Insight Guides Great Breaks Edinburgh (Travel Guide eBook)

Insight Guides

• Publisher: Insight Guides
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN: 9781789194166
• eBook ISBN: 9781789193244
• Edition: 4
• Topic: Personal Development
• Subtopic: Travel

Pocket-sized travel guides making the most of the British Isles through clearly laid-out walks and tours.

Explore the best of Edinburgh with this indispensably practical Insight Great Breaks Guide. From making sure you don't miss out on must-see attractions like Edinburgh Castle, the Scottish National Gallery, the Royal Mile, Calton Hill or the Royal Botanic Garden to discovering hidden gems, including the Real Mary King's Close, the easy-to-follow, ready-made walking routes will save you time, help you plan and enhance your Great Break in Edinburgh.

Practical, pocket-sized and packed with inspirational insider information, this is the ideal on-the-move companion to your trip to Edinburgh.

- Over 12 walks and tours: detailed itineraries feature all the best places to visit, including where to eat along the way
- Local highlights: discover what makes the area special, its top sights and unique attractions, and be inspired by stunning imagery
- Insider recommendations: where to stay and what to do, from active pursuits to themed trips
- Rainy day recommendations: uncover plenty of options, whatever the weather
- Practical maps: get around with ease and follow the walks and tours using the detailed maps
- Informative tips: plan your travels with a useful practical section to ensure effortless exploration
- Innovative and unique extra: a free eBook
- Inventive design makes for an engaging, easy-reading experience
- Covers: Old Town and Edinburgh Castle, Royal Mile and Scottish Parliament, Palace of Holyroodhouse and Arthur's Seat, South Side Museums and University, East Princes Street and Calton Hill, West Princes Street and New Town, Water of Leith to Stockbridge and Dean, Leith, Excursion to Firth of Forth, Excursion to Edinburgh Zoo, Linlithgow and Falkirk, Excursion South to Roslin and Pentland Hills, and Excursion East along the Coast.

About Insight Guides: Insight Guides is a pioneer of full-colour guide books, with almost 50 years' experience of publishing high-quality, visual travel guides with user-friendly, modern design. We produce around 400 full-colour print guide books and maps, as well as phrase books, picture-packed eBooks and apps to meet different travellers' needs. Insight Guides' unique combination of beautiful travel photography and focus on history and culture create a unique visual reference and planning tool to inspire your next adventure.

Tour 1: Old Town and Edinburgh Castle

This walk of the heart of the old city is just over 1.5 miles (2km), so you can easily do it in half a day, but, if you wish to spend an hour or two at each sight, this is a full day’s walk

Highlights

Grassmarket

Greyfriars Tolbooth and Highland Kirk

Royal Mile

Writers’ Museum

Camera Obscura

Scotch Whisky Experience

Edinburgh Castle

Edinburgh’s most important historical sight and the centre of the city’s tourism, the Castle is built on a dramatic piece of volcanic rock that survived the last Ice Age and protected a ridge of rock behind it from advancing glaciers. The resulting ‘crag and tail’ created a site for a well-protected town on raised ground between two valleys and beneath the towering fortress. The ‘tail’ leading down from the Castle supports the Royal Mile, so called because it runs the length of it, for 1 mile and 106yds (1.9km) down to the Palace of Holyroodhouse (for more information, click here).

The route begins at the historic Grassmarket, lurking below the south-facing drop of the castle rock, before leading up to George IV Bridge – one of many bridges crossing the valleys up to the Castle ‘tail’ – and now lined with tall buildings. Taking in one of Britain’s most impressive cityscapes from Greyfriars churchyard, the route continues to the upper reaches of the Royal Mile itself, providing a deep history, intriguing sights and fascinating range of museums. It ends with a tour of Edinburgh Castle, including a visit to the city’s oldest building, St Margaret’s Chapel.

The Castle in the morning light.

Douglas Macgilvray/Apa Publications

Bagpiper on the Royal Mile.

