The Skinny Guide to Edinburgh 2025: Attractions and Green Spaces

This article is taken from the 2025 edition of The Skinny Guide to Edinburgh – a 116-page selection of some of our favourite things to do and places to go across the city. Pick up a copy at venues across Edinburgh this summer, or read it online via Issuu.

Volcanic Vistas

One of the most defensible fortresses of the middle ages is now one of the most visited attractions in the United Kingdom. Up the steep volcano on which it’s sat for 1000 years, Edinburgh Castle offers historical tours, dominating vistas, and the daily firing of the One O’ Clock gun, which makes a renowned contribution to the city’s soundscape every afternoon. You can also admire it at a lower elevation, as this crown jewel of Edinburgh’s skyline overlooks Princes Street Gardens, a fabulous tract of green space with flowers, monuments, the impressive turquoise Ross Fountain, and a wall shared with the ancient St Cuthbert’s Kirkyard. It’s so tranquil it’s easy to forget a ¾ mile shopping promenade is just across the road.

Calton Hill, just as easily reachable from Edinburgh Waverley via the stairs on Regent Road, boasts the National Monument of Scotland, our iconic but unfinished replica of the Parthenon. Also on the summit you can find The Dugald Stewart Monument and the City Observatory, which houses art gallery Collective. If you want to take on a voyage even more vertical than that, hikers avow Arthur’s Seat, which has a great beginner’s route from Queen’s Dr, by Holyrood Palace; and to see the city from the very centre of it all, climb the viewing platforms on the Scott Monument, the imposing gothic spire on Princes Street.

Academia in the Athens of the North

The National Museum of Scotland, accessible via Chambers St, offers archeological and geological samples from around the world, as well as an eight-storey wing detailing the eras of Scotland from the prehistoric to the postindustrial, and the ten-metre tall Millenium Clock, a gargoyle-covered tower that comes alive throughout the day.

If you prefer a stroll outside, the Royal Botanic Garden is a beloved arboretum and research centre on plantlife, with seven acres of samples available to the public. And when the weather’s nice, picnickers prefer the open space of The Meadows, the unofficial commons of the nearby University of Edinburgh George Square campus – but the park’s scenic walks, shaded with cherry blossoms, are enjoyed by all.

Auld Reekie’s Undercity

An excavated alleyway, buried centuries ago, provides an image of 17th-century slums, perfectly preserving the dismal conditions of the city’s past. Aside from being morbidly fascinating, Mary King’s Close (2 Warriston’s Cl) is oftentimes called Britain’s most haunted location. Whether or not you’re in search of the paranormal, Edinburgh’s underground is known for its eerie atmosphere; Auld Reekie Tours (45 Niddry St) and Mercat Tours (28 Blair St) offer journeys into the vaults buried beneath the capital.

Edinburgh Castle. Image: Ross Findlay.

The gothic Greyfriar’s Kirkyard (Greyfriar’s Pl) is known best for its story of Greyfriar’s Bobby, a terrier who loyally defended his late master’s grave. The statue to commemorate the pooch, which itself protects the gates to the cemetery, is a symbol of the city and rumoured to grant luck to those who pet his nose. Aside from the legend, the site is worth seeing just for its elaborate sepulchres and interned elite. For the stronger stomached out there, Surgeon’s Hall (Nicolson St) is a medical museum of human body parts preserved in formaldehyde – one of the most fascinating, if grizzly, glances into the Enlightenment era of Edinburgh.

Interact with Edinburgh

But long after medical museums and mock-ups of Greek monuments, Edinburgh has remained a cradle of learning. Dynamic Earth (Holyrood Rd) is a highly-interactive science centre, that educates all ages on the world we live in with elaborate, environmental displays. You can experience the recreated conditions of an earthquake, touch a real glacier and feel it crystalise around your handprint, and enjoy an eye-opening experience at the planetarium. Speaking of eyes, Camera Obscura & World of Illusions (549 Castlehill) is a multi-storey attraction of elaborate visual effects, including mirror mazes and tunnels of light. And for a great way to see the city, you can travel by foot or by bike via the Water of Leith Walkway, which takes you to such scenic spots as Dean Village, the Colinton Tunnel, and areas like Craiglockhart Hill and Saughton Gardens.

Have fun further out

If you really want to give your legs a stretch and get some fresh Scottish air, jump on a bus to the Pentland Hills, a hikeable wildlands just an hour north of Edinburgh, where you can meet some Highland cattle up close in the fur. The open-air art park Jupiter Artland, known for its surrealist landscaping and otherworldly sculpture, is a similar distance from the city, and on Scotland’s sunniest days – it’s been known to happen – Portobello Beach is the best place to be.