A Tour of the City of Edinburgh

BROUGHT TO YOU BY THE DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH, WITH THE CO-OPERATION WITH THE CITY OF EDINBURGH DISTRICT COUNCIL

THIS SITE WAS CREATED IN 1994, AND IT ISN'T POSSIBLE TO KEEP IT UP-TO-DATE. PLEASE USE THE Gazetteer for Scotland FOR DETAILED INFORMATION ON SCOTLAND. ITS EDINBURGH SECTION IS HERE.

On the left is a photograph is taken from the air, showing part of central Edinburgh, particularly the area around the University of Edinburgh. The lens-shaped green park in the centre is known as the Meadows. The large park with the distinctive hills towards the right of the image is the Queen's Park, containing Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags.

On the right is a satellite image, showing Edinburgh. Arthur's Seat is visible in the centre-right, with the Meadows below and to the left (orange).

Click on either image for a larger version (around 60 and 46 Kbytes respectively).

All the photographs in this presentation are clickable; this will result in a larger version being displayed on your screen assuming you have a graphics viewer defined which can cope with JPEG images (most do!).
All images are as small as possible - usually around 30000 bytes.

Welcome to the Official City of Edinburgh Tour. Here we attempt to give you a very brief flavour of the City and some of its most famous features.

Some key facts and figures relating to the City of Edinburgh are available here.

Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, is one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. This distinction is partly an accident of Nature, for the city is built upon a jumble of hills and valleys; however, during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries the natural geography was enhanced by the works of a succession of distinguished Georgian and Victorian architects. The result today is high drama; there are countless spots where Edinburgh looks less like a city and more like a theatrical backdrop. The view from Edinburgh's Calton Hill, across the River Forth to Fife, looks more like a scene from ancient Rome.

Edinburgh incidentally, is named after Edwin, a king of ancient Northumbria; it has been a Royal Burgh since at least the twelfth century, and has been recognised as the capital of Scotland since the fifteenth.

Edinburgh's face is her fortune, for it was this dramatic beauty which, in the first instance, made the Scottish capital's name familiar throughout the modern world. But there are other, less tangible factors involved, for Edinburgh is a city that delights the mind as well as the eye. It is a city where the past lives comfortably with the present. It is a gracious place, in the way that many other cities used to be.

Edinburgh is also a well endowed city, in the sense that there really is a great deal to see and to do. Indeed the average holiday visitor can only dip into the great variety of entertainment and reation that is available.

Add to this the fact that Edinburgh is easily accessible by rail, road, air and sea, and it becomes obvious why the city has a special place in the affections of so many. It is, indeed, the most popular tourist destination in Britain after London.

That Edinburgh is pure theatre is immediately demonstrated as the traveller emerges from Waverley railway station: he looks along the valley of Princes Street Gardens and gazes upon Edinburgh Castle, perched dramatically on its precipitous crag of volcanic rock. To his left, huddled on a lofty ridge, is the Old Town; halfway along the valley, among the trees, rise the classical columns of the National Gallery of Scotland and the Royal Scottish Academy. On his right soars the Scott Monument, a remarkable tribute to the Edinburgh writer Sir Walter Scott.

Perhaps it is for its Castle which Edinburgh is famous, certainly in the eyes of countless tourists.

Click Here to learn more about Edinburgh Castle

To the north, between the Castle and the Firth of Forth is the New Town. But, first, the visitor is recommended to walk down through the Old Town, running to the east directly below the castle ramparts.

Click Here to learn more about Edinburgh's Old Town

We have now reached the ornamental gates of the Palace of Holyroodhouse. Originally this was a guest house for the adjacent Abbey of Holyrood, but the Palace was begun for King James IV in the early sixteenth century. However, most of the Palace seen today was built for Charles II and dates from 1671. The Palace is now the residence of Her Majesty the Queen when she and other members of the Royal Family make their regular visits to Edinburgh. The Palace is normally open to the public, who are admitted to the State apartments and the historical apartments. Mary, Queen of Scots, spent the six tragic years of her reign here.

Near the Queen's supper room, visitors are shown a brass tablet in the floor marking the place where the lifeless body of David Rissio, Queen Mary's secretary, was left after he had been stabbed repeatedly by a number of nobles.

The Palace, however, also has happy associations; there was a brilliant period in 1745 when it was occupied by Prince Charles Edward Stuart (Bonnie Prince Charlie). He was the last Stuart to reside there.

To the north, between the Castle and the Firth of Forth, the spectator has his first glimpse of Edinburgh's New Town, which is one of Britain's architectural gems. Between the Castle and the new Town is Princes Street, perhaps one of the most famous streets in the world.

Click Here to learn more about Edinburgh's New Town and Princes Street

To the east of the Castle, is Holyrood Park, surely the largest area of natural landscape within the centre of any European city.

Click here to learn more about Holyrood Park

The position of the city between the Pentland Hills to the south-west and the Firth of Forth to the north reflects the wide range of sport and other recreational pursuits which are available to visitor and citizen alike. Portobello, the city's suburb on the sea, has a fine sandy beach. Further up the estuary, sailing is a popular sport in season at Granton, Cramond and Port Edgar. Cramond is an attractively restored village of whitewashed houses at the mouth of the River Almond. There are attractive walks in the neighbourhood, including those across the Dalmeny Estate. At Cramond, antiquarians will be interested in the Roman remains which have been uncovered in the pleasant grounds of the Parish Church.

Edinburgh and the whole surrounding region is a golfers' paradise, and many of the private clubs welcome visitors. The City of Edinburgh itself runs six golf courses, and there are no fewer than 28 courses altogether within the city boundaries. At Hillend, on the southern edge of Edinburgh, the largest artificial ski slope in the United Kingdom offers ski-ing all year round. The City of Edinburgh also operates three sports centres; the largest of these, Meadowbank, offers facilities in more than 30 sports, from archery to yoga; the other two, more localised sports centres, are Craiglockhart, in Colinton Road, and the Jack Kane Centre at Craigmillar.

So far as theatre entertainment is concerned, the City of Edinburgh owns the King's Theatre and the Royal Lyceum Theatre, with plays and other shows presented by either resident or touring companies the year round.

Edinburgh possesses a wide range of restaurants, which offer menus to suit all tastes and pockets. Visitors looking for the cuisine of other lands and cultures will find restaurants representative of, for example, France, Italy, Switzerland, America, Turkey, India, Bangladesh and Hong Kong. Apart from the restaurants the visitor will also find that the city's pubs include a considerable number of particular distinction and character, some have Victorian or Edwardian interiors carefully conserved.

One of the most popular attractions in the city is Edinburgh Zoo, which is situated on Corstorphine Hill and run by the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland. The Zoo has a very comprehensive collection of animals, and it is a popular day-out for many thousands of Edinburgh families and visitors. It is open 365 days of the year.

One could go on, it has not been possible yet to describe the splendid Royal Commonwealth Pool, one of the best swimming pools in the United Kingdom; or the popular Edinburgh Wax Museum in the High Street; or the National Gallery of Modern Art; or the Royal Botanic Garden at Inverleith, with its impressive modern hot-houses and exotic plants; or Duddingston Loch, with its bird sanctuary in the middle of the city; or the Camera Obscura in Castlehill... Edinburgh has a wealth of interest for the visitor.

The area surrounding Edinburgh forms the beautiful lowlands of Scotland. The farmland of East Lothian, some of the richest in the country, rises to windswept hills.

The villages of Midlothian and East Lothian are remarkable in terms of their ancient charm. The photograph shows the ruined churchyard in the appropriately named village of Temple, which nestles in a sheltered hollow almost hidden from passing tourists.