Attractions in Edinburgh
Wikipedia-tagged places from OpenStreetMap, bucketed by category. Click for the long-form list.
Historical sites
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Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle is a historic castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It stands on Castle Rock, which has been occupied by humans since at least the Iron Age. There has been a royal castle on the rock since the reign of Malcolm III in the 11th century, and the castle continued to be a royal residence until 1633. From the 15th century, the castle's residential role declined, and by the 17th century it was principally used as a military garrison. Its importance as a part of Scotland's national heritage was recognised increasingly from the early 19th century onwards, and various restoration programmes have been carried out over the past century and a half.
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Scott Monument
The Scott Monument is a Victorian Gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. It is the second-largest monument to a writer in the world after the José Martí monument in Havana. It stands in Princes Street Gardens in Edinburgh, opposite the former Jenners building on Princes Street and near Edinburgh Waverley Railway Station, which is named after Scott's Waverley novels.
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Craigmillar Castle
Craigmillar Castle is a ruined medieval castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is three miles (4.8 km) south-east of the city centre, on a low hill to the south of the modern suburb of Craigmillar. The Preston family of Craigmillar, the local feudal barons, began building the castle in the late 14th century and building works continued through the 15th and 16th centuries. In 1660, the castle was sold to Sir John Gilmour, Lord President of the Court of Session, who breathed new life into the ageing castle. The Gilmours left Craigmillar in the 18th century for a more modern residence, nearby Inch House, and the castle fell into ruin. It is now in the care of Historic Environment Scotland as a scheduled monument, and is open to the public.
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HMY Britannia
Her Majesty's Yacht Britannia is the former royal yacht of the British monarchy. She was in their service from 1954 to 1997. She was the 83rd such vessel since King Charles II acceded to the throne in 1660, and is the second royal yacht to bear the name, the first being the racing cutter built for the Prince of Wales in 1893. During her 43-year career, the yacht travelled more than one million nautical miles around the world to more than 600 ports in 135 countries. Now retired from royal service, Britannia is permanently berthed at Ocean Terminal, Leith in Edinburgh, Scotland, where it is a visitor attraction with over 300,000 visits each year.
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Political Martyrs' Monument
The Political Martyrs Monument, located in the Old Calton Burial Ground on Calton Hill, Edinburgh, commemorates five political reformists from the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Designed by Thomas Hamilton and erected in 1844, it is a 90 ft (27 m) tall obelisk on a square-plan base plinth, all constructed in ashlar sandstone blocks. As part of the Burial Ground it is Category A listed.
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John Knox House
John Knox House, popularly known as John Knox's House, is a historic house in Edinburgh, Scotland, reputed to have been owned and lived in by Protestant reformer John Knox during the 16th century. Although his name became associated with the house, he appears to have lived in Warriston Close where a plaque indicates the approximate site of his actual residence.
Museums
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Museum of Childhood
The Museum of Childhood is a museum that houses a collection of children's toys and playthings, situated on the Royal Mile, in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is the first museum in the world to specialise in the history of childhood. Admission to the museum is free. It is run and owned by City of Edinburgh Council.
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National Gallery
The National is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by William Henry Playfair, and first opened to the public in 1859.
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Modern Two
Modern Two, formerly the Dean Gallery, in Edinburgh, is one of the two buildings housing the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art, one of Scotland's national art galleries. It is operated by National Galleries Scotland. It is twinned with Modern One which lies on the opposite side of Belford Road.
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Fruitmarket
The Fruitmarket Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Edinburgh, Scotland.
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City Art Centre
The City Art Centre is part of the Museums & Galleries Edinburgh, which sits under the Culture directorate of the City of Edinburgh Council. The City Art Centre has a collection which include historic and modern Scottish painting and photography, as well as contemporary art and craft. It is an exhibition based venue with no permanent displays.
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The People's Story Museum
The People's Story Museum is located in the historic Canongate Tolbooth, and features collections that narrate the story of the working-class people of Edinburgh from the late 18th century to the present day. The museum achieves this through the use of oral history, reminiscence, and written sources.
