Where to Stay in Edinburgh, Scotland

What is Edinburgh known for?

Edinburgh is known as the capital of Scotland and the seat of its parliament. Its medieval Old Town and Georgian New Town climb the ridges below Edinburgh Castle. The National Museum of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery hold the country's collections, while festivals fill the city through the year.

History sits in its stone. Edinburgh rises across a set of old volcanoes above the Firth of Forth.

What are the main landmarks in Edinburgh?

Edinburgh's landmarks gather around Edinburgh Castle and the ridge of the Old Town. St Giles' Cathedral and Greyfriars Kirk mark the medieval streets, while the National Museum of Scotland and the Scottish National Gallery hold the national collections nearby. The Scott Monument rises over the New Town, and Holyrood Park spreads green below its old volcano to the east.

Stone defines them all.

What is the history of Edinburgh?

Edinburgh grew from a fortress on the rock, and a settlement is recorded on the castle crag as far back as 601. Edinburgh Castle held the high ground, and the medieval Old Town spilled down the ridge below it toward Holyrood Park. St Giles' Cathedral rose at the heart of that packed and smoky town, the place its people called Auld Reekie for its haze of chimney smoke.

Stone stacked on stone. The city became the capital of Scotland and the seat of its old parliament, a centre of law, learning, and the church. In the Georgian age a wholly new town was laid out north of the valley, wide and ordered against the crowded ridge, and Edinburgh earned the name Athens of the North for its learning and its classical stone.

The Scott Monument and the National Monument of Scotland rose in that confident century. Later the galleries came, the Scottish National Gallery and the National Museum of Scotland among them. Festivals grew to fill its summers.

The old volcanoes on which it stands still shape every street and every long view across the Firth of Forth. Edinburgh remains the capital of Scotland.

Where is Edinburgh?

Edinburgh stands in southeast Scotland, bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. The city is built across a set of old volcanoes, and Edinburgh Castle sits atop the highest of them. Ridges and valleys shape its streets.

The ground rises sharply here. Beyond the built-up core, Holyrood Park lifts its green volcano above the eastern edge of the Old Town.

What is the climate of Edinburgh?

Edinburgh has a cool, changeable climate shaped by the North Sea weather off the Firth of Forth. Wind is a constant here, sweeping in across the firth and around the exposed crags on which the city is built. Skies shift quickly.

Rain comes and goes through the year, summers stay mild rather than warm, and winters run cold and grey below the Pentland Hills. Snow is more common on the higher ground to the south than in the streets themselves.

How do you get to Edinburgh?

Edinburgh is the transport centre of southeast Scotland, tied into the main rail and motorway routes of the Central Belt. Trains run in from across Scotland and beyond, and its central station lies in the valley between the Old Town and the New Town. The station sits below the castle.

From there Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile climb close at hand. Roads and rails have long met at the capital.