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A walk on Corstorphine Hill to its tower
A walk · Edinburgh

Corstorphine Hill – A Wooded Ridge and Scott's Tower

Clermiston Road North car parkStartCorstorphine Hill TowerWhere you turn

Corstorphine Hill is a long wooded ridge in the west of Edinburgh, a nature reserve known for its badgers, with a stone tower to Sir Walter Scott on its crest.

Paths run through the trees to it from every side, and here and there the wood opens onto the city and the Pentland Hills. It's a woodland walk of an hour or so, on earth paths that are muddy after rain.

Time
About half an hour to the tower and back, a kilometre each way. The round of the ridge is 4.5 km (2.75 miles) with 124 metres of climbing, an hour to an hour and a half.
The path
Earth woodland paths, steep in places and muddy after rain.
Where to start
The car park on Clermiston Road North, on the west side of the hill. Small.
When to go
All year in daylight. The tower itself is shut from October to April. From November to January set off by 2pm.
Dogs
Welcome on the hill.
Before you set out
The tower is shut from October to April. The Friends of Corstorphine Hill usually open it on Sunday afternoons, 2pm to 4pm, from May to September.

The walk

Park at the car park on Clermiston Road North, on the west side of the hill, where a board maps the paths. The council says there's only a little parking there, and that buses along Queensferry Road, Corstorphine Road and the Clermiston roads serve the hill well. It's about a kilometre through the woods to the tower, a quarter of an hour each way. For a longer walk, Walkhighlands describes a round of the ridge of 4.5 km with 124 metres of climbing, which takes an hour to an hour and a half.

The hill is 161 metres high and has been a public park since 1924. In 1993 it became Edinburgh's first Local Nature Reserve, for its badgers. The tower was put up in 1871 by William Macfie of Clermiston, a hundred years after the birth of Sir Walter Scott, and was given to the city in 1932. Volunteers from the Friends of Corstorphine Hill usually open it on Sunday afternoons from May to September, so from October to April this is a walk to the tower and not up it.

The paths are earth, steep in places and muddy after rain. Dogs are welcome. From November to January, set off by 2pm.

If it rains

The trees give some shelter, but the earth paths turn to mud and the steep parts get slippery. On a wet day keep to the short walk to the tower and back.

Before you go

  1. Book accommodation nearby

    If you are staying over: here are ours nearest where the day starts and ends.

    West End Muse3 miles awayWest End MuseSleeps 4Moment George IV Bridge4 miles awayMoment George IV BridgeSleeps 2Old Town Chambers4 miles awayOld Town ChambersA place to stayThe Scott Hotel4 miles awayThe Scott HotelA hotel
Find out more

For further reading, before you go.

Photograph by snapsbyshirin