Edinburgh is a lovely city and one of our favorites to visit in Europe. With so much to see and do, it can be difficult to prioritize certain attractions and activities, especially if you don’t have much time to explore this fascinating city. For those who can only spend a day, fortunately, the historic part of the city is very compact, meaning that you can easily pack a lot of sightseeing into a day if you want to. To help you make sense of all your options and figure out how to best organize your time in the city, we present below our Guide on How to Spend a Day in Edinburgh. If you plan on staying longer, we will also provide additional activity and attraction ideas for additional days spent in the city.
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Is One Day Enough? How long to Spend in Edinburgh
As Scotland’s second-largest city (and Capital), this historic definitely has no shortage of things to see and do. We generally recommend staying a good 2-3 days in Edinburgh to be able to see most of the highlights without feeling rushed, but that doesn’t mean you can’t build a great one-day itinerary where you get the most out of your time in this fantastic city. You can squeeze a lot into one day in Edinburgh.
For information on how to get to Edinburgh, the best time to visit, and a more comprehensive list of sites and attractions, we recommend that you check out our Guide on the Best Things to See and Do in Edinburgh, as both guides were designed to complement each other. urthermore, some of the more important attractions such as Edinburgh Castle are presented in greater detail in the Best Things to See and Do in Edinburgh guide, where we also specify up-to-date opening hours and ticket prices for various attractions and activities. Here we will focus on how to organize a one-day itinerary by combining certain attractions together for different parts of the day.
We also put together a Best Edinburgh Viewpoints and (Instagram) Photo Spots Guide. You won’t find much new information there since this guide was mostly designed to provide a quick list of Edinburgh’s most photogenic neighbourhoods and attractions.
Before jumping into the one-day itinerary, a few quick facts:
The city center (historic Edinburgh) is divided into two parts: the Old Town south of Princes Street Gardens and Waverly Train Station, and to the north the New Town. While the Old Town has existed since medieval times, the New Town was built in stages from the mid-18th century until the late 19th century.
Edinburgh is easy to navigate on foot. Most of the attractions listed below are located within a 1.5-mile by 1.5-mile square, including all sites in the Old Town (and the Royal Mile), the New Town, the Princes Street Gardens, Dean Village, Stockbridge and Calton Hill.
The main sites described below that are located outside of this 1.5-1.5 square are the Royal Botanic Garden (north of Stockbridge), Arthur’s Seat in Holyrood Park (southeast of the Old Town), and the National Galleries of Scotland (west of Dean Village). Even then, all of these are still just a short walk outside of the city center.
One Day Edinburgh Itinerary
Sunrise at Calton Hill
If you are an early riser, you can start your day with a short walk up Calton Hill (alternatively, it’s also a great place to watch the sunset from). Though perhaps not as popular a spot as Arthur’s Seat (see below) for enjoying panoramic views of the city, Calton Hill is much easier to climb and closer to the city center, offering a better bang for your buck, so to say, in our opinion.
Calton Hill is a volcanic hill rising beyond the eastern end of Princes Street and is home to several Greek-inspired historical monuments and landmarks. One such monument is known as “Edinburgh’s Folly” or “Edinburgh’s Shame.” The National Monument was modelled after the Parthenon in Athens, but funding for the build ran out and was never completed. But more importantly, it’s one of the best places to enjoy panoramic views of the city and a great spot to watch the sunset or sunrise.
If you are looking for a place to grab a coffee and pastries, look no further than Wellington Coffee in the New Town, which opens every day at 6:45 am on weekdays (later on weekends).
Morning: Palace of Holyroodhouse, St Giles Cathedral and the Royal Mile
One of the closest Edinburgh attractions to Calton Hill is the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which opens daily at 9:30 am. Holyroodhouse is the official residence of the British Monarch in Edinburgh, located at the eastern end of the Royal Mile. The self-guided tour of the Palace takes you through the State Apartments and the “Great Gallery”, with 110 portraits of Scotland’s Monarchs. Unfortunately, photography is not allowed inside the Palace. Currently, only 17 of the Palace’s 289 rooms are open to the public. The interior courtyard is quite beautiful and photography is allowed here.
