Must-see attractions in Edinburgh

A multi-purpose, family-friendly arts hub, Out of the Blue occupies a magnificent old drill hall dating back to 1901 and hosts events, exhibitions,…

This recent addition to Leith’s hipster scene is a creative arts hub housed in an old biscuit factory, also home to Edinburgh Gin’s second distillery…

On the southern side of Calton Hill stands the modernist facade of St Andrew's House, built between 1936 and 1939 and housing the civil servants of the…

Outside the western door of St Giles Cathedral is a cobblestone heart set into the paving that marks the site of the 15th-century Tolbooth. The Tolbooth…

This manufactured attraction combines gruesome tableaux of torture and degradation with live actors who perform scary little sketches along the way. There…

Outside the eastern end of St Giles Cathedral stands the Mercat Cross, a 19th-century copy of the 1365 original, where merchants and traders met to…

St Cuthbert's Parish Church was built in the 1890s on a site of great antiquity – there has been a church here since at least the 12th century, and…

This small art gallery has three exhibition spaces: the neoclassical Georgian Gallery, designed by William Playfair, houses a permanent collection of…

Edinburgh's tallest spire (71.7m) is at the foot of Castlehill and is a prominent feature of the Old Town's skyline. The interior has been refurbished,…

Designed by Thomas Telford and built between 1829 and 1832 to allow the New Town to expand to the northwest, the Dean Bridge vaults gracefully over the…

Newhaven was once a distinctive fishing community whose fishwives tramped the streets of Edinburgh’s New Town selling caller herrin (fresh herring) from…

At the western end of the Grassmarket, a narrow close called the Vennel leads steeply up to one of the few surviving fragments of the city wall that was…

St Andrew Sq is dominated by the fluted column of the Melville Monument, commemorating Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (1742–1811). Dundas was the…

The neoclassical Burns Monument (1830), a Greek-style memorial to Scotland's national poet Robert Burns, stands on the southern flank of Calton Hill. It…

Edinburgh University’s Old College is a neoclassical masterpiece designed by Robert Adam in 1789; today it is home to the university’s law faculty. At the…

The Church of St Andrew & St George, built in 1784 with an unusual oval nave, was the scene of the Disruption of 1843, when 451 dissenting ministers left…

The visitor centre in Hermitage of Braid nature reserve explains the history and wildlife of the glen, and has details of nearby nature trails.

Alongside the River Almond in Cramond, opposite the cottage on the far bank, is the Maltings, which hosts an interesting exhibition on Cramond’s history.

The western end of Princes St is dominated by the tower of St John's Church; the church is worth visiting for its fine Gothic Revival interior.