lewis chessmen and a steam engine in the Grand Gallery — and a roof terrace with the castle across the rooftops.
75 min here Walk here → -
St Giles' Cathedral
Up on the Royal Mile. The crown spire has stood since the 1490s, and the Thistle Chapel inside is a small riot of carved oak.
25 min here Walk here → -
The Real Mary King's Close
Beneath the City Chambers across the street, the 17th-century closes the city built over. Guided, timed and underground; book it.
-
Palace of Holyroodhouse
Down the length of the Royal Mile to the King's official residence in Scotland: Mary, Queen of Scots' rooms in the north-west tower, and the roofless abbey behind the palace.
-
Arthur's Seat
The extinct volcano in the middle of the city, 251 metres high. The path up from the palace takes about forty minutes, and the summit at sunset shows you every street you have walked today.
90 min here Walk here →
More in Edinburgh
Every walking route in Edinburgh, or the full Edinburgh guide for where to stay and what a day costs.