Edinburgh

Royal Botanic Garden

Impressive gardens with a large collection. Great place to wander around on a sunny day, or to sit and have a picnic. Highlights include the Rock Garden; the 165-m-long herbaceous border, backed by a huge, century-old beech hedge, and the Palm House, the tallest of its kind in Britain. (However the Palm House and all the glasshouses are closed until 2025 for rebuilding, and a small section of the garden is only open at weekends.) A number of sculptures, including two by Barbara Hepworth, are displayed around the gardens. The east gate has a bus service but the west gate is grander, with the John Hope Gateway building containing the restaurant, shop, and exhibitions. Botanic Cottage is an education centre in a house that was built in 1764-5, designed by John Adam and James Craig and moved to the garden in 2014. They also run the gardens at Benmore near Oban, Dawyck above Peebles, and Logan near Stranraer.

Daily Nov-Jan 10AM-4PM, Feb-Oct 10AM-5PM, last entry 15 min before closure · Free · Free entry · Built 1670

Calton Hill

This is the stubby crag just east of Princes Street: a short stroll up it commands great views. The "National Monument", a memorial to Scots killed in the Napoleonic Wars, was an attempt to out-do the Parthenon in Athens but the money ran out with only the west facade built. Nelson's Tower was built 1807-16 in the shape of an upturned telescope in honour of the naval hero. A Time Ball on the mast drops at 1PM every day just as the One O'Clock Gun is fired from the castle - this gives a time signal to ships in the Firth before the sound rolls out to them, or it would if not obscured by drizzle and the ships in possession of reliable watches. It was operated by the adjacent City Observatory, superseded in 1896 by the Royal Observatory in the south of the city. City Observatory remained active until 2009 then was refurbished as the Collective Gallery exhibition space for modern art.

103 m high

Modern Two

Opposite side of Belford Rd has a slightly smaller collection, but enough to infuriate about one-in-five reviewers, who rage that their kids' drawings stuck on the fridge door are better. A neon sign in the garden reassures all and sundry that "There will be no miracles".

Mo-Su 10:00-17:00

Heart of Midlothian

Hearts aka "the Jambos" and "the Gorgie Boys" play soccer in the Scottish Premiership, the top tier. Their home ground Tynecastle Park (capacity 20,000, all-seater) is a mile west of Haymarket station in the Gorgie area of the city; take any bus up Gorgie Road or a tram to Murrayfield.

Dunbar's Close Garden

This close was re-modelled in the 1970s to recreate a 17th-century physic and knot garden, a hidden quiet place in the busy city.

Daily 7AM-dusk · Free

The Cumberland Bar

Readers of Alexander McCall Smith's 44 Scotland Street will recognise this literary haunt. It's a traditional pub popular with New Town locals, students, the suits from local offices, pretty much everyone in fact. Gets very busy in summer thanks to its lovely beer garden - one of the few central pubs to have one. Plenty of drink options and decent food.

Mon-Thu 4:30-11PM, Fri Sat noon-midnight, Sun noon-11PM · Outdoor seating · Dog friendly

The Pear Tree

Popular with students, this has a large beer garden and outdoor big screen for TV sports.

Daily noon-1AM · Limited wheelchair access · Outdoor seating

Em’s Kitchen

Full Scottish breakfast, shakshuka, coffee and tea options, with seating that looks into a quiet car park and garden.

Inverleith Park

Large park with several sports pitches for rugby, football and cricket, and public tennis courts. The south of the park has a pond divided into a wildlife area popular with swans, and a boating pond which is often used for model boats. The banked area near the pond offers good views over the New Town of the Castle, and there is a small floral area in the Sundial Garden.

King George V Park

Park with a couple of children's play areas and many quiet benches to sit on. A path through an old railway tunnel links the park with Cannonmills Tesco, making this an ideal lunch spot.

Arthur's Seat

Arthur's Seat is an ancient extinct volcano. It is the main peak of a group of hills in Edinburgh, Scotland, which form most of Holyrood Park. Robert Louis Stevenson described it as "a hill for magnitude, a mountain in virtue of its bold design".

251 m high

National Galleries of Scotland: Modern One

The original modern art gallery, established in 1960, was in the Botanic Gardens. In 1895 it moved into this neoclassical building, originally a refuge for fatherless children, and in 1999 it expanded across the road into the neoclassical orphanage now known as Modern Two. The gardens of Modern One have been sculpted. Both buildings have extensive contemporary collections and most visitors find that seeing one of them is plenty for an afternoon.

Daily 10AM-5PM · Free · Free entry · Wheelchair accessible

The Raeburn

Restaurant, pub, beer garden and small hotel in a house built in 1832.

B&B double £170 · Wi-Fi · Outdoor seating

Edinburgh Zoo

The pandas have returned to China but there's still plenty here. Penguins include gentoo, rockhopper and king, most famously Major General Sir Nils Olav III, Baron of the Bouvet Islands and mascot of the Norwegian King's Guard. Budongo Trail leads through the troupe of 15 chimpanzees. The only koalas in the UK are here, and there are some beautiful tropical birds. The zoo is on the slopes of Corstorphine Hill and some paths are steep but all attractions are wheelchair accessible. Check the website for cheaper online offers, and temporary closures eg in harsh weather or avian flu outbreaks.

