Three days in Edinburgh
Three days on foot, from Waverley station to Portobello.
The route
Three days is just right for Edinburgh, and all of it can be done on foot.
The first day stays in the Old Town, from the castle on its rock to a merchant's house on the Lawnmarket, down the Castle Wynd steps to the Grassmarket and round to the kirkyard at Greyfriars. The second starts with the view from Calton Hill, then heads down through the Georgian New Town to the Botanics and the old village of Stockbridge, and along the Water of Leith to Dean Village. The last goes down the Canongate to Holyrood, up and over Arthur's Seat to Duddingston, and on to the beach at Portobello. Every walk is timed, and the hills, steps and steep closes are all marked, so you'll know what each day asks of your legs before you set out.
Before you go
Book beds near Edinburgh, two nights
Book as soon as your dates are set: here are ours nearest the night.
Weeks ahead in summer: tickets often sell out, and none are sold at the gate once they have.
Book online for a guaranteed slot; tickets are sold on the day only if there is room.
Book online beforehand: it is £4 cheaper for an adult than on the day.
(1)-large-1778448485.jpg)
Day one
Castle
A day in the oldest part of the city, from the castle down to the Grassmarket and Greyfriars. It's only about a kilometre and a half between the stops, but the streets are cobbled and steep, with steps down Castle Wynd and a long flight up the Vennel.
Edinburgh Castle
An attraction
It's a 13-minute walk up from Waverley, the last stretch on the cobbles of the Royal Mile, to Edinburgh Castle on its great volcanic rock. Book a timed ticket online before you come, as they often sell out in summer and none are sold at the gate once they have. Inside are the Crown Jewels, St Margaret's Chapel and the huge old cannon Mons Meg. Give it two or three hours, and listen for the One O'Clock Gun, fired every day except Sunday.
7 min on foot
Gladstone’s Land
An attraction
Walk 7 minutes back down the hill to the Lawnmarket and Gladstone's Land, a tall, narrow merchant's house bought by Thomas Gledstanes in 1617. The National Trust for Scotland has furnished its rooms to show three merchant households from three different centuries, and the ceilings upstairs were painted by hand in 1620. Look for the monkey hiding among the fruit and flowers. You can wander through on your own until half past two, so come before lunch, and the stair up is a steep stone spiral.
About 2 min on foot
Camera Obscura
An attraction
Two minutes back up the street stands the black-and-white tower of Camera Obscura, where five floors of optical illusions lead up to the roof. At the top, a guide works the Victorian camera, which has shown the city from here since 1853, and a live picture of the streets below appears on a white table in the dark. Then step out onto the rooftop terrace for the real view. Allow an hour and three quarters, and book a slot online. There are only stairs, so pushchairs stay at the desk.
About 6 min on foot
Vennel Steps
An attraction
Six minutes down the Castle Wynd steps is the Grassmarket, the old market place at the foot of the castle rock. At its west end, climb the Vennel, a long flight of steep stone steps, with the last standing tower of the Flodden Wall at the top. Turn round there, and the castle rises straight ahead over the rooftops. It's one of the best-known views in the city. The steps are slippery in the wet, so take them slowly.
6 min on foot
Greyfriars Kirk
An attraction
It's a 6-minute walk back down the Vennel and up Candlemaker Row to Greyfriars Kirkyard, where paths wind between old gravestones and grand carved memorials. The kirk opened on Christmas Day 1620, and in 1638 the National Covenant was signed in front of its pulpit. Greyfriars Bobby, the Skye terrier said to have kept watch over his master's grave for fourteen years, is buried just inside the gate, and his bronze statue stands on the corner outside. The kirkyard never closes, so it's a peaceful place to end the day.
If it rains
Most of this day is already under a roof: the castle's Great Hall and Crown Jewels, the rooms of Gladstone's Land and the five floors of illusions at Camera Obscura. In low cloud the view from the top of the Vennel disappears, and the steps are slippery in the wet, so leave them out. Give the end of the afternoon to the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street instead, free and open daily until five, where Dolly the sheep stands in the science galleries. Surgeons' Hall Museums, a few minutes further on, is open daily until five too, with a charge.
