While They Golf · Lothian

Edinburgh for the non-golfer.

Edinburgh is the most obvious answer to "what will my partner do while I play golf". It is also, if you are honest about it, more than most visitors manage in a week. The city is compact enough to walk most of the significant things — Old Town, the Royal Mile, Holyrood — and varied enough that two people with completely different interests can each fill three days without overlap. The practical note for golf trips: most Edinburgh courses are 20–45 minutes from the city centre by car. This makes Edinburgh a workable base even for golfers playing East Lothian or Fife — the commute is manageable. The non-golfer gets a genuine city rather than a village. The thing most visitors underestimate: the walking in Edinburgh is harder than a flat map makes it look. The Old Town is built on a ridge; the New Town drops down the north face of it. Arthur's Seat is 250 metres above sea level and requires actual effort. Comfortable shoes are not optional.

Practical note

Edinburgh has park-and-ride facilities on all major entry routes (Ingliston, Sheriffhall, Newcraighall). The city centre is congested and parking is expensive — using the tram from Ingliston (near the airport) to the city centre is the recommended approach for full-day visits. Lothian Buses cover the city comprehensively. The Edinburgh Card (1-day or 2-day) covers many paid attractions and is worth doing the maths on before you buy.

The Picks

7 things to do within thirty minutes.

Edinburgh Castle

Top of the Royal Mile. HES; adult £19.50, child £11.70. Open daily year-round.

The Castle sits on an extinct volcanic plug 130 metres above the city — not metaphorically at the centre of Edinburgh, literally. The Scottish Crown Jewels (the Honours of Scotland) are here, older than anything in the Tower of London. The One O'Clock Gun fires daily at 1 pm; if you are on the Royal Mile and not expecting it, it is extremely loud. Queues are long in July and August; book online in advance.

Palace of Holyroodhouse & Holyrood Park

Bottom of the Royal Mile. Royal Collection Trust; adult £18. Arthur's Seat access free year-round.

The official Scottish residence of the monarch, at the foot of the Royal Mile opposite the Scottish Parliament. The State Apartments are formal but interesting; the ruined Holyrood Abbey is the highlight. Behind the palace, Holyrood Park is 263 acres of volcanic landscape — Arthur's Seat, Salisbury Crags, Dunsapie Loch — and the summit of Arthur's Seat is 1.5 miles from the palace gates, taking around an hour there and back at a relaxed pace.

National Museum of Scotland

Chambers Street, Old Town. Free. Open daily.

The best free museum in Scotland and one of the better free museums in Britain. Scottish history from the Iron Age to the present in the old building; world cultures, science, design, and technology in the Victorian and modern wings. Mary Queen of Scots' personal possessions, Dolly the sheep, a Bugatti Type 35. Budget four hours at minimum. The roof terrace has one of the better views of the Old Town skyline.

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Inverleith, 1.5 miles north of the city centre. Free admission to the garden; glasshouses charged. Open daily.

70 acres of garden on the north side of the city, established in 1670 and moved to its current site in 1821. The rock garden, the Chinese Hillside, and the glasshouse range covering tropical, temperate, and alpine environments. The café overlooks the main lawn with a view back to the Castle. Genuinely pleasant on a dry day; still pleasant, with the right attitude, in the rain.

The Shore, Leith

Leith waterfront, 2 miles north of city centre. Buses from Princes Street.

The former port district of Edinburgh, now a neighbourhood of converted warehouses, independent restaurants, and some of the best bars in the city. The Shore — the short stretch of road along the Water of Leith as it meets the docks — has a higher density of good food per square metre than almost anywhere else in Scotland. Lunch or dinner here is the correct use of an afternoon if the museums have been done.

Scottish National Gallery

The Mound, city centre. Free. Open daily.

The main collection of Scottish and international art from the 14th century to the early 20th, in a neoclassical building between the Old Town and the New Town. Rembrandts, Titians, Poussin. Scottish work from Ramsay and Raeburn through to the Glasgow Boys. Devotes a room to J.M.W. Turner's Scottish watercolours — the best place in Scotland to see them.

Cramond Village & Roman Fort

5 miles west of city centre via the A90. Free access year-round.

A village at the mouth of the River Cramond where it meets the Firth of Forth, with the remains of a Roman fort and bathhouse discovered in 1976. The causeway to Cramond Island is walkable at low tide (check tide tables — the island has stranded visitors). The walk west along the Forth estuary to Dalmeny estate is one of the better coastal walks within Edinburgh's reach.

For the golfer

Courses Edinburgh is the natural base for.

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