On your way out be sure to explore the stunning ruined Holyrood Abbey, which was here before there ever was a palace. The abbey church was used as a parish church until the 17th century and has been in ruin since the 18th century.
Once you finish exploring the Palace, you can make your way up the Royal Mile, the Old Town’s main thoroughfare and most historic street. Although the Royal Mile can be annoyingly busy during the middle of the day and has its fair share of gift shops and tourist trips, the amount of history and beautiful architecture found along the street are quite impressive and make it a more than worthwhile destination. There are also a lot of interesting attractions along the Royal Mile (many of which are described in our Best Things to See and Do in Edinburgh guide), but for now, we suggest admiring the architecture and the atmosphere while you make your way to St Giles Cathedral.
St Giles Cathedral is one of Scotland’s most important medieval parish church buildings and is one of the most impressive and imposing buildings along the Royal Mile.
If you made it here in time (10:30), we highly recommend the free 45-minute guided tour of the interior (you need to pre-book here), which takes place twice a day (10:30 and 14:30). To make it in time for the morning tour, you should aim to spend at most 45 minutes at the Palace of Holyroodhouse, which is a reasonable amount of time given the small number of rooms that are open to the public. If you don’t want to rush your visit to the Palace and would also love a guided tour of the cathedral, you could skip visiting Dean Village in the afternoon (described below) and return to the cathedral before visiting Edinburgh Castle.
Late Morning: Victoria Street and Greyfriars Kirkyard
If you attended the Cathedral guided tour, it’s now about 11:15 am, leaving you some time for further exploration before taking a lunch break (if you didn’t, its probably even earlier than that). A short walk from the cathedral is Victoria Street, which is without a doubt one of Edinburgh’s most stunning streets. It’s a short but beautiful curved cobblestone road filled with bright colourful storefront facades. You definitely don’t need long to visit, but you might want to linger a while given the beauty that surrounds you.
Once you’ve had your fun on Victoria Street, make your way down Candlemakers Row until you reach Greyfriars Kirkyard. When you stroll through this graveyard, you might recognize some familiar names. Indeed, JK Rowling used some of the tombstone names in this graveyard as inspiration for character names. If you are a Harry Potter fan, you might like to know that JK Rowling is known to have written several Harry Potter chapters in the nearby Elephant House Café. You can also find her handprints in the Royal Mile.
Lunch: Picnic in Princes Street Gardens
Princes Street Gardens separates the Old Town and the New Town and is one of the most important urban parks in the heart of Edinburgh. It’s a great place to escape some of the hustle and bustle of the city and the crowds that can gather along the Royal Mile during peak tourist hours. It’s a beautiful green space from which you can sit back and enjoy the city’s views and the impressive Edinburgh Castle, which towers over everything else. You’ll also find the Scott Monument in this park, a tall gothic monument dedicated to one of Scotland’s most famous writers, Sir Walter Scott.
Early Afternoon, Option 1: New Town and Dean Village
We recommend this option if you truly only have one day in the city. If you have a second day in Edinburgh, we recommend using option 2, as we will keep Dean Village for the second day as it fits geographically with other attractions we would visit that day.
The New Town is noticeably different from the Old Town: it was purposely built to allow the city to expand in the 18th century, the streets are straight and wide, and the Georgian architecture is very grand with buildings built in a neo-classical style. There are not many “attractions” in the New Town like in the Old Town, but the area lends itself to nice walks with nice sightlines of the Old Town and Edinburgh Castle. One site worth mentioning is the Georgian House, where you can go inside one of the elegant New Town townhouses and see how the wealthy lived during the 18th century. You won’t need terribly long to visit the New Town, perhaps an hour going up and down a few streets, unless of course you plan on visiting the Georgian House or if you plan on doing lots of shopping (the New Town is a great area for this).