Douglas Macgilvray/Apa Publications

Old Town

Grassmarket

The cobbled Grassmarket 1 [map] has long since shaken off its down-at-heel reputation and now houses hotels, great pubs, cafés and restaurants, which in summer offer refreshments alfresco. Most of the tall tenements here were built in the 19th century, though a few older buildings survive, such as the atmospheric White Hart Inn, and at the east end close to Victoria Street, an early 17th-century stone house, constructed when most of Edinburgh was still built of wood. Nearby is one of the old wells sunk to supply Edinburgh with its first clean water in the late 17th century. Long ago the monks of the Greyfriars Franciscan convent held cattle sales here, but the Grassmarket is better known as the location of the public gallows where executions took place until the 18th century, often providing entertainment for the jeering mob.

West Bow Wizard

Victoria Street replaced the upper West Bow, which had zig-zagged steeply up to the Lawnmarket, causing consternation to those trying to haul goods to market. It is said to be haunted by a galloping headless charger ridden by a 17th-century resident, Major Weir, the ‘Wizard of the West Bow’, who was executed after confessing to a string of depravities.

West Bow in the times of the infamous Major Weir.

Public domain

The Covenanters’ Memorial, where the gibbet stood, was created in 1937 and recalls the many martyrs who died alongside common criminals. The hanging of religious dissenters peaked in the 1680s under Catholic James II, but the original Covenanters were signatories of the National Covenant of 1638, opposing imposition of the English form of Protestantism (for more information, click here).

The Grassmarket

The Grassmarket has some interesting small shops wedged between the restaurants and bars, and adjoining Victoria Street offers a wide range of curio shopping, with great unique clothing to be found at Swish (Nos. 22–4). For handmade Scottish woollies, try Bill Baber Knitwear Design (66 Grassmarket), while Clarksons of Edinburgh at 87 West Bow is an exclusive jewellers specialising in gold wedding rings. For kids and the young at heart, Aha Ha Ha (99 West Bow) is a joke shop and fancy dress venue that is something of an institution.

Victoria Street is lined with a variety of shops.

Douglas Macgilvray/Apa Publications

A much more modern addition to the Grassmarket has been Scotland’s National Centre for Dance, Dance Base (www.dancebase.co.uk), located at the northwestern end of the square. With an exciting programme of workshops and classes for all ages alongside a full festival line-up of events, it’s well worth finding out what’s on.

Beautiful stained glass inside Greyfriars Kirk.

Douglas Macgilvray/Apa Publications

Statue of Greyfriars Bobby, who was buried near to his master, just inside the entrance to the churchyard.

Mockford & Bonetti/Apa Publications

West Bow

At West Bow, where the well stands, the wide Grassmarket splits into narrower roads. The Cowgate runs east along the lower edge of the Old Town, beneath the high arches of George IV Bridge and South Bridge. Once a route for cattle on their way to grazing on the Burgh Muir, the street became fashionable in the 16th century, yet following the building of the br...

Table of contents

• Edinburgh’s Top 10
• Overview: An Enlightened Capital
• Entertainment
• Tour 1: Old Town and Edinburgh Castle
• Tour 2: Royal Mile and Scottish Parliament
• Feature: Literary Edinburgh
• Tour 3: Palace of Holyroodhouse and Arthur’s Seat
• Tour 4: South Side Museums and University
• Feature: A City of Festivals
• Tour 5: East Princes Street and Calton Hill
• Tour 6: West Princes Street and New Town
• Tour 7: Water of Leith to Stockbridge and Dean
• Feature: Botanic Oasis
• Tour 8: Leith
• Tour 9: Excursion to Firth of Forth
• Tour 10: Excursion to Edinburgh Zoo, Linlithgow and Falkirk
• Tour 11: Excursion South to Roslin and Pentland Hills
• Tour 12: Excursion East along the Coast
• Active Pursuits
• Themed Holidays
• Practical Information
• Accommodation