Rough Guides - Edinburgh

Venerable, dramatic Edinburgh, the showcase capital of Scotland, is a historic, cosmopolitan and cultured city. The setting is wonderfully striking: perched on a series of extinct volcanoes and rocky crags which rise from the generally flat landscape of the Lothians, with the sheltered shoreline of the Firth of Forth to the north. My own Romantic town, Sir Walter Scott called it, although it was another native author, Robert Louis Stevenson, who perhaps best captured the feel of his precipitous city, declaring that No situation could be more commanding for the head of a kingdom; none better chosen for noble prospects.

The centre has two distinct parts: the unrelentingly medieval Old Town , with its tortuous alleys and tightly packed closes, and the dignified, eighteenth-century Grecian-style New Town . Dividing the two are Princes Street Gardens , which runs roughly eastwest under the shadow of Edinburgh Castle .

Set on the hill that rolls down from the fairy-tale Castle to the royal Palace of Holyroodhouse , the Old Town preserves all the key landmarks from its role as a historic capital, augmented by the dramatic and unusual Scottish Parliament building , opposite the palace. A few hundred yards away, a tantalizing glimpse of the wild beauty of Scotlands scenery can be had in Holyrood Park , an extensive area of open countryside dominated by Arthurs Seat , the largest and most impressive of the citys volcanoes.

Among Edinburghs many museums, the exciting National Museum of Scotland houses ten thousand of Scotlands most precious artefacts, while the National Gallery of Scotland and its offshoot, the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art , have two of Britains finest collections of paintings.

In August, around a million visitors flock to the city for the Edinburgh Festival , in fact a series of separate festivals that make up the largest arts extravaganza in the world. On a less elevated theme, the citys distinctive pubs, allied to its brewing and distilling traditions, make it a great drinking city. Its four universities , plus several colleges, mean that there is a youthful presence for most of the year. Beyond the city centre, the most lively area is Leith , the citys medieval port, now a culinary hotspot with a series of great bars and upmarket seafood restaurants.

The wider rural hinterland of Edinburgh, known as the Lothians , mixes rolling countryside and attractive country towns with some impressive historic ruins. In East Lothian, blustery clifftop paths lead to the romantic battlements of Tantallon Castle , while nearby North Berwick, home of the Scottish Seabird Centre , looks out to the gannet-covered Bass Rock. The most famous sight in Midlothian is the mysterious fifteenth-century Rosslyn Chapel , while West Lothian boasts the towering, roofless Linlithgow Palace , thirty minutes from Edinburgh by train. To the northwest of the city, the dramatic steel geometry of the Forth Rail Bridge is best seen by walking across the parallel road bridge, starting at South Queensferry .

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THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE

The evocative heart of the historic city, with its tenements, closes, courtyards, ghosts and catacombs cheek-by-jowl with many of Scotlands most important buildings.

Vertiginously sited upon an imposing volcanic plug, the Castle dominates Scotlands capital, its ancient battlements protecting the Crown Jewels.

Enric Miralles quirky yet thrilling design is a dramatic modern presence in Holyroods historic royal precinct.

Wild moors, sheer cliffs and an 800ft-high peak (Arthurs Seat), all slap in the middle of the city.

In a city filled with fine drinking spots, there are few finer pubs in which to sample a pint of Heavy a medium-strength Scottish cask ale; order six oysters (once the citys staple food) to complete the experience.

The worlds biggest arts gathering transforms the city every August: bewildering, inspiring, exhausting and endlessly entertaining.

This impeccably preserved, cathedral-like Gothic masterwork boasts some of the finest examples of medieval stone craft in the world.

Brief history

It was during the Dark Ages that the name Edinburgh at least in its early forms of Dunedin or Din Eidyn (fort of Eidyn) first appeared. The strategic fort atop the Castle Rock volcano served as Scotlands southernmost border post until 1018, when King Malcolm I established the River Tweed as the permanent frontier. In the reign of Malcolm Canmore in the late eleventh century the Castle became one of the main seats of the court, and the town, which was given privileged status as a royal burgh , began to grow.