Self-guided route · generated from Wikivoyage
Edinburgh: more of the See list
Generated from Wikivoyage's See list for Edinburgh: 7 stops, about 1.1 km and 49 minutes on foot. Not a guided tour; check each place before you go.
7 stops · 1.1 km · about 49 min on foot · Wikivoyage source · fetched 2026-11-07 02:09:51 UTC. Not a guided tour: check each place before you go.
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Scott Monument
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) re-invented Scotland. In the late Georgian era, he popularised tales of its medieval and Jacobean tumults, and created the clan tartans you buy on Princes St. This grand Gothic memorial, part cathedral part moon rocket, was completed in 1846 to dominate the east end of Princes St. It's 200 ft 6 in / 61.1 m tall, and guided tours take you up 287 steps (no lift) to the top platform, for a closer look at many of the statuettes of characters from Scott's works. The man himself and his dog sit in state at the base. In the 1990s the curators considered cleaning the monum
55.95240, -3.19330 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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National Galleries of Scotland: National
This holds much of Scotland's fine artwork from Renaissance to 20th century, with changing exhibitions. These rotate seasonally, so an exhibition put on for the Festival typically stays to the end of the year, allowing quieter times to view. Enter from the plaza between gallery and Royal Scottish Academy, and a basement passage connects the two exhibition spaces. The Scottish Galleries on the lowest floor reopened in 2023 after several years of redevelopment, and show a good collection of local work and views which may inspire trips.
55.95090, -3.19560 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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Museum on the Mound
Museum about money and coins, in the basement of the Palladian pile of the former Bank of Scotland headquarters. Scotland developed a banking sector in the 18th century to support long-distance trade, and still prints its own banknotes.
55.95020, -3.19340 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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Gladstone's Land
Thomas Gladstone was a wealthy merchant, and in 1617 he had this house refashioned to accommodate his family and to partly rent out. A "Land" means a tall narrow townhouse from the period when Old Town was cramped and the only space for development was upwards. Typically along the Royal Mile the ground floor was shops and trade, genteel folk lived on the first and second floors, and lower-income residents had to lump up many steps to the upper floors. It's now a museum run by the National Trust for Scotland exhibiting 17th century elite city life, richly furnished and decorated but with no run
55.94950, -3.19340 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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Camera Obscura
Over 150 years old, the Camera Obscura projects light from the top of the tower onto a large dish in a dark room below, displaying a panorama of the city. The effect still works on overcast days or at night but is best in sunlight, when you can use a sheet of paper to "pick up" people seen in the streets and have them scurry in your hand. The tower also houses a gallery of optical illusions that wouldn't be out of place in Blackpool.
55.94890, -3.19560 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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Central Library
See Edinburgh#Connect for how to access. The internet stations are in the Learning Centre, and the building houses Central Lending Library, Central Reference Library, Central Children's Library, Edinburgh and Scottish Collections, Art & Design Library and Music Library. It has a wealth of material for research such as old newspapers and maps, but births, marriages and deaths are filed at East Register House by the bus station in New Town.
55.94824, -3.19221 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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National Museum of Scotland
Superb museum of Scotland's heritage. You enter into the lofty Victorian Grand Gallery, where the millennium clock chimes on the hour. Exhibition halls cover Scottish and world history and culture, science, technology, art and design, and natural history. Dolly the sheep, the 12th-century Lewis chess pieces, and dinosaurs are some of the highlights. NMS also run the War Museum in the castle, the Museum of Flight near Gullane, and the Museum of Rural Life in East Kilbride.
55.94690, -3.18920 · OpenStreetMap · Wikivoyage note · place page
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Notes and the ordering come from Wikivoyage, CC BY-SA 4.0; coordinates and map data from OpenStreetMap, ODbL. The route drawing is generated, not a guide's promise.