Edinburgh's Galleries on Foot – The Mound, Stills and Dovecot
A day on foot, from Waverley station and back.
The route
Edinburgh keeps a good deal of its art within a few minutes' walk of Waverley station, and most of it is free to see.
This day takes one large gallery and three small ones, and no two show the same kind of work: there are paintings, photographs, new art, and tapestries made on the loom while you watch. It's a little under a mile and a half on foot, with two short climbs through the Old Town, and everything but the walks between is indoors. It's a short day on purpose, so there's time to look without hurrying and the rest of the afternoon is your own.
Before you go
Book lunch at the Fruitmarket Cafe
Book a table at the Fruitmarket Cafe by phone, on 0131 226 8195, for about 1.20pm.
The day
Edinburgh
A short day of galleries on foot, out from Waverley station and back to it. The four are close together, the walks between them are short, and lunch is in a gallery café.
Scottish National Gallery
An attraction
Set off from Waverley at about 9.50am. It's a 7-minute walk: leave by the Waverley Bridge exit and go through East Princes Street Gardens, or along Princes Street if the gates are shut, to the Mound. The Scottish National Gallery, now called the National, is free and opens at 10am. The architect William Henry Playfair's building of 1859 holds Scotland's collection of art from the Renaissance to about 1900. Choose a few rooms and give them an hour and a half. Rooms close from time to time, so check its site first.
5 min on foot
Stills
An attraction
It's a 5-minute walk east to Cockburn Street, cut through the Old Town in 1856 to join the station to the High Street, part of the Royal Mile, and a short way up it to number 23. Stills has shown photography since 1977, and it's free. Half an hour is enough, with time for its analogue photobooth, which prints a strip of four black-and-white pictures. Stills opens from Tuesday to Saturday, 11am to 5pm, so this is a Tuesday to Saturday day. Check its site for what is on.
7 min on foot
Dovecot Studios
An attraction
Dovecot Studios is a 7-minute walk on: up Cockburn Street, the first of two short climbs, left along the High Street and right down Blackfriars Street. Dovecot's weavers have made tapestries since 1912, and their looms stand where the pool was in Edinburgh's first public baths (1885). Watch them from the balcony, noon to 3pm on weekdays and 10am to 5pm on Saturdays. The balcony and shop are free; paid exhibitions need a ticket. It's shut on Sundays, and the balcony on some other days: check its site.
8 min on foot
Fruitmarket
An attraction
It's an 8-minute walk: back up Blackfriars Street, the second climb, left along the High Street and right into Cockburn Street, where Fleshmarket Close, a steep lane of steps, drops on the right to Market Street. Without steps, Cockburn Street runs down to Market Street, about 12 minutes. Lunch comes first, at the Fruitmarket Cafe, served noon to 4pm. The free galleries, open 11am to 6pm, are in a former fruit market of 1938. Waverley is 2 minutes' walk, and the day ends there at about 3pm.
If it rains
This is an indoor day, and rain changes very little. The walks come to about half an hour in all, counting the way out and back, and the longest is 8 minutes, but none of them is under cover, and Cockburn Street and Blackfriars Street are steep, so bring a coat with a hood. Dovecot has no cloakroom, so a wet coat and umbrella stay with you. In the wet, go to the Mound along Princes Street rather than through the gardens, and come down from the High Street to the Fruitmarket by Cockburn Street, not Fleshmarket Close. If the rain is heavy, give the time to the City Art Centre across the street from the Fruitmarket, open every day with last entry at 4.30pm.
Worth a detour
- City Art Centre
Across Market Street from the Fruitmarket, the City Art Centre shows Scottish art on several floors, with an escalator and a lift between them. It's open every day from 10am, with last entry at 4.30pm, and generally free, though some exhibitions charge. It's the one extra this day has room for, and the swap when the Fruitmarket's galleries are between shows.
- Scottish National Portrait Gallery
The Scottish National Portrait Gallery is on Queen Street in the New Town, a 9-minute walk north of the Mound. It's a large gallery in its own right, and better kept for a day when the small ones are shut than added to this one. Check its hours on the National Galleries' site.
- The Scott Monument
The Scott Monument, the Gothic spire to Sir Walter Scott, stands on Princes Street beside East Princes Street Gardens, 5 minutes from Waverley and a short step off the way to the Mound. It's climbed on a guided tour: look up the times on Culture Edinburgh's page.
- City Observatory
Collective, a gallery of contemporary art, is in the City Observatory on top of Calton Hill, a 12-minute walk from the Fruitmarket, uphill at the end. Look up its days on its own site before you climb.
Where to eat
EdinburghMimi's BakehouseA café
EdinburghAngels with BagpipesRoyal Mile family restaurant
EdinburghGordon Street CoffeeA café
EdinburghThe MilkmanSmall speciality coffee bar
EdinburghOrigin Coffee, South College StreetA café
EdinburghSignet LibraryAfternoon tea in a library
EdinburghWhiski RoomsA restaurant
EdinburghEdinburgh LarderHearty local breakfasts
EdinburghThe WitcheryA restaurant
EdinburghDeacon's House CafeA café
EdinburghMaxiesA café
EdinburghRoom & RumoursA caféMake it a weekend
More days out in Edinburgh.
Photograph by Elida Boyas via Google