Three days split by the city's geography: the Old Town ridge from the Castle to Holyrood, Arthur's Seat at first light then the New Town and dinner in Leith, Calton Hill and the Botanics before a whisky. Walkable or one bus away, with a lot of hills.
Got Waystop on this phone? The button drops the whole plan straight into the app. On a laptop, copy it now and paste it into Import later.
Checked October 10, 2026. That’s the day we last confirmed the hours, prices and closed days.
May, June and September give long light, cool days and a city that is busy but not full. August is the festivals (Fringe, International Festival and Tattoo all run from August 7 in 2026): hotel prices double or more, Castle slots and Royal Mile tours sell out, and the Mile is a slow river of people; wonderful if you came for shows, hard work if you did not. October has color and short lines. December has the Christmas market and dark by 4 p.m., and the Palace of Holyroodhouse closes Tuesdays and Wednesdays outside summer.
The Old Town (Grassmarket, Cowgate, the Royal Mile's closes) puts every day on foot but is loud at weekends and in August. The New Town or Stockbridge for quiet Georgian streets ten minutes from Princes Street. Leith for restaurants and a cheaper room, 20 minutes in by tram.
Walk. The center is small, steep and best on foot. For anything further, tap a contactless card or phone on a Lothian bus (£2.40 flat single, capped at £5.70 a day if you keep using the same card) or the tram, which needs a tap on and a tap off. Buses are frequent and the drivers are patient with questions.
Castlehill · 120 min
Book the first timed slot online (£23.50, £26 at the gate) and go straight to the Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny before the coach groups arrive. Last entry is an hour before closing, which is 5 p.m. in winter and 6 p.m. in summer.
£23.50
Royal Mile · 60 min
Walk down the Lawnmarket past the closes to St Giles: the crown spire, the Thistle Chapel and its carved angel playing bagpipes. Free, with a donation asked.
Royal Mile · 75 min
The Close is a one-hour guided tour of the streets sealed under the City Chambers (£25, and it sells out in summer). The free alternative is the National Museum of Scotland on Chambers Street, five minutes off the Mile, with Dolly the sheep and a roof terrace.
£25
Canongate · 30 min
A hog roast roll at the bottom of the Mile, £9.15 for the standard Oink with haggis and apple sauce. They open at 11 a.m. and close when the pig is gone; eat on a bench by the Canongate Kirk.
Holyrood · 90 min
The King's Edinburgh residence: Mary Queen of Scots' chambers and the state rooms with the audio guide (£22 in advance, £26 on the day). It is closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays except from late May to early September, and shut during royal weeks, so check before you go.
£22
Grassmarket · 150 min
Bus 35 or a 25-minute walk back up Cowgate. Petit Paris for mussels and steak frites, then a pint under the Castle rock at the Last Drop or the Bow Bar on Victoria Street, which has the whisky list.
Holyrood Park · 120 min
Start from the Holyrood parking lot: 45 minutes up the paved path past Salisbury Crags, with the summit to yourself before 9 a.m.. Wear shoes with grip, because the last stretch is bare rock and slippery when wet.
The Mound · 60 min
Take bus 35 or walk 25 minutes to the Mound. Free, open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., with Titian, Vermeer and Raeburn's skating minister; an hour is enough.
New Town · 90 min
George Street, Charlotte Square and the Georgian grid, then down from Queensferry Street to Dean Village, the old milling hamlet in the river gorge. Follow the Water of Leith path east past St Bernard's Well to Stockbridge: 30 minutes, flat, mostly traffic-free.
Stockbridge · 90 min
Tom Kitchin's gastropub on Comely Bank Road for the fish pie or the steak pie and a half of local ale; book online, because Sunday lunch fills. On a Sunday, Stockbridge Market on Saunders Street (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.) is the cheaper option.
Stockbridge · 75 min
Raeburn Place for the charity shops and delis, the mews cottages of Circus Lane, a coffee at one of the bakeries on St Stephen Street. A slow hour before the bus.
