Wilson - Lonely Planet Pocket Edinburgh

View over Edinburgh from Calton Hill ( )
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Edinburgh is one of Britains most beautiful cities, a dream in masonry and living rock perched upon ancient crags, with the medieval maze of the Old Town gazing across verdant gardens to the Georgian elegance of the New Town. History and architecture are leavened with a bacchanalia of bars, innovative restaurants and Scotlands most stylish shops, all wrapped in a cityscape immortalised in literature and film.

Edinburgh Top Sights

Edinburgh Castle ( )

Attracting more than 1.3 million visitors a year, Edinburgh Castle is Scotlands most popular attraction, a craggy cluster of museums, militaria, chapels, cannons, vaults and prisons, and the Scottish Crown Jewels.

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Edinburgh Top Sights

Rosslyn Chapel ( )

Made famous by Dan Browns The Da Vinci Code, this medieval chapel is a symphony in stone, thickly clustered with carved symbols and imagery that has been associated with the enigmatic quest for the Holy Grail.

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Edinburgh Top Sights

Royal Yacht Britannia ( )

Since her retirement in 1997, the former floating holiday home of the British royal family has been moored at Leiths Ocean Terminal, offering a fascinating insight into HM the Queens travels.

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Edinburgh Top Sights

Real Mary Kings Close ( )

Sealed off in the 18th century, this buried medieval street was opened to the public in 2003, offering atmospheric guided tours of its ancient vaults.

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Edinburgh Top Sights

Scottish Parliament Building ( )

Edinburghs most spectacular and controversial building, opened in 2004 to house Scotlands devolved parliament, is a confection of strange shapes and symbolic forms.

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Edinburgh Top Sights

Palace of Holyroodhouse ( )

The queens official residence in Scotland has at its heart a tower house that was once home to Mary, Queen of Scots: her bedchamber is the high point of the tour.

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Edinburgh Top Sights

National Museum of Scotland ( )

This museum charts the history of Scotland. Highlights include the Monymusk Reliquary, carried into battle at Bannockburn, and the 12th-century Lewis Chessmen.

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Edinburgh Top Sights

Scottish National Portrait Gallery ( )

This beautifully renovated gallery is now one of the citys top sights, leading visitors entertainingly through Scottish history by means of portraits of famous characters.

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Edinburgh Top Sights

Princes Street Gardens ( )

One of Britains most dramatically situated city parks, this garden lines a verdant valley between the spire-spiked skyline of the Old Town and ordered elegance of the New Town.