Located a short 10-15 minute walk northwest of the New Town, Dean Village is a very picturesque neighbourhood with a remarkable unspoilt charm. In its heyday, Dean Village was a thriving industrial center with more than ten working graining mills built along the river to harness its power. Like Victoria Street, You won’t need long to visit this small neighbourhood, but you might want to linger as you will no doubt be charmed by Dean Village’s fairytale-like atmosphere.
Early Afternoon, Option 2: New Town and National Galleries of Scotland
This option involves less walking than the first option with some museum time. Since the plan for later in the afternoon is to return to Edinburgh Castle, requiring that you pass through Princes Street Gardens again, we suggest that you stop by one of Edinburgh’s most beautiful museums, the National Galleries of Scotland.
If museums are not your thing, you can always linger longer in the New Town, or head back to the Old Town if you prefer the atmosphere there. There are lots of side streets and back alleyways to discover. You can also head to Victoria Street or Greyfriars Kirkyard if you didn’t get to them during your morning of sightseeing.
Late Afternoon: Edinburgh Castle
Edinburgh Castle has a rich and fascinating history as a royal residence, military garrison, prison and fortress, and is one of the oldest fortified places in Europe. It also has been besieged more than any other castle in Europe, with the Scots and English struggling over its control during the Wars of Independence.
Edinburg Castle is stunning to see in person. It’s huge and can be seen perched high on Castle Rock from almost anywhere in the city. It also provides fantastic panoramic city views from its numerous ramparts and high walls.
We recommend visiting the castle as late as possible for fewer crowds while leaving yourselves. You should plan at least an hour to visit the castle, but ideally more, especially if visiting during a nice mid-summer day when queues can form to visit certain areas and rooms of the castle. The last entry is at 4 pm (and the castle closes at 5 pm) during the fall and winter seasons, with an extra hour added during the spring and summer months. You can find more information on visiting the castle here.
Evening
We generally like to leave our evenings fairly open. We typically like to go for light strolls either before or after dinner, and perhaps stop for street-side sweets after dinner to enjoy while doing some people-watching.
Ideas for a Second Day In Edinburgh
If you have more than a day to spend in Edinburgh, you are in luck as there is still plenty that is left to see and do in this wonderful town.
Stockbridge and Circus Lane
Immediately north of Edinburgh’s New Town is Stockbridge, a small neighbourhood with a distinct and charming village feel. Stockbridge has a lovely main street that is lined with cute cafés, welcoming pubs, trendy restaurants and local boutique shops. It has a great ambiance without the crowds of the Old Town. In fact, we chose to base ourselves in Stockbridge during our time in Edinburgh and loved the neighbourhood and its laidback atmosphere, all the while being a short walk from most of Edinburgh’s main sites. We also enjoyed great meals at The Scran and Scallie & Pepe Nero.
Circus Lane is a picture-perfect street if there ever was one. This lovely cobblestone street filled with Georgian mews houses and beautiful floral displays is perfectly backdropped by St Stephen’s church tower. The homes here were originally built in the 19th century as horse stables and accommodations for servants, and as such the street was a back alley designed for the care of the horses and carriages of the wealthy residents of the nearby Royal Circus Street.
If you didn’t visit Dean Village (presented above) during Day 1, combining with Stockbridge is straightforward and fun, as you can take a pleasant stroll along the Water of Leigh walkway, a tranquil and peaceful riverside footpath and cycleway that runs alongside the river of the same name through Edinburgh. The section between Dean Village and Stockbridge should take no more than 15-20 minutes.
Take a Guided Tour of Edinburgh
By Group Tour: Another great way to visit Edinburgh is to join one of several great organized group tours:
Go on a Harry Potter Tour
For the diehard fans out there, there are several great Harry Potter tours of Edinburgh that you can take to learn more about the links between Edinburgh and the books:
Climb up to Arthur’s Seat
Arthur’s seat is the highest point of Holyrood Park, on the eastern edge of the old town. It’s the main peak of a group of hills in Edinburgh that once formed an ancient (and extinct) volcano. It’s a fantastic place from which to watch the sunset as the location provides panoramic views of the city and beyond.