EdinburghThe OutsiderBistro with castle views
EdinburghOinkA restaurant
EdinburghHowies Victoria StreetTraditional Scottish cooking
EdinburghParadise PalmsA restaurant
EdinburghThe WitcheryA restaurant
EdinburghJolly JudgeA restaurant
EdinburghDeacon's House CafeA café
EdinburghWhiski RoomsA restaurant
EdinburghMary's Milk BarA café
EdinburghMaxiesA café
EdinburghBedrock CoffeeA café
EdinburghHula Juice BarA caféDay two
Stockbridge
From the view on Calton Hill down through the Georgian New Town to the Botanics and Stockbridge, then along the river to Dean Village. It's about seven kilometres and mostly downhill, with steps up Calton Hill and down to the river path.
12 min on foot
Calton Hill
An attraction
Start early on Calton Hill, a 12-minute walk from Waverley, where a flight of steps climbs up from Waterloo Place at the east end of Princes Street. From the top you look across to the castle and the Old Town, with Arthur's Seat on one side and Leith and the Forth on the other. The twelve great columns of the National Monument were begun in 1822 as a copy of the Parthenon, and never finished when the money ran out.
15 min on foot
Scottish National Portrait Gallery
An attraction
A 15-minute walk down to Queen Street brings you to the red sandstone Portrait Gallery, which was the first gallery in the world built for portraits when it opened in 1889. See the Great Hall first, with its procession of famous Scots running round the walls, from Robert the Bruce to Robert Burns. Then wander the rooms of faces, where kings and queens hang beside poets and scientists. It's free, and it opens every day at ten.
25 min on foot
Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
An attraction
Allow 25 minutes for the walk downhill through the New Town and Canonmills to the East Gate of the Royal Botanic Garden, which everyone here calls the Botanics. Seventy acres of lawns and woodland spread out inside, with the Rock Garden, the Chinese Hillside and great banks of rhododendrons. The garden is free and open daily from ten. Its restored Victorian Palm Houses reopened on 2 October 2026 and need booking ahead; the other glasshouses stay closed for now.
20 min on foot
Circus Lane
An attraction
Leave by the West Gate, and it's a 20-minute walk down into Stockbridge, the old village on the Water of Leith, and Circus Lane. This curving cobbled mews was built in the early 1800s for the horses and carriages of the grand houses on Royal Circus, and the clock tower of St Stephen's closes the view at the end. The little houses are homes, so go quietly. On a Sunday, the Stockbridge Market sets up its stalls a few streets away.
8 min on foot
St Bernard's Well
An attraction
It's an 8-minute walk down to the river and upstream along the Water of Leith Walkway to St Bernard's Well, a little round temple built over a mineral spring in 1789. The painter Alexander Nasmyth designed it after the Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli, and under its dome stands Hygieia, the Greek goddess of health, carved by David Watson Stevenson after the publisher William Nelson bought the well in 1884. It's lovely from the path, and the inside opens on occasional Sundays in summer.
About 5 min on foot
Dean Village
An attraction
Carry on up the river for 9 minutes, under the tall arches of Thomas Telford's Dean Bridge, to Dean Village. For centuries this was a village of mills worked by Edinburgh's bakers, and stone plaques carved with loaves and pies still mark the old buildings. Stand on the little bridge for the classic view of the houses along the water, and look for Well Court, built in the 1880s as homes for local tradesmen. People live here, so keep your voice down.
40 min on foot
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
An attraction
Another 13 minutes along the river path, then up a steep flight of steps, brings you to the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, two grand old buildings facing each other across Belford Road. Modern One was built in the 1820s as a home for fatherless children and now holds the permanent collection; Modern Two is known for its surrealists. On the lawn out front, Charles Jencks's Landform curves round three crescent pools. It's free, and open daily until five. Princes Street is about 40 minutes' walk back.
If it rains
Calton Hill is no fun in driving rain, so go straight to the Portrait Gallery on Queen Street, which is free and opens at ten. From 2 October 2026 the Botanics' restored Palm Houses are open again, warm and green on a wet day, but they need booking ahead. At the end of the day the two Modern galleries on Belford Road are free and dry, so give them longer.
