A walk · Edinburgh

Calton Hill – Hume's Tomb and the Monuments on the Hilltop

About a mile on foot.

Calton Hill stands at the east end of Princes Street, a low green hill with a Greek temple that was never finished, a tower shaped like an upturned telescope and views across the rooftops to the Castle and Arthur's Seat.

On its lower slope, behind a wall on Waterloo Place, is the Old Calton Burial Ground, where the philosopher David Hume lies in a round tomb. Together they make a walk of about a mile from Waverley station and back. Allow an hour.

Time: Allow an hour: about a mile from Waverley station and back, with a short climb.
The path: Two steep flights of stone steps into the burial ground, and steps up the hill from Regent Road. Calton Hill Drive is a road to the top without steps.
Where to start: Start at Waverley station, a few minutes' walk from Waterloo Place. Buses and trams stop near by.
When to go: All year in daylight. The burial ground is open from 9am to 5pm. Until about March, gorse is being cut on the slopes.
Children: Open grass on top, with steep slopes at the edges.
Toilets: None on the hill. The nearest public toilets are in Princes Street Gardens.
Before you set out: Through the winter until about March, gorse and broom are being cut on the slopes. Keep out of the signed working areas.

The walk

Start at Waverley station and leave the car behind. The Old Calton Burial Ground is a few minutes east of the station on Waterloo Place, and is open from 9am to 5pm. Two steep flights of stone steps lead in.

Inside are Robert Adam's round tomb for David Hume, the tall obelisk to the reformers of 1793 and 1794, and a statue of Abraham Lincoln on a memorial to Scottish-American soldiers. The hill is next, by the steps from Regent Road or, for a way without steps, by the road called Calton Hill Drive. On top are the Nelson Monument, the old City Observatory, the round Dugald Stewart Monument and the twelve columns of the National Monument, begun in 1826 and never finished.

The hilltop is a public park, free to walk, on tarmac drives and worn grass paths, and it's open to the wind, with steep slopes at its edges. The Nelson Monument is a council museum with a charge for the tower, so check that it's open before counting on the climb. Through the winter until about March, gorse and broom are being cut on the slopes: keep out of the signed working areas.

If it rains

The hilltop has no shelter and the steps are slippery when wet. In heavy rain keep to the burial ground and leave the hill for a clearer hour.