Daily Apr-Sep 9AM-6PM, Oct & Mar 9AM-5PM, Nov-Feb 9AM-4PM · Adult £26.70, child £16.80, conc £24.25, parking £3

Foresters Guild

Good pub fare and cask ales, inside or in one of their beach huts.

Mon-Thu noon-11PM, Fri noon-1AM, Sat 10AM-1AM, Sun 10AM-11PM

Holyrood Palace

The Palace is a royal residence, closed when the king is here for a week in July and for similar state occasions. It's been repeatedly smashed up and rebuilt, and the present building is mostly from the 1670s. Highlights are the grand stair, state apartments, throne room, Mary Queen of Scots Chambers (where bloodstains from the murder of Rizzio are still visible), King's Gallery a sample of the royal art collection, the ruin of Holyrood Abbey, and the palace gardens.

Nov-Mar Thu-Mon 9:30AM - 4:30PM, Apr-Oct Thu-Mon (& daily Jul-Sep) 9:30AM - 6PM · Adult £19.50, child or conc £10.50

Lauriston Castle

This 1590s tower house was extended in the 1820s and housed a series of prosperous families. It passed into council ownership in 1926 and the interior has been preserved in its last occupants' plush Edwardian style. Visit by pre-booked guided tour. There is free entry to the gardens (daily 8AM-4:30PM), where the centrepiece is the Japanese garden. The castle is also used as an event space.

Sat Sun 11AM-3PM · Tour adult £8, conc £6

Miller & Carter Cramond Brig

Popular chain steakhouse getting great reviews. The old Cramond Brig is now a footbridge over River Almond, follow the east bank for the village and island, and the west bank to hike to South Queensferry. Modern traffic thunders past on A90.

Daily noon-11PM

Hibernian FC

The "Hibs" play soccer in the Premiership, Scotland's top tier. The all-seater stadium, capacity 24,000, is at the south edge of Leith. Hibs have played at Easter Road since 1893; in 2000 the pronounced slope of the ground was levelled out. Their traditional city rivals are Hearts. Buses 1 and 35 run down Easter Road but there are more frequent buses down Leith Walk just west or along London Road (A1) just south.

Corstorphine Retail Park

Small retail park with fast food, Lidl and a large Tesco, overshadowed nowadays by the Gyle Centre.

Princes Street Gardens

The west portion fills the valley beyond the Mound, spanning the railway tracks to the foot of castle crag. The east portion is the terrace around the Scott Monument. They were laid out in the 1820s as private gardens for residents of the street: occupants of bath chairs required a medical certificate that their condition was not contagious. Their initial opening to the public was solely at Christmas and New Year, in the belief that this would distract people from the pubs and reduce drunkenness. In 1876 they became a public park and were re-landscaped and dotted with statues. By this time the gardens were already bisected by railway tracks, the price that had to be paid to finally link the east and west railway terminuses. The gardens are open 24 hours.

Spartans

The Spartans play soccer in Scottish League Two, the fourth tier. Their ground Ainslie Park (Vanloq Community Stadium) holds 3612, of which 534 are seated. It's in Pilton, northwest of the city centre.

Cramond Inn

Traditional village pub run by Samuel Smiths. Beer garden outside but food service is indoors-only. No dogs.

Sun–Thu noon–10PM, Fri Sat noon–11PM

Dr Neil's Garden

Secluded terraced garden on the shores of the loch, behind the church. The Neils were a GP couple who laid out the garden in the 1960s. The little tower, built 1825, is not to ward off body-snatchers but a storage space for the heavy curling stones.

Daily 10AM-5PM · Donation

Edinburgh International Book Festival

Takes place in a temporary village of marquees at Charlotte Square Gardens (West End of George Street, New Town).

In August

Castle Rock

Castle Rock is a volcanic plug in the middle of Edinburgh upon which Edinburgh Castle sits. The rock is estimated to have formed some 350 million years ago during the early Carboniferous period. It is the remains of a volcanic pipe which cut through the surrounding sedimentary rock, before cooling to form very hard dolerite, a coarser-grained equivalent of basalt.

130 m high

Vue

Large multiplex chain cinema showing mainstream films. There's another Vue on Greenside Place at the top of Leith Walk.

Charlotte Square

In front of the house is the mirror-image of St Andrew's Square at the east end of George St. Bute House at Number 6, next door to The Georgian House, is the official residence of the First Minister of Scotland, so you might see a motorcade, TV cameras and armed security outside. The gardens in the square are private. Prince Albert stands in the middle, with his view down the street somewhat impeded by mature trees.

George Square Gardens

George Square (Scottish Gaelic: Ceàrnag Sheòrais) is a city square in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is in the south of the city centre, adjacent to the Meadows. It was laid out in 1766 outside the overcrowded Old Town, and was a popular residential area for Edinburgh's better-off citizens.

Oct-Apr Mo-Fr 07:00-16:00; Apr-Oct Mo-Fr 07:00-19:00 · Free entry

The Beach House

Right by the beach with sea views, good selection of food.

Mon-Fri 8AM-5PM, Sat Sun 8AM-6PM