A walk · Edinburgh

The Royal Mile's Closes – Stairs, Arches and a Hidden Garden

About a mile on foot.

The closes are the narrow lanes and stairs that drop away on either side of the Royal Mile, and the Old Town was built along them.

This walk goes down the street from the Lawnmarket to the foot of the Canongate and looks into them one after another, from the writers' flagstones of Makars' Court to the white gables of White Horse Close. It's about a mile, downhill, on cobbles and steps. Allow an hour and a half.

Time: Allow an hour and a half: about a mile, downhill, one way.
The path: Cobbles, narrow lanes and steps in the closes: not for a pushchair or a wheelchair. The street itself slopes without steps, and each close can be looked into from its mouth.
Where to start: Start at Lady Stair's Close, off the Lawnmarket: come up on foot from Waverley station. There is no parking on the Royal Mile.
When to go: All year in daylight. The Writers' Museum is open every day from 10am to 5pm; the Museum of Edinburgh from Wednesday to Sunday. In December the sun sets at about 3.40pm.
Children: Uneven cobbles and steep stairs; traffic on parts of the street.
Toilets: On Castle Hill, just above the start, 10am to 8pm.

The walk

Start at Lady Stair's Close, off the Lawnmarket near the top of the Royal Mile. There's no parking: come up on foot from Waverley station. The close opens into Makars' Court, where lines by Scottish writers from John Barbour to Muriel Spark are cut into the flagstones. The Writers' Museum beside it is free and open every day from 10am to 5pm, with last entry at 4.30pm.

From there it's about a mile, downhill, to White Horse Close at the foot of the Canongate. On the way are the carved arch of Riddle's Court, with a plaque to David Hume, and Advocate's Close, whose stair frames the Scott Monument. Lower down come the Heart of Midlothian set in the cobbles by St Giles', the iron fish over Old Fishmarket Close, and World's End Close. In the Canongate, Bakehouse Close runs beside the Museum of Edinburgh, which is free and open from Wednesday to Sunday, 10am to 5pm, and a clipped garden lies hidden at the end of Dunbar's Close.

White Horse Close, the last, is a courtyard of white gabled houses with outside stairs. The closes are cobbled, narrow and stepped, and some are dim under their arches, so they don't suit a pushchair or a wheelchair. The street itself slopes all the way without steps, and each close can be looked into from its mouth. People live in these courtyards, so keep voices down.

If it rains

The arches give a little cover, but wet cobbles and worn steps are slippery. The Writers' Museum at the start and the Museum of Edinburgh in the Canongate are both free and under a roof.