Hillend – The Alpine Coaster, Tubing and the City Below
A few hours.
The route
Hillend's Alpine Coaster runs down the slope of the Pentland Hills on the edge of Edinburgh, with a 360-degree spiral and the city spread out below, and its tubing lanes send you sliding down the hill on a rubber ring.
It's a morning for children from four and the grown-ups who ride with them, with a hot chocolate or lunch in the centre's café after.
Before you go
Book accommodation nearby
If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.
Book Midlothian Snowsports Centre: the Alpine Coaster
Book a half-hour Alpine Coaster slot at Midlothian Snowsports Centre online or on its app, up to eight weeks ahead, for any day but Wednesday: it can sell out, there are no phone bookings, and tickets can't be refunded or moved.
Book Midlothian Snowsports Centre: tubing
Book a 45-minute tubing session at Midlothian Snowsports Centre online for a Friday, Saturday or Sunday: walk-ins get on only where there's room, and riders must be 4 or over and a metre tall.
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The day
Hillend
A morning of rides on the hill above the city: the coaster first, a session on the tubes, then something warm in the café over the slopes.
About three hours
Midlothian Snowsports Centre
Midlothian Snowsports Centre is on the A702 at Hillend, half a mile south of the City Bypass at the Lothianburn junction, with its own car park, whose gates close 15 minutes after the centre does. Lothian bus 4 from Dalry Road stops outside, and the 15 from Waverley runs to Hillend. The Alpine Coaster runs every day but Wednesday, from 11am on weekdays and 10am at weekends. Book a half-hour slot online or on the centre's app: it can sell out, it can't be booked by phone, and tickets can't be refunded or moved. At the time of writing it's three rides for £22 on Fridays and at weekends, and £8 for one ride on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. A ride is just over three minutes and 980 metres, with a 360-degree spiral and a top speed of 28mph, and you can slow your own cart. Riders go alone from 9 years and 1.4 metres; children aged 4 to 8 ride with someone older. Tubing runs on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, with extra sessions in Midlothian's school holidays: 45 minutes sliding down the hill on rubber rings, with a travelator back up, from 4 years and a metre tall, £10.50 for under-18s and £13 for adults. Wear long sleeves, trousers and outdoor shoes. Café 360 has all-day breakfasts, soup, paninis and pizza, and a balcony over the slopes; hot food is served until 6pm at weekends and 8pm on weekdays. The coaster is reached by steps, or by a sloping road for a mobility scooter, and getting into a cart takes basic mobility. Any change is posted first on the centre's Facebook page.
If it rains
The coaster and the tubing are out on the hill; Café 360 is the one roof. On a wild day, check the centre's Facebook page before setting off.
Make it a weekend
