Edinburgh

The Royal Mile – The Castle, the Closes and a Palace

A day on foot, from Waverley station and back.

The route

The Royal Mile is the one street every first visit to Edinburgh comes for, and this day walks all of it, downhill from the Castle on its rock to the King's palace at the foot.

The Castle comes first, at half past nine, then the closes, St Giles' and the hall where Scotland's old parliament met, and the calmer Canongate below the Netherbow, with its kirkyard, museum and walled garden. Holyroodhouse fills the late afternoon, and the day ends at the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, open late from Tuesday to Thursday when it is sitting. It's about three miles on foot from Waverley and back, on cobbles, with steps in places. In August, with the Fringe and the Tattoo on, the High Street is packed and the Castle sells out weeks ahead, so book early.

Before you go

Book Edinburgh Castle
Book the 9.30am slot, the first of the day, and be at the Esplanade by 9.25am.
Book a bed near the Old Town
Stay near the Old Town or in the New Town and both ends of the day are a short walk from your door. Edinburgh's visitor levy adds 5% to the first five nights of any paid stay, from 24 July 2026.
Close byOld Town ChambersA place to stay Close byMoment George IV BridgeSleeps 2 Close byWest End MuseSleeps 4 A mile awayThe Scott HotelA hotel
Book Palace of Holyroodhouse
Book ahead: £22 an adult in 2026, against £26 on the gate.

The day

Royal Mile

Today you walk the Royal Mile from end to end, downhill almost all the way. It starts high on the Castle rock with Scotland's crown jewels, winds down past St Giles' and the narrow closes, and eases into the quieter Canongate for a walled garden and the palace where Mary, Queen of Scots lived. Set off from Waverley by 9.10am, and finish at the Scottish Parliament at the foot.

Edinburgh Castle
An attraction
It's a 12-minute walk uphill from Waverley by the steps of Fleshmarket Close, or 16 minutes by Cockburn Street, a way up with no steps, to Edinburgh Castle. Book the 9.30am slot and head straight up to Crown Square for the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish crown jewels, before the queue builds. Then see the Great Hall, St Margaret's Chapel and the cannon Mons Meg. Give it two hours. With children keen to see the One O'Clock Gun fired, stay until one and have lunch in the Castle, then leave out the Writers' Museum and the Museum of Edinburgh. The Stone of Destiny has gone: it moved to Perth Museum in 2024.
More about Edinburgh Castle
6 min on foot
Lady Stair's Close
An attraction
Walk 6 minutes back down the hill to Lady Stair's Close, through an arch on the left of the Lawnmarket. It opens into Makars' Court, where lines by Scottish writers are cut into the flagstones underfoot. Lady Stair's House, built in 1622, is now the Writers' Museum, free and open until 5pm, with rooms for Burns, Scott and Stevenson. Give it twenty minutes or so. Then, at about noon, cross the Lawnmarket for lunch at Deacon's House Cafe in Brodie's Close, where there's no need to book.
More about Lady Stair's Close
3 min on foot
Advocate's Close
An attraction
After lunch, it's a 3-minute walk on down the High Street to Advocate's Close, a narrow lane on the left. Stand at the top and look down it: the Scott Monument sits framed in the arch at the bottom, across the valley. The close drops in steep steps to Cockburn Street, so there's no need to go any further than the top.
More about Advocate's Close
About 3 min on foot
St Giles’ Cathedral
An attraction
St Giles' Cathedral, where John Knox preached, is 3 minutes across the street. It's free, with a suggested donation of £10, open until 6pm on weekdays, and dogs are welcome. Give it three quarters of an hour, and find the Thistle Chapel, four steps up, where a carved angel plays the bagpipes. Outside by the west door, the Heart of Midlothian marks where the old Tolbooth prison stood; locals spit on it, so step round it. The Mercat Cross stands at the east end.
More about St Giles’ Cathedral
3 min on foot
Parliament Hall
Round the back of St Giles', it's a 3-minute walk to door 11 on Parliament Square and, through the court's security, Parliament Hall. Scotland's own parliament met here until the Union of 1707, under the great hammerbeam roof finished in the 1630s. The hall is still in use, and advocates in wigs and gowns walk up and down it talking over their cases. It's free to look in on weekdays, when the courts allow, and a quarter of an hour, security and all, is plenty.
13 min on foot
Canongate Kirk
It's a 13-minute walk down the High Street, past John Knox House and the World's End, where the old town gate stood, into the Canongate, a good deal quieter. Canongate Kirk is on the left, begun in 1688 after James VII took the people's church at Holyrood Abbey for his Order of the Thistle. The poet Robert Fergusson strides out in bronze at the gate, and Adam Smith lies in the kirkyard. The church is usually open from 11am to 4pm on summer weekdays; give it twenty minutes.
About 2 min on foot
Museum of Edinburgh
Across the street, 2 minutes away, is the Museum of Edinburgh in Huntly House, free and open until 5pm, with last entry at 4.30pm. Inside, find the National Covenant of 1638 and Greyfriars Bobby's collar, and give it three quarters of an hour. On your way out, look into Bakehouse Close beside it.
Dunbar's Close Garden
An attraction
A minute's walk back across the street and a few doors down, at 137 Canongate, a narrow close opens into Dunbar's Close Garden. It's laid out in the style of a 17th-century Edinburgh garden, with clipped hedges, gravel paths and benches. It's free and very quiet, a good place for a twenty-minute sit before the palace. The council publishes no opening hours, so count on it in daylight. There are no toilets.
More about Dunbar's Close Garden
5 min on foot
Palace of Holyroodhouse
An attraction
It's a 5-minute walk down the Canongate, past White Horse Close on the left, an old coaching inn's courtyard whose houses are private homes, to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the King's official residence in Scotland. You're here at about quarter to four, with the last admission at 4.30pm. The free multimedia guide takes about an hour, up to Mary, Queen of Scots' rooms, where her secretary David Rizzio was murdered in 1566. Finish in the abbey ruins and the garden, and leave by 5.40pm for the Parliament.
More about Palace of Holyroodhouse
3 min on foot
Scottish Parliament Building
An attraction
The Scottish Parliament is 3 minutes' walk across Horse Wynd. In its sitting weeks it's open until 6.30pm from Tuesday to Thursday, with last entry at 6pm. Go through security to see Enric Miralles's building from the inside. Then it's a 16-minute walk back to Waverley, or the 35 bus from outside to South Bridge, about every 20 minutes in the evening, and 6 minutes' walk down North Bridge.
More about Scottish Parliament Building

If it rains

Most of this day is under a roof: the Castle's halls, the Writers' Museum, St Giles', Parliament Hall, the museum, the palace and the Parliament. Rain spoils the open parts, Crown Square and the Castle's batteries, the look down Advocate's Close, the kirkyard and Dunbar's Close, and the setts and steps turn slippery. The Castle can close at short notice in high wind, so check Historic Environment Scotland's closures page that morning. If it's shut, give the morning to the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street, free and open from 10am, an 11-minute walk from the Castle, where Dolly the sheep stands in the science galleries. On the Canongate, the People's Story in the Tolbooth is free and indoors too, opposite the Museum of Edinburgh.

Worth a detour

The Real Mary King's Close
Left out to give the palace its time. Across the street from St Giles', it's an hour's guided tour down into the old closes the City Chambers were built over in the 1750s. To add it, book the 1pm tour well ahead and leave out Parliament Hall and the Museum of Edinburgh; you reach the palace at about five to four.