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.

• Free entry
• Built 1670

• outdoors
• free

Address

Inverleith Row for East Gate, Arboretum Place for West Gate

Getting there

Bus 8, 23 or 27 to East Gate

Hours

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

Price

Free

Phone

+441315527171

Website

rbge.org.uk (opens in a new tab)