The Skinny Guide to Edinburgh: Green Spaces

Like Rome, Auld Reekie is rumoured to have been built on seven hills (though there’s debate as to which hills count). Getting to the loftiest lookouts in town can be an uphill struggle, but if you prefer your scenery horizontal, don’t worry – the capital has green spaces for all

Princes Street Gardens, right across the road from a ¾ mile shopping promenade, is Edinburgh’s most central green space. Visitors to the city can step right out of Waverley train station and into the shade of the nearby Castle Rock. Rest your feet before tackling the steep streets of the Old Town, or have a wander through the gardens’ many attractions – the Floral Clock, the Gardener’s Cottage, and St Cuthbert’s Kirkyard are all under a ten minute walk from the comfort of your memorial bench. The Ross Fountain, a turquoise masterwork of Victorian sculpture, is a particular highlight, and don’t forget to snap a selfie with the statue of Corporal Wojtek, the ursine WWII veteran who retired out of the Polish Army into the Edinburgh Zoo.

For some Scottish wilderness right in the heart of the capital, Holyrood Park has crags, hills, even lochs, but it’s best known for Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano from which the city's best vistas can be seen. An 18th-century superstition offers eternal beauty to those who bathe their faces with the May Day morning dew of Arthur’s Seat. A more recent myth states students who don’t climb the hill during Freshers’ Week are doomed to a lacklustre love life for the duration of their degree. We don’t know about all that, but if you climb the beginner’s route from Queen’s Dr, just off from Holyrood Palace, you’ll find breathtaking views at the summit, and hundred-year old curses will be the last thing on your mind.

For a less monumental climb with just as many landmarks to see, Calton Hill is home to the National Monument of Scotland, an attempted replica of the Parthenon which ran out of funding after the first wall was erected, immortalising the incomplete facsimile with the nickname 'Edinburgh’s Folly'. The Dugald Stewart Monument also features in the foreground of most of Edinburgh’s most iconic skyline photographs, and the City Observatory – which houses art venue Collective – is a masterpiece inside and out.

Arthur's Seat. Image: Mike Newbry.

The student quarters’ informal commons is The Meadows, a vast park covered in cherry blossoms, that fills up with picnics and parties the sunnier it gets. Bordered by the University of Edinburgh George Square campus, it’s also right on the doorstep of arts complex Summerhall, and a lot of the fresh air is shared with nearby public golf course Bruntsfield Links.

The Water of Leith Walkway is a scenic, cycle-friendly route through the city that follows Edinburgh’s 22 mile river. This will take you by and through well-loved local green spaces such as Craiglockhart Hill and Saughton Gardens, as well as offering stops at such photogenic hotspots as the historic Dean Village, or the mural-dappled Colinton Tunnel.

Wintertime visitors to the city might be acquainted with Christmas at the Botanics, the enchanting light show that illuminates Edinburgh’s darker months – but the Royal Botanic Garden is a year-round breath of fresh air, in no small part due to the world-leading herbarium of over three million specimens. If you’re interested in going a little further afield, and in seeing some Highland coos up close in the fur, take a trip to the Pentlands, or soak up culture, sculpture and otherworldly landscaping at nearby open-air gallery Jupiter Artland.

And though they might not be as central as Calton Hill, Castle Rock, Arthur’s Seat and Craiglockhart Hill, the remaining three heights that complete the Roman analogy – Braid Hills, Blackford Hill and Corstorphine Hill – are particularly popular for the annual Seven Hills of Edinburgh Race & Challenge.

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This article is taken from The Skinny Guide to Edinburgh 2024 – get your free copy from venues across Scotland from 28 June