Step-free Edinburgh – Castle, Museum and Parliament
A day by car, from Waverley Station and back.
The route
Edinburgh is a city of steep closes and cobbled hills, yet its national museum and its Parliament are level from the door, and even the Castle can be enjoyed in part without a step.
This day is made for anyone using a wheelchair or a pushchair, or who can't manage stairs, with a short ride by taxi or car between the stops. The one long push is from the cab to the Castle gate: 500 to 850 metres uphill, best with someone behind a manual chair. At the Castle, a small vehicle carries you up the steep cobbles to Crown Square, where the Great Hall and the National War Memorial have ramps; the palace apartments and the usual way out have stone steps. Lunch is in the National Museum of Scotland, where lifts reach every floor, and the day ends in the Parliament's gardens at Holyrood, with Salisbury Crags beyond.
Before you go
First ring the Castle's access line, 0131 310 5114, to book an Esplanade bay for before 10.30am or ask where a taxi sets you down, and to ask whether the mobility vehicle brings a wheelchair back down and whether there's a step-free way to the Crown Jewels; then book a 9.30am ticket for any day from Monday to Saturday, with up to two carers free.
Book a wheelchair-accessible taxi
Book a black cab for each of the day's four rides with Central Taxis or City Cabs, whose whole fleets take wheelchairs, and give the size of the chair or scooter when you book.
Book a Blue Badge exemption, if you're driving
If you come by a car that doesn't meet Edinburgh's Low Emission Zone standard, register a one-day Blue Badge exemption online, from up to seven days before until midnight on the day, or you may be fined.
The day
Edinburgh
The day opens on the Castle rock and finishes at the foot of the Royal Mile, with a short ride between the stops. It sets off from Waverley soon after half past eight and is back there by about five.
21 min at the wheelAbout 4 miles
Edinburgh Castle
An attraction
It's 7 minutes' drive from Waverley to Edinburgh Castle. The easy way in is by Blue Badge car to one of the Castle's few Esplanade bays, booked through its access line, before half past ten, when Castlehill shuts to traffic; ask when you book how the car leaves again. Taxis set you down on Johnston Terrace, and the step-free way up from there is the road, along the top of Johnston Terrace and up Castlehill: 500 to 850 metres uphill, with about 140 metres of setts near the top. The Esplanade after them rises at 5 degrees, so in a manual chair you'll need someone to push. Allow up to half an hour for the climb. Don't follow a phone up Castle Wynd North: it's 73 steps. At the gate, ask for the mobility vehicle to Crown Square, where the Great Hall and the National War Memorial have ramps. The Castle can't store a pushchair, so ask whether the vehicle will take yours. Ask, too, how you'll come back down: the usual way out is 70 stone steps, but staff will guide you down through the castle instead, and the cobbled way up is 15 degrees at its steepest. The vehicle doesn't run from 12.15 to 1.15pm, so leave Crown Square by noon. The Crown Jewels are in the Royal Palace, whose apartments have a short flight of stone steps at entry and exit; ask the access line whether there's another way to them.
5 min by car
National Museum of Scotland
If you came to the Castle by cab, book your next cab for about half past twelve to collect you where you were set down on Johnston Terrace, back down Castlehill the way you came. If you drove, leave the Esplanade the way the access line gave you. It's 5 minutes' drive to the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street, where there are four free Blue Badge bays you can't book. The Tower Entrance is level, with automatic doors, and wheelchairs can be borrowed free at its desk. With a mobility scooter, ring the museum before you come. Take the lift down to Level 0 for lunch in the Museum Kitchen, with the Changing Places toilet on the same floor, in the Entrance Hall. Then lifts reach every gallery, from the light-filled Grand Gallery, all Victorian cast iron, to Dolly the sheep, and the Terrace Lift rises to the roof for a view back to the Castle. Allow until about three o'clock.
5 min by car
Scottish Parliament Building
An attraction
It's 5 minutes' drive by cab, best booked ahead, to the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, designed by Enric Miralles and set opposite the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Blue Badge bays sit on Horse Wynd, close to the door and outside the Low Emission Zone; cars can also drop off at the turning circle by Dynamic Earth, which is inside the zone. The entrance is level and lifts reach every public floor; with a mobility scooter, ring before you come. It's open Monday to Saturday, shut on Sundays, with nothing to book: see the free exhibition in the Main Hall and take tea in the café. From Tuesday to Thursday the public gallery above the Debating Chamber has wheelchair spaces: ask at the desk. The gardens are level from the door, and from November to January the light goes early, so see them as soon as you arrive. There's a taxi rank on the corner of Horse Wynd for the ride home.
If it rains
The museum and the Parliament are indoors from the door, but the Castle is not: its steep cobbles are harder going in the wet, and the Esplanade and Crown Square are open to the wind and rain. In steady rain, keep to the Great Hall and the National War Memorial and come down early, or leave the Castle for a dry day and start at the museum when it opens at 10am, with lunch there as planned. The Castle can close in bad weather, so look at its website before you set out.
Make it a weekend
