Edinburgh

Castlehill

Edinburgh Castle

Go at opening and end on the Half Moon Battery before the crowds.

Morning · ~150 min

Holyrood Park

Arthur's Seat

The whole city from an extinct volcano; the climb is steep in places.

Morning · ~150 min

High Street, Royal Mile

St Giles' Cathedral

The crown spire over the Royal Mile; the Thistle Chapel inside.

Afternoon · ~60 min

Calton Hill

Calton Hill

The classic view back over the castle at dusk.

Evening · ~60 min

Old Town

Victoria Street

The curving street down to the Grassmarket.

Afternoon · ~45 min

West Register Street

Café Royal

Victorian tiled bar, oysters at the counter.

Evening · ~90 min

Leith, Commercial Quay

The Kitchin

Tom Kitchin's Michelin-starred room in a converted whisky warehouse on the quay; the menu follows the Scottish season week by week.

Evening · ~150 min · £38–48 per dish

Castlehill, Royal Mile

The Witchery by the Castle

A restaurant in candlelit, oak-panelled 16th-century rooms at the castle gate, open since 1979; the set lunch is the gentler way in.

Evening · ~120 min · £39.5–49.5 per person

Victoria Street

The Bow Bar

One room, 400-plus whiskies and cask ale on Victoria Street's curve; it fills up in the evening.

Evening · ~60 min

Jamaica Street, New Town

Kay's Bar

A tiny New Town pub in a former wine merchant's, with an open fire, a long malt list and guest ales.

Evening · ~60 min

Young Street, New Town

The Oxford Bar

A no-frills pub open since 1811 and Inspector Rebus's local in Ian Rankin's novels.

Evening · ~45 min

Leven Street, Tollcross

Bennets Bar

A listed Victorian saloon next to the King's Theatre, little changed since 1906: spirit casks on the gantry, stained glass.

Evening · ~45 min

Dean Village

Dean Village

Mills and the Water of Leith, ten minutes from Princes Street.

Morning, when the river is in shade and the gables catch light · from Dean Path bridge over the Water of Leith, looking at Well Court

Morning · ~75 min

Calton Hill

Dugald Stewart Monument

The round temple on Calton Hill frames the Old Town, the Balmoral clock and the castle in one picture: Edinburgh's postcard.

Blue hour after sunset; dawn for an empty hill · from Path on the south-west edge of Calton Hill, a few metres east of the monument, looking south-west over it to the castle

Evening · ~45 min

Stockbridge

Circus Lane

A curving mews of former coach houses with the St Stephen's clock tower closing the view; it is a residential street, so keep your voice down.

Early morning, before residents and other photographers · from West end of the lane by Royal Circus, looking east along the curve towards St Stephen's tower

Morning · ~15 min

Grassmarket

The Vennel

The steps beside the Flodden Wall give the classic castle-over-the-Grassmarket frame, with a piece of the 16th-century town wall beside you.

Blue hour, when the castle floodlights come on · from Top of the Vennel steps at Heriot Place, looking north down the steps to the castle

Evening · ~15 min

West Princes Street Gardens

Ross Fountain

A restored cast-iron fountain with the castle rock rising straight behind it, in the gardens below Princes Street.

Morning, with the sun on the castle rock · from Garden path north-west of the fountain, looking south-east so the castle sits above it

Morning · ~15 min

High Street, Royal Mile

Advocate's Close

A steep, narrow close off the High Street whose stone walls frame the Scott Monument's spire at the bottom.

Late afternoon or dusk, when the spire is lit · from Top of the close at 357 High Street, looking north down the steps

Afternoon · ~15 min

Duddingston village

The Sheep Heid Inn

Reputedly an inn on this spot since about 1360, below the far side of Arthur's Seat; a pint and a skittle alley after the climb.

Afternoon · ~90 min

Chambers Street

National Museum of Scotland

Free: from Dolly the sheep to the Lewis chessmen under one roof, and a roof terrace with a view of the castle.

Afternoon · ~150 min

Royal Mile

The Real Mary King's Close

A guided hour through 17th-century streets buried under the City Chambers.

Afternoon · ~60 min · £28.5 per ticket

Castlehill, Royal Mile

Camera Obscura & World of Illusions

A Victorian camera obscura projects the live city onto a table, then floors of optical illusions; children love it.

Morning · ~120 min · £24.95 per ticket

Princes Street, West End

Johnnie Walker Princes Street

Johnnie Walker's whisky visitor experience: a tour that ends at the 1820 Rooftop Bar, with the castle across the gardens.

Afternoon · ~120 min

East Princes Street Gardens

Scott Monument

221 narrowing steps inside a Victorian Gothic spire for Princes Street, the Old Town and the Forth; tickets only at the kiosk on the day.

Afternoon · ~45 min

Candlemaker Row

Greyfriars Kirkyard

A 17th-century kirkyard (churchyard) open day and night, with the Covenanters' Prison and the castle over the wall.

Morning · ~45 min

Canongate, Royal Mile

Canongate Kirkyard

The churchyard of Canongate Kirk, where Adam Smith and the poet Robert Fergusson are buried: a green pause on the lower Royal Mile that most walkers miss.

Afternoon · ~30 min

Canongate, Royal Mile

Dunbar's Close Garden

A walled garden laid out in 17th-century style behind a Canongate close, free and nearly always empty.

Afternoon · ~15 min