City Guide to Edinburgh, Scotland

City Guide to Edinburgh, Scotland

Outdoor


Park, garden, beach, non-sporting arena or grandstand.

Flotterstone Visitor Centre

Flotterstone Visitor Centre
Penicuik
Edinburgh EH26 0PP

Flotterstone Information Centre is located behind the Flotterstone Inn, off the A702, on the Eastern Side of the Regional Park.

Castle Street

Castle Street
Castle Street (between George St and Princes St)
Edinburgh EH2
Mobile bike boards on Castle Street

Central, pedestrianised street between George Street and Princes Street that is the location for street markets throughout the year.

Edinburgh's Ice Rink

Edinburgh's Ice Rink
Princes Street Gardens East Princes Street
Edinburgh EH1
Winter Wonderland ice rink

Edinburgh's Ice Rink (aka Winter Wonderland) is a temporary, outdoor ice rink set up in East Princes Street Gardens, during the course of Edinburgh's Christmas festivities (24th November - 3 January 2011, from 10am).

Holyrood Lodge

Holyrood Lodge
Holyrood Road
Edinburgh EH8 8HG

The ground floor of Holyrood Lodge is a public InformationCentre for Holyrood Park.

Princes Street Gardens

Princes Street Gardens
Princes Street
Edinburgh

Princes Street Gardens is a great swathe of greenspace that runs along the length of Princes Street in Central Edinburgh. The gardens, situated directly under Edinburgh Castle, in what was formerly the Nor' Loch, are intersected by a main road on the Mound and the mainline railway connecting to Waverley Station in the city centre.

Holyrood Park Education Centre

Holyrood Park Education Centre
1 Queens Drive
Edinburgh EH8 8HG

Educational facility and home of the Historic Scotland Ranger service.

Johnstone Terrace Garden

Johnstone Terrace Garden Edinburgh
Johnstone Terrace garden

Johnston Terrace Garden is tucked away at the top of the Patrick Geddes steps which run between Johnston Terrance and the Grassmarket, just 50 m from Edinburgh Castle Esplanade.

Inverleith Allotments

Inverleith Allotments
West Gate, East Fettes Avenue
Edinburgh EH4 1DN
Late Summer blooms in Inverleith Park allotments

Around 2.4 hectares, a quarter of Inverleith Park, has been converted into allotments.

Cramond Beach

Cramond Beach
Cramond
Edinburgh

Popular sandy beach to the North East of the city. Well connected by bike paths. When the tide is out you can walk to Cramond Island.

Belhaven Beach

Belhaven Beach Dunbar

Long, curving, sandy beach popular with surfers and walkers.

Gullane Bents

Gullane Bents Gullane
Gullane Bents from the car park (panorama)

Probably the most spectacular beach in East Lothian, Gullane is a long, sandy beach with an extensive, dune system covered in grass and buckthorn bush, within which you can shield yourself from the

Longniddry Beach

Longniddry Beach Longniddry

Long sandy and rocky beach near the small town of Longniddry just South East of Edinburgh. Popular with walkers, windsurfers and canoeists. Close to nature reserves with birds feeding at low tide.

Seton Sands

Seton Sands Longniddry

A windswept sandy beach just off the main road (B1348) to the South East of Edinburgh and downstream from Cockenzie power station.

Gorgie City Farm

Gorgie City Farm
51 Gorgie Road Gorgie
Edinburgh EH11 2LA

Much-loved working urban farm with lambs, pigs, chickens, quails, and a variety of crops.

Royal Observatory

Royal Observatory
Blackford Hill
Edinburgh EH9 3HJ

The main astronomy observatory, in the South of Edinburgh, distinguished by its distinctive copper domes atop Blackford Hill.

Parliament Square

Parliament Square
Royal Mile
Edinburgh EH1
St. Giles Cathedral on Edinburgh's Royal Mile

Large open, cobbled square in Old Town conservation area on the Royal Mile.  Parliament Square is named after parliament house which was built in 1641 and was used by the Scottish parliament u

Pentland Hills Regional Park

Pentland Hills Regional Park
Dusk in the Pentlands

The 11 mile by 6 mile Pentland Hills Regional Park, established on 22 October 1984, stretches from the City Bypass in the North (the southernwest reaches of Edinburgh), to the Borders Region in the

Scottish Seabird Centre

The Harbour North Berwick EH39 4SS

Modern wildlife observation and educational building on a rocky outcrop overlooking the windswept, sandy beaches of North Berwick. The charity has interactive cameras, boat trips to nearby island bird sancturies, a gift Shop and Cafe.

Portobello Beach

Portobello Beach
Portobello Central James Street
Portobello Edinburgh

One of the chief attractions of Portobello, to the East of Edinburgh City Centre, is