EdinburghKinA restaurant-full-1718204254.jpg)
EdinburghPizzeria 1926A restaurant
EdinburghThe Scran & ScallieA restaurant
EdinburghThe HuxleyA restaurant
EdinburghMossA restaurant
EdinburghNightcapBasement cocktail bar
EdinburghThe PantryA café-full-1718027879.jpg)
EdinburghCowan & SonsCafé and print shop
EdinburghWellington CoffeeA restaurant
EdinburghThe Last WordBasement cocktail bar, Stockbridge
EdinburghPurslaneA restaurant
EdinburghHoly CowVegan café, burgersDay three
Holyrood
Down the Canongate to the palace, up and over Arthur's Seat to Duddingston, and on to the sea at Portobello. It's the longest walk of the three days, just over eight kilometres between the stops, with a steep, rocky climb of 210 metres in the middle, so wear good shoes.
11 min on foot
Dunbar's Close Garden
An attraction
It's an 11-minute walk from Waverley down to the Canongate, the lower end of the Royal Mile, where a narrow close leads to Dunbar's Close Garden. It looks centuries old, but this little walled garden was laid out in the 1970s, in the style of the town gardens that once ran behind the houses of the Royal Mile. Clipped box hedges edge its gravel paths, with benches in the corners. It's free, and a quiet place to start the day.
About 3 min on foot
White Horse Close
An attraction
Three minutes on down the Canongate, almost at the palace gates, is White Horse Close, a cobbled courtyard of white-harled houses with crow-stepped gables and outside stone stairs. The close goes back to the 1600s, though the 1623 on the datestone over the stair was recut from an older date around 1930, and much of what you see was rebuilt in the 1960s to look as it once did. Its best-known building was the White Horse Inn. These are homes, so take your pictures quietly from the cobbles.
2 min on foot
Palace of Holyroodhouse
An attraction
A 2-minute walk brings you to the Palace of Holyroodhouse, the King's official home in Scotland. After the grand State Apartments come the older rooms in the tower, where in 1566 Mary, Queen of Scots saw her secretary David Rizzio dragged from her supper and stabbed to death. Then walk out to the roofless ruin of Holyrood Abbey, founded in 1128. It opens at half past nine, daily in high summer and otherwise Thursday to Monday, with last entry at half past four, or quarter past three from November.
45 min on foot
Arthur’s Seat
An attraction
Cross into Holyrood Park for Arthur's Seat, 3.5 kilometres away by the path past St Margaret's Loch and up from Dunsapie Loch. It's a 45-minute walk, plus about 20 minutes for the 210-metre climb, steep and rocky near the top. From the 251-metre summit of this old volcano, the view runs along the coast to the Bass Rock. The Radical Road under Salisbury Crags has been closed since 2018; a southern section was approved for reopening in May 2026, but may not be open yet.
17 min on foot
Dr Neil’s Garden
An attraction
Come down the steep east side of the hill, with a chain railing on the steepest part. It's a 17-minute walk, longer on the steep ground, to Dr Neil's Garden on the shore of Duddingston Loch. Two doctors, Nancy and Andrew Neil, began making it in 1963 on rough church land that had never been dug. Look for Thomson's Tower, built in 1825 for the Duddingston Curling Society. The garden is free, open daily from ten until dusk, and steep in places with narrow paths. Dogs are not allowed.
40 min on foot
Portobello Beach
An attraction
It's a 40-minute walk east, and mostly flat, through Figgate Park with its pond and boardwalk, to the sea at Portobello. A wide sandy beach runs below the Victorian promenade, two miles long, which the town council began building in the 1860s so that everyone could reach the sand. Kick off your shoes and walk along towards Joppa, then catch the 26 bus back into town from the High Street when you're ready.
If it rains
In rain the rocky top of Arthur's Seat is slippery and the view is lost, so leave the climb for another day. Give the palace longer, then cross the road to the Scottish Parliament, free to walk in from Monday to Saturday, with an exhibition and a café. Dynamic Earth, next door under its white tent roof, has volcanoes, an ice wall and a planetarium; outside the school holidays it closes at three on weekdays, with last entry at one.
Where to eat
EdinburghCiverinos SliceA restaurant
EdinburghShrimpwreckA restaurant
EdinburghOscar's on the PromA restaurant
EdinburghThe Tolbooth TavernPub in the old tolbooth
EdinburghClarinda's TearoomA café
EdinburghSheep Heid InnA restaurant
EdinburghLoudons New WaverleyA café
EdinburghWedgwoodSeasonal cooking, Royal Mile
EdinburghThe White HorseA restaurant
EdinburghChop HouseA restaurant
EdinburghThe World’s EndPub at the old city wall
EdinburghRoom & RumoursA café