Places to see in Edinburgh

Edinburgh is a world-class city with centuries of history and probably more listed buildings than anywhere else in the UK. It is walkable, with museums, castles, monuments and hills.

Check out sites within a couple of hours' travel as well. See here for a short 2-day spree of Edinburgh.

I have lived in Edinburgh for six years and it never fails to blossom with interesting places to explore.

The majority of our visitors are students so I have included the prices for each place. My brother, when an undergrad, made a point of visiting all the free places first. Here is what my guests and I have agreed are the highlights.

• Edinburgh Castle - tickets are 16.50 per adult but you can purchase a Historic Scotland pass or Explorer pass to bring the price per castle down.
  
• Arthur's Seat or Calton Hill if you like a hike and great views

  

  
  

• St Giles - our Presbyterian cathedral, home to the Thistle Chapel, free to view

  

  the crowd outside St. Giles on 7/7/16 to see the queen and the Order of the Thistle
• John Knox's grave in the car park behind St. Giles
  
• Holyrood palace and abbey - 12 pounds per adult but if you get your ticket signed on your way out, it can function as an annual pass. See my blog post about it here.
  
• Museum of Childhood - free
  
• Scottish Parliament - free but you go through security so leave sharps at home
  
• National Museum of Scotland - this is definitely the best museum in town, where you may see the first cloned animal, the Queen Mary harp, the Lewis chessmen, and the silver picnic set belonging to Bonny Prince Charlie - free
  
• Writers' Museum - this focuses mainly on Robert Burns, Robert Louis Stevenson and Sir Walter Scott - free
  
• Museum of Edinburgh - this has been revamped and now has a short film to show how Edinburgh grew over the years, and many interesting artifacts from the past, as well as great rooms for kids - free
  
• Museum on the Mound - aka 'the money museum' where you can learn about the invention of insurance, different currencies from around the world, the evolution of the British pounds and much more - free
  
• Celtic Tour, Medieval Tour, Christian Heritage Tour or Mystery Tour by the Christian Heritage Centre or download the ipod tour for free

• see http://www.soulofscotlandtours.com/index.html or http://www.christianheritageedinburgh.org.uk/
• or call Paul to book on  07985070899
• The Christian Heritage Centre - usually open in the summer out of St. Columba's Free Church on the Royal Mile at 1 Johnston Terrace but this year doing an on street version due to delays with St. Columba's maintenance works
  
• Greyfriar's Kirkyard - free
  
• Greyfriar's Bobby - free 
  
• Sir Walter Scott monument - £5 to climb
  
• Art museum - free
  
• The Royal Botanics - free
  
• The Elephant House where parts of Harry Potter were written
  
• John Knox's House is also fun to visit though they have a rather warped view of him so it can be a bit demoralizing.
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Particularly of interest for the young:

• Edinburgh Zoo - the penguins promenade at midday 
  
• Gorgie City Farm 
  
• the soft play at Dynamic Earth 
  

You may want to schedule your trip around annual events such as

• The Military Tattoo
• The Festival/Fringe
• The Traquair Medieval Fayre
• The New Years firework display
• Firework Day/November 5th/Guy Fawkes Night
• International Film Festival

the crossing to Inchcolm Island for a performance of Macbeth as part of the Edinburgh Fringe in 2012

Edinburgh is a great place to visit. There are loads of places to see and lots of fun events throughout the year. Let me know what your favorite parts of Edinburgh are!