Because it’s the highest viewpoint in the city, it requires a bit more work to get there than some of the other viewpoints in the city. Several trails through Holyrood Park, none of which are particularly steep, can take you to the hill’s summit in about 30-40 minutes.
Visit a Museum
Edinburgh has several exceptional museums to choose from, and we recommend three in particular.
National Museum of Scotland
Inaugurated in 1998, the modern building of the National Museum of Scotland features several exhibits on the country’s culture and history, from prehistoric times to the present.
Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art
The Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art houses the Modern and Contemporary national art collection. It comprises two buildings: Modern One and Modern Two. Modern One showcases artwork that dates from 1900 to the present day and features paintings by renowned painters such as Matisse and Andy Warhol. Modern Two features the surrealist works of Picasso, Magritte, Miró and Dalí.
National Galleries of Scotland (Scottish National Galleries)
An art gallery housed in an elegant neo-classical building that features both Scottish and international works of art from the Renaissance and Post-Impressionism periods.
Visit the Royal Botanic Garden
Just north of Stockbridge is Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Garden. Founded in 1670, the botanical garden is one of the oldest. A visit to the Botanic Garden can easily be combined with a walk along the Water of Leigh path.
Ideas for Long Stays: Consider a Day trip
There are a lot of interesting and exciting day trips to take from Edinburgh. We detail these in a separate guide, the Best Day Trips from Edinburgh. These include trips to visit Blackness Castle, Sterling Castle, Doune Castle, the Kelpies in Falkirk, St Andrews and even longer trips to areas like Glen Coe and Oban.
Preparing a trip to Edinburgh and the lowlands?
You might be interested in these pages:
Best Day Trips From Edinburgh
Best Things to See and Do in Edinburgh
Best Stops and Attractions Between Skye and Glasgow
Best Things to See and Do in St Andrews
Preparing a trip to Scotland?
You might be interested in these Scotland pages:
10-Day Scotland Roadtrip Itinerary (Edinburgh and Highlands)
Scotland Driving Guide and Tips
7 of the Best Castles to Visit in Scotland
Best Things to See in the Scottish Highlands
Best Hikes to do in the Scottish Highlands
We also highly recommend these guidebooks:
Rick Steves Scotland
Lonely Planet Scotland’s Highlands
Photography Gear
If you like our photography, you might be interested in some of the gear we use to shoot our travel and hiking destinations.
Camera Body – Nikon Z 6ii Fx-series Mirrorless Body
Main Lens – NIKON 24-120mm F/4G ED VR AF-S
Zoom Lens – Sigma 745-306 150-600mm f/5-6.3
Polarizing filters – Urth Circular Polarizing (CPL)
Camera Tripod – K&F Concept 64-inch Camera Tripod
Mini-tripod – Lammcou Flexible Camera Tripod
Camera/hiking backpack – Vanguard Alta Rise 48 Backpack
Universal Travel Adapter – VYLEE Universal International Power Travel Plug
Other Travel Essentials
Travel Insurance
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e-Sim cards
Airalo is the world’s first and largest eSIM store with eSIM plans for 200+ countries and regions worldwide. With Airalo eSIMs, travellers can get connected the moment they land at their destination and avoid nasty data roaming charges
eSIMS are a sustainable alternative to single-use SIM cards – they are 100% digital, require less energy to produce and be re-used rather than disposed of.
Car Rentals
Discover Cars is our go-to website for car rentals. We almost always find our preferred rate there.
Transfer from Airport
Welcome Pickups is our favourite private transfer service, which you can pre-book at a fixed price. Currently available in 220 cities all over the world (mostly in Europe, but with several major cities in Asia, the Middle East and the US).
Kiwitaxi is another private transfer service – we haven’t tried it yet, but it’s currently available in a few more countries (102 as of 2024).
Hotels and Accommodations (coming soon)
Photography Prints
If you found this blog useful, you can help support our blog by purchasing low-cost digital prints. Printed physical prints are also available for purchase.
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Well, that wraps it up! We hope you enjoyed our How to Spend a Day in Edinburgh (1-day itinerary) and that it will prove useful for planning your trip to the beautiful Scottish Highlands.
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