Stand on Castle Rock and Read the City Below You
From the ramparts of Edinburgh Castle the city lies at your feet: the ridge of the Old Town falling away eastward, the Firth of Forth beyond, and on a clear day the line of the Pentland Hills. You are standing on the plug of an extinct volcano, Castle Rock, its cliffs rising sheer to the south, west and north while the only easy approach slopes in from the east. People have occupied this rock since at least the Iron Age, and a royal castle has stood here since the reign of Malcolm III in the eleventh century. The castle has been a royal residence, an arsenal, a treasury, a national archive, a mint, a prison and a military fortress, and it holds the Honours of Scotland, the Scottish regalia. It has seen conflict from the Wars of Scottish Independence in the fourteenth century to the Jacobite rising of 1745. Come for the view, but stay for the sense of a single fortified place carrying a thousand years of Scottish history.
Chapels, Crown Jewels and the One o'Clock Gun
Most of what you walk through post-dates the Lang Siege of 1573, when artillery bombardment destroyed the medieval defences. The exceptions are the reason to linger: St Margaret's Chapel, built in the early twelfth century and regarded as the oldest building in Edinburgh, and the early sixteenth-century Great Hall. In the Royal Palace you can see the Honours of Scotland, and the castle also holds the Scottish National War Memorial and the National War Museum. Three regimental museums are here too, those of the Royal Regiment of Scotland, the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards and the Royal Scots. Walk the Half Moon Battery and the Western Defences for the panorama over the city to the Firth of Forth and the Pentland Hills, and look for Mons Meg, the great siege cannon. Listen for the One o'Clock Gun, fired daily except on Sundays and Christmas Day.
- St Margaret's Chapel – the oldest building in Edinburgh, built by David I around 1130 in tribute to his mother
- The Royal Palace and the Honours of Scotland
- The Great Hall, with its late-medieval ceiling, built around 1510 for James IV
- The Scottish National War Memorial and the National War Museum
- The three regimental museums
- The Half Moon Battery, Western Defences and Mons Meg, with views to the Pentland Hills and the Firth of Forth
- The One o'Clock Gun, daily except Sundays and Christmas Day
How to Make the Most of Your Visit
Entry is by timed ticket, so book online in advance; in summer the castle often sells out. If you want flexibility, a flexi ticket lets you enter at any timeslot on any day within a seven-day period, and you can book an official guided walking tour alongside your entry. Historic Scotland members get free unlimited entry, and Explorer Pass holders get free entry to Historic Scotland sites for fourteen consecutive days, including Edinburgh, Stirling and Urquhart castles, plus a discount on audio guides at Edinburgh, Stirling and Glasgow Cathedral; Young Scot and National Entitlement Card holders pay a nominal sum. Plan on a half day at least: the site is large, spread across the rock, and the exhibitions and museums reward unhurried browsing. Time your arrival for the One o'Clock Gun if you can, and leave room to simply stand on the battery and look out. The castle is also the backdrop to the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo during the annual Edinburgh Festival, when kilted pipers play below the battlements; tickets sell out well in advance, though cancellations sometimes free up seats, and the fireworks that close the shows can be seen from the Grassmarket below.
Step Out onto the Royal Mile
The castle sits at the top of the Old Town, and the Royal Mile descends from it to Holyrood Palace. The best of the street is High Street, the broad upper traffic-free section, with medieval closes, or alleys, dropping steeply on either side. Holyrood Palace is sumptuously furnished and still a royal residence, and near it the Scottish Parliament meets in a modern building where you can look in on debates. Half a mile south of High Street, the National Museum of Scotland is a free collection that will absorb a whole afternoon. Across the city, Princes Street has a great view back up to the castle and Old Town, and Calton Hill at its east end offers city views with a much easier climb than Arthur's Seat, the extinct volcano looming over the city.
Plan Around the Seasons
Summer is festival time in Edinburgh, with the International Festival, the Fringe, the Military Tattoo and more running from early August into mid-September; hotel rooms are noticeably more expensive then and you will need to book at least six months ahead. If you come in winter, the festive season brings a big wheel, an outdoor ice rink and markets to Princes Street Gardens, and Hogmanay, the New Year celebration, is the main focus rather than Christmas, with a torchlight procession the night before and a street party on the night itself. Whenever you come, the castle is the anchor of a day in the Old Town: start here, then walk the Royal Mile down toward the palace and the parliament.
Book your timed entry, pick a clear day, and give yourself a morning on the rock before the city pulls you down the Royal Mile. The castle rewards the traveller who arrives unhurried, looks out from the battery, and lets a thousand years of history settle around them.