Leith · 90 min
Take bus 36 from Stockbridge, or walk back to St Andrew Square for the tram to Leith (get off at The Shore). The Water of Leith meets the docks here, among old warehouses; the Royal Yacht Britannia is a mile further on at Ocean Terminal, around £20.
Leith · 120 min
Scottish seafood at the foot of the old signal tower on the Shore: the fresh catch board or the fish soup; book ahead. Afterwards, a dram at Teuchters Landing, in a bar built from an old waiting room.
Calton Hill · 60 min
Ten minutes up the steps from Waterloo Place to the unfinished National Monument and the view down Princes Street to the Castle. Free and always open; this start suits October sunrise (about 7:30 a.m.), but in late December it is around 8:40 a.m., so check the night before.
Broughton · 60 min
Walk down into Broughton for a roll and coffee at one of the cafés before the Garden opens; Broughton Street is the New Town's village street.
Inverleith · 105 min
Take bus 8 or 23 to the East Gate on Inverleith Row. The garden is free and opens at 10 a.m. (closing 5 p.m. February to October, earlier in winter); the restored Palm Houses reopened on October 2, 2026 with timed tickets at £5.50, while the other glasshouses stay closed.
£5.50
New Town · 75 min
Take bus 23 or 27 back to the New Town for Bombay café food in a grand room: the house black daal, or a bacon naan if you missed breakfast. Walk-ins all day; bookings only for six or more after 6 p.m..
Old Town · 90 min
The Silver Tour at the top of the Royal Mile is 50 minutes and £25 with one dram (the Gold is £39.75 with five); book online and bring photo ID. If whisky is not for you, Surgeons' Hall on Nicolson Street (£10) has the pathology collection and Burke's death mask.
£25
Old Town · 60 min
The curved colored street below the Castle for last gifts: a tartan scarf at a mill shop, a bottle from Demijohn, fudge from the Grassmarket. Everything shuts around 6 p.m..
Old Town · 120 min
Sandy Bell's on Forrest Road for a folk session most evenings, standing room and no food. Or the Café Royal off Princes Street for the Victorian tiles, oysters at the bar and a quieter last dram before an early train or flight.
Loading the map…
Pins are approximate. Tap one for the stop; the directions links open Google Maps.
From Edinburgh Airport the tram runs to Princes Street and St Andrew Square in about 30 minutes, £7.90 single (tap on and off with contactless, or buy at the platform machine). The Airlink 100 bus is £6 to Waverley Bridge in about the same time and runs through the night. A taxi is around 25 minutes and several times the price. Trains from London King's Cross reach Waverley in about four and a half hours.
About £80 to £130 a day per person. The Castle (£23.50) and Holyrood (£22) are the big tickets and the museums and galleries are free. A pub lunch is £15 to £20, dinner with a drink £35 to £50, and buses cap at £5.70 a day. Add 50 percent for the festival weeks in August.
Plans change. Ask Chat and it proposes a reshuffled day you can apply, or just answers the question.
Yes. Tickets are timed, online is £2.50 cheaper than the gate, and from June to August the morning slots sell out. Waystop's hours check flags a Castle visit that lands after last entry.
Day 1. The Castle has rooms to shelter in, Mary King's Close is underground, the National Museum is free and indoors, and the Palace has its state rooms. Keep Arthur's Seat and Calton Hill for the clearest morning you get.
Go in August only if you want the festivals: book months ahead and expect rooms at two to three times the May price. For the city itself, come in May, June or September and have it at half the crowd.
Enough for the Old Town, the New Town and Leith at a walking pace. A fourth day buys Glasgow or North Berwick; a fifth, a car to the Borders or the Trossachs.
Same country first, then the cities people tend to pair with Edinburgh. Want two or three in one go? String them together in the trip builder.
Add your dates, your hotel and who’s coming, then ask Chat to change anything: it proposes the edit and you tap Apply. Want a long lunch instead of a museum? Just ask. Every place is checked against Google Maps before it lands on your day, and Chat can tell you when to leave for the next stop. Going on to another city? Build a multi-city trip.