Edinburgh Activities

Worth getting out of bed for

Viewpoint

Head up Calton Hill on the steep staircase from Waterloo Place (it will take about five minutes, or you can drive up and park) and watch the sun setting behind the Castle. Or, for a somewhat wilder vantage point, climb the haunches of Arthur’s Seat, an extinct volcano resembling a crouching lion in Holyrood Park, to the east of the castle.

Arts and culture

The National Gallery of Scotland (www.nationalgalleries.org) has treasures for all tastes, from Titian to Monet; the Modern Art Galleries and National Portrait Gallery (www.nationalgalleries.org) show artists from Barbara Hepworth to Rachel Whiteread. For contemporary theatre, the Traverse has a great reputation (www.traverse.co.uk). The City Art Centre houses about 3,500 works of Scottish art, from watercolours to tapestries. All aboard – take a tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia and you’ll get a peek at the Queen’s bedroom, as well as her on-board Rolls-Royce (www.royalyachtbritannia.co.uk).

Something for nothing

Edinburgh’s Royal Botanical Gardens is one of the best in the world, and contains over six per cent of all known species of plant (www.rbge.org.uk). Doors Open Day, every September, offers entry into historic buildings (www.cockburnassociation.org.uk). The city has almost two dozen golf courses, but Bruntsfield Links on Melville Drive is the only 36 short-hole public course that’s free to play on, provided you bring your own clubs. If you haven’t packed yours, hire them from the bar at the nearby Golf Tavern (www.thegolftavern.co.uk).

Shopping

For luxury labels, head for Multrees Walk on St Andrew’s Square (www.the-walk.co.uk), home to Harvey Nichols, Louis Vuitton, Giorgio Armani et al. For vintage finds, second-hand emporium WM Armstrong and Sons on the Grassmarket (+44 (0)131 220 5557) does a neat line in kilts and cashmere. For iconic wee gifties, cruise the Old Town’s specialist shops for Highland dress and bags of deliciously crumbly Edinburgh rock. For whisky, visit Royal Mile Whiskies on the High Street.

Daytripper

Go west along the M8, and you’ll reach Glasgow in around an hour. Head east to explore the Lothian coast (www.visiteastlothian.org); Dunbar offers Scotland best surf; a walk along the beach at Musselburgh can be topped off with a knickerbocker glory from Luca’s, the high street’s historic ice-cream parlour (+44 (0)131 665 2237). Or for a day in the country, drive into Perthshire and scale a Highland peak, a practice known as Munro-bagging (www.perthshire.co.uk). Schielhallion, some 60 miles northwest of Edinburgh, is a good starter option, offering a six-mile trek. It’s always tee-time in St Andrew’s, the Fife coastal town with six public golf courses (www.visit-standrews.co.uk).

Perfect picnic

Princes Street Gardens offer peerless views of the castle and is the best place to lay your rug in the city centre. Follow Edinburgh’s food cognoscenti and pick up your supplies from iconic deli Valvona & Crolla on Elm Row (+44 (0)131 556 6066).

Walks

Edinburgh is a compact town and, despite the odd steep gradient, it’s just the right size for getting about on foot. Make a day of it by taking the Water of Leith walkway – a public footpath and cycleway. Start at Balerno High School and follow the signs under the Union Canal, all the way (12 miles) to Leith waterfront (www.youredinburgh.info).

Children

If the castle and the zoo (www.edinburghzoo.org.uk) haven’t worn them out, Our Dynamic Earth should (www.dynamicearth.co.uk). Its fun, interactive themed sections cover dinosaurs, volcanoes, fossils, time travel, the oceans, outer space, polar extremes and rainforests, so there isn’t a childhood obsession that isn’t touched upon.

Activities

Play with a bird of prey at Dalhousie (www.falconryscotland.co.uk), a 700-year-old castle seven miles from Edinburgh. By-appointment visitors are taught to handle falcons, hawks, owls and eagles... mind the fingers. Or take to the skies yourself: buzz the city and swoop along the Forth bridges on a thrilling tour with Lothian Helicopters (www.lothianhelicopters.co.uk). Take a champagne hot-air balloon flight over breathtaking cityscape and countryside in summer, with Alba Ballooning (+44 (0)131 667 4251; www.albaballooning.co.uk). Need to burn off some calories after indulging in too much haggis? Cycle 30 miles along the Union Canal towpath from Port Hopetoun to ride the Falkirk Wheel, a futuristic rotating boat lift that connects two waterways over a basin drop (www.thefalkirkwheel.co.uk); you can, of course, drive there.

And...

Leith, the city docks, is an up-and-coming part of town, with some great fish restaurants. The Secret Bunker is a nuclear shelter hidden under a farm for years (www.secretbunker.co.uk).