Religious & sacred sites
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Canongate Kirk
The Kirk of the Canongate, or Canongate Kirk, serves the Parish of Canongate in Edinburgh's Old Town, in Scotland. It is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. The parish includes the Palace of Holyroodhouse and the Scottish Parliament. It is also the parish church of Edinburgh Castle, even though the castle is detached from the rest of the parish. The wedding of Zara Phillips, the Queen's granddaughter, and former England rugby captain Mike Tindall took place at the church on 30 July 2011. The late Queen Elizabeth II used to attend services in the church on some of her frequent visits to Edinburgh.
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St Giles' Cathedral
St Giles' Cathedral, also known as the High Kirk of Edinburgh, is one of three cathedrals in Edinburgh, Scotland. The existing building was begun in the 14th century and extended until the early 16th century; significant alterations were undertaken in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the addition of the Thistle Chapel. St Giles' is closely associated with many events and figures in Scottish history, including John Knox, who served as the church's minister after the Scottish Reformation. The cathedral is administered by the Church of Scotland.
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North & South Leith Parish Church
North and South Leith Parish Church, originally the Kirk of Our Lady, St Mary, is a congregation of the Church of Scotland. Prior to the union with the former North Leith Parish Church in 2024, the building was known as South Leith Parish Church.
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Charlotte Chapel
Charlotte Chapel is an evangelical Baptist church located in Shandwick Place, Edinburgh, Scotland. It is affiliated with the Fellowship of Independent Evangelical Churches, and the Pillar Network.
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Church of St John the Evangelist
The Church of St John the Evangelist is a Scottish Episcopal church in the centre of Edinburgh, Scotland. It is sited at the west end of Princes Street at its junction with Lothian Road, and is protected as a category A listed building.
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The Parish Church of St Cuthbert
The Parish Church of St Cuthbert is a parish church of the Church of Scotland in central Edinburgh. Probably founded in the 7th century, the church once covered an extensive parish around the burgh of Edinburgh. The church's current building was designed by Hippolyte Blanc and completed in 1894.
Parks & nature
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Arthur's Seat
Arthur's Seat is an ancient extinct volcano that is the main peak of the group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park, described by Robert Louis Stevenson as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design". It is situated just to the east of the city centre, about 1 mile (1.6 km) to the east of Edinburgh Castle. The hill rises above the city to a height of 250.5 m (822 ft), provides panoramic views of the city and beyond, is relatively easy to climb, and is popular for hillwalking. Though it can be climbed from almost any direction, the easiest ascent is from the east, where a grassy slope rises above Dunsapie Loch. At a spur of the hill, Salisbury Crags has historically been a rock climbing venue with routes of various degrees of difficulty. Rock climbing was restricted to the South Quarry, but access was banned altogether in 2019 by Historic Environment Scotland.
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Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) is a scientific centre for the study of plants, their diversity and conservation, as well as a popular tourist attraction. Founded in 1670 as a physic garden to grow medicinal plants, today it occupies four sites across Scotland—Edinburgh, Dawyck, Logan and Benmore—each with its own specialist collection. The RBGE's living collection consists of more than 13,302 plant species, whilst the herbarium contains in excess of 3 million preserved specimens.
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Malleny Garden
The Malleny House and Garden is an historic house and garden owned by the National Trust for Scotland in Balerno, 6 mi (9.7 km) southwest of Edinburgh. The gardens are notable for its large yew trees, as well as one of the largest rose collections in Scotland. According to Historic Environment Scotland, Malleny is noted for its outstanding architectural and horticultural value including its national collection of heritage shrub roses. The house, gardens and adjoining estate buildings are Category A listed.
