Edinburgh

Vennel Steps

A steep stepped lane up from the Grassmarket beside the Flodden Wall, with one of the best-known views of Edinburgh Castle from the top.

Welcome

At the west end of the Grassmarket, a gap between the buildings opens on a steep flight of stone steps.

Most people come for one thing, and it is behind them: climb to the top, turn round, and the castle fills the sky, rising on its rock above the rooftops and chimneys, framed by the old stone walls of the lane and an iron lamppost.

It is lovely at any hour but best early, before the crowds, or on a misty morning when the castle comes and goes above the steps and the blossom along the wall glows pale. In snow it is magical. Take your time on the way up, stop at the landings to look back, and at the top follow the old wall along Heriot Place.

Before you go

The Vennel is a public way, free and open at any hour.

The steps are steep and can be slippery in the wet.

Bottom: The south-west corner of the Grassmarket.
Top: Off Lauriston Place, beside George Heriot's School; the way in at the top is step-free.

Did you know

A lamppost and stepped path lead down toward Edinburgh Castle rising above rooftops.

Did you know

A little street.

Vennel is an old Scots word from the French venelle: a small street squeezed between two larger buildings.

A stepped lane with a lamppost leads down past sandstone buildings toward Edinburgh Castle.

Did you know

The edge of the old city.

The Vennel once marked the boundary of Edinburgh, with the Flodden Wall running up beside it.

A snow-dusted Georgian tenement with a teal door stands behind an iron railing.

Did you know

Brown's Place.

In the 1820s James Brown, who owned stables beside the lane, opened up the ground around them into a square of houses, Brown's Place, facing the steps.

A stepped street lined with sandstone buildings leads toward Edinburgh Castle on its rock.

Did you know

Miss Jean Brodie's steps.

A scene of the 1969 film The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie was shot on these steps, and in 2018, on Muriel Spark's hundredth birthday, they were named the Jean Brodie Steps.