Heads Up: 16 things to do in Edinburgh this summer

Explore the bike paths

Former train lines have been adapted to create leafy tunnels providing traffic-free routes from central Edinburgh all the way to Colinton Dell and the Pentlands one way, and the beaches of Portobello and Cramond in the other.

Go bowling at the Sheep Heid Inn

A visit to the Sheep Heid Inn in Duddingston is a must. Opened in 1360, it’s Scotland’s oldest pub, so it reeks of history. But even more impressive is its skittles alley out back. A kind of proto-ten pin bowling game, skittles is great fun, especially after some ales and a homemade pie.

Take visiting pals up Calton Hill

Good views for minimal effort, still in the city centre. At the top you’ll find Edinburgh’s Disgrace, the abandoned site of a misguided 19th century attempt to replicate the Parthenon in Scotland, and Collective gallery (pictured below, photo by Tom Nolan), home to a year-round exhibitions programme with an emergent talent focus.

Stroll through the Hermitage of Braid

To the south of the city centre, the Hermitage of Braid is an actual forest, filled with cute doggos, foraging opportunities (wild garlic n blackberries, season dependent), a river and access to Blackford Hill which at least one person on the team believes to offer the finest views in the city.

Go on a coffee crawl

Edinburgh’s teeming with great independent coffee shops. Start at Cairngorm in the West End, go up Lothian Road to The Source, head to Beatnik over on Brougham St, cross the park to Cult on Buccleuch St, and by this point you’ll be doing laps of the Meadows for the rest of the afternoon.

Go to the beach

Genuine actual honest-to-goodness seaside is just a bus ride away – Portobello promenade is loaded with cafes and pubs, the high street has a great mix of shops and venues, and the sea is there. It’s right there!

Take a bookshop crawl

Edinburgh has some of the best indie bookshops around – from big (Toppings) to radical (Lighthouse) to curated (Rare Birds) to everything in between – and equally great second-hand shops (Armchair, Tills, McNaughtan’s). Take a day and visit them all!

Catch a folk session

Head to Sandy Bell’s on Forrest Road and listen to some live folk music, soaking up the pub’s historic atmosphere and whisky. On Infirmary Street, The Royal Oak (named after the Jacobite symbol signifying allegiance to the Stuart monarchs) serves up proper old school folk sessions with local musicians, in the cosiest pub in Edinburgh.

Head to the pool

Edinburgh is home to some incredible public pools, from Victorian bathhouses with built-in saunas – Glenogle in Stockbridge, Dalry Swim Centre – to the A-listed 70s architecture of the Commonwealth Pool and even a Turkish Bath in Portobello. You can access them for as little as £6.75 – find out more at the Edinburgh Leisure website.

Vertical clubbing

Thanks to the Old Town’s MC Escher-esque layout, many of Edinburgh’s best gig spaces appear to be directly on top of each other. Sneaky Pete’s is a 100-capacity sweatbox for clubs and gigs; Liquid Room is a bigger space for bigger bands, about a block away but somehow *above* Sneaky’s. La Belle Angele and The Mash House are both great, and connected by a set of staircases and slightly weird outdoor corridors. Hey, if nothing else, they’re all close together.

Lothian Road

Edinburgh’s glittering West End! OK, it’s not Broadway, but the Lothian Road corridor is home to two of the city’s finest cinemas – the newly-reopened Filmhouse (pictured above, photo by Kat Gollock) and the 111-year-old Cameo Picturehouse – plus the venerable Usher Hall with a wide mix of live music, The Lyceum theatre and the King’s Theatre, which reopens in spring 2026 after a major refurb.

A tram pub crawl

It can’t just be a coincidence that the tram stops seem to line up perfectly with many of the best pubs in Edinburgh (think Teuchters Landing, Port O’ Leith, Victoria Bar, The Street). Start at Dreadnought in Newhaven and jump off and have a drink at as many stops as is responsible. If you’ve made it to the West End you’ve gone too far. If you’re at the airport, send for help.

Go charity shop hunting

Edinburgh is the perfect city for giving up fast fashion, with an abundance of vintage and charity shops to meet all your eco fashionista needs. Each neighbourhood has their own particular vibe: head to Stockbridge and Morningside for cheap high-end and designer items, or the Southside and Leith for all the cool clothes the students get rid of at the end of every term.

Visit the markets

There’s an abundance of markets – both indoor and outdoor – throughout Edinburgh. Head to Stockbridge Market on the weekend for handmade crafts and street food, Out of the Blue the last Saturday of the month for a full-to-the-brim flea market, or The Pitt out at Granton, where they have more street food as well as a mini market of arts and crafts every weekend.

Try the bakeries

By this point, Lannan’s pastries are probably more famous than Edinburgh itself. Avoid the queues and head for in-house baked goodies at spots in town like The Palmerston, La Barrantine, Kvasa, Babyfaced Baker, The Bearded Baker, Pastry Section, Sicilian Pastry Shop, Tasty Buns and Kukina, or jump on the train to Musselburgh and sample the pastries and breads on offer at Company Bakery.

Alternative Old Town

Head to the Grassmarket and pick up a vintage item from Armstrong’s, before joining the queue at Mary’s Milk Bar (pictured above, photo by Cera) for a delicious ice cream. Grab a macaroni pie from Piemaker, take in a local gig at Sneaky’s and end the night in the haunted underground vaults of Banshee Labyrinth, a pint of Tennent’s in one hand, a shot of crème de menthe in the other.