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Holyrood Park
Holyrood Park is a public park in central Edinburgh, Scotland about 1 mile to the east of Edinburgh Castle. It has an array of hills, lochs, glens, ridges, basalt cliffs, and patches of gorse, providing a wild piece of highland landscape within its 650-acre (260 ha) area. The park is associated with the Palace of Holyroodhouse and was formerly a royal hunting estate. The park was created in 1541 when James V had the ground "circulit about Arthurs Sett, Salisborie and Duddingston craggis" enclosed by a stone wall.
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Newhailes House & Gardens
Newhailes House is a Palladian style country house which stands in 80 acres of parkland on the edge of the small town of Musselburgh in East Lothian, Scotland. It is a Category A listed building which is now occupied and maintained by the National Trust for Scotland.
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Corstorphine Hill
Corstorphine Hill is a low ridge-shaped hill rising above the western suburbs of Edinburgh, Scotland. Although there has been residential and commercial development on its lower slopes, especially in the south and west, most of the hill is occupied by a local nature reserve, consisting of extensive broadleaf woodland, accessible to the public.
Architecture
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Forth Bridge
The Forth Bridge is a cantilever railway bridge across the Firth of Forth in the east of Scotland, 9 miles west of central Edinburgh. Completed in 1890, it is considered a symbol of Scotland, and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It was designed by English engineers Sir John Fowler and Sir Benjamin Baker. It is sometimes referred to as the Forth Rail Bridge, although this is not its official name.
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Queensferry Crossing
The Queensferry Crossing is a road bridge in Scotland. It was built alongside the existing Forth Road Bridge and the Forth Bridge. It carries the M90 motorway across the Firth of Forth between Edinburgh, at South Queensferry, and Fife, at North Queensferry.
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North Bridge
North Bridge is a road bridge and street in Edinburgh linking the High Street with Princes Street, and the Old Town with the New Town. The current bridge was built between 1894 and 1897. A previous North Bridge, built between 1763 and 1772, stood until 1896.
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Forth Road Bridge
The Forth Road Bridge is a suspension bridge that crosses the Firth of Forth in Scotland. The bridge opened in 1964 and, at the time, was the longest suspension bridge in the world outside the United States. The bridge connects Edinburgh to Fife; replacing a centuries-old ferry service to carry vehicular traffic, cyclists and pedestrians across the Forth. Railway crossings are made by the nearby Forth Bridge, opened in 1890.
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Almond Aqueduct
The Almond Aqueduct, also known as the Lin's Mill Aqueduct, is a navigable aqueduct that carries the Union Canal over the River Almond in Scotland, west of Ratho, Edinburgh.
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Victoria Swing Bridge
The Victoria Swing Bridge is a swing bridge in Leith docks, Edinburgh, Scotland, which carried a dock road across the Water of Leith at a point where it is canalised as the Inner Harbour. It was built to improve passage between the west and east sides of the Port of Leith. The bridge is no longer operational and is now just a footpath.
Entertainment
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Deep Sea World
Deep Sea World is an aquarium located in the village of North Queensferry in Fife, Scotland. It is host to a collection of large sand tiger sharks, also known as ragged toothed sharks or grey nurse sharks, and various other species of shark.
Shopping
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The Centre, Livingston
The Centre is the name of a shopping centre in Livingston, Scotland. Formerly known as 'Livingston Regional Centre' before becoming the more widely recognised 'Almondvale Shopping Centre'. It is the 28th largest shopping centre in the UK.
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Mercat Shopping Centre
The Mercat Shopping Centre is located in Kirkcaldy, Fife, Scotland, United Kingdom. The Mercat – including surrounding areas – accounts for at least 30% of all the floorspace in Kirkcaldy town centre, which in total is 46,000-square-metre (500,000 sq ft) and providing as much as 200 shops, making Kirkcaldy the largest shopping area in Fife. The shopping centre was built in two phases between 1972 and 1981–83 with a refurbishment completed in 1997. A proposal to extend the shopping centre for a third phase is pending. In 1996 plans to broadcast an episode of Family Fortunes live from the Mercat Centre were scrapped due to concerns that the event would not be covered by the Centre's insurance company. Les Dennis described the decision as "unfortunate, but sadly unavoidable".
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