The Complete Edinburgh Travel Guide

Edinburgh does weather as theatre. You can get four seasons before lunch, and the odd thing is the city looks good in all of them, better in fog than most places manage in sunshine. So bring a jacket and take this the way you would a local's tip: the closes off the Royal Mile that most people walk straight past, the hill you can climb in an hour, the pub where nobody is performing Scottishness at you.

How to use this guide: the tabs at the top move you between itineraries, places to see, restaurants, hotels, experiences and day trips. On any tab, open the map for a much clearer picture of where things sit and how Edinburgh stacks up between the Old Town ridge and the New Town below. On your phone, tap Get the App (or add this page to your home screen) so the whole guide is one tap away. Short on time? Jump to the ⚡ Quick Facts below.

About Edinburgh: Everything You Need to Know Before You Go

This complete Edinburgh travel guide covers getting around on foot and by tram, arriving from the airport, climbing Arthur's Seat, what the August festivals do to prices and crowds, the best whisky bars, day trips into the Highlands, and the money-saving tips most visitors only learn on the way home. Whether you are here for the castle, the Old Town closes, or three days of hills and history, bookmark this page before you book.

Edinburgh is the capital of Scotland, with around half a million residents, built across a set of volcanic hills so the city rises and drops constantly. Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcano in the middle of Holyrood Park, tops out at 251 metres and takes about an hour to climb for one of the best city views in Britain. The medieval Old Town and the Georgian New Town are both UNESCO listed, and every August the festivals take the whole city over.

Whether you have a weekend or a full week, the sections below cover how to get around on foot, where to stay, where to eat and drink like a resident, and how to plan around the weather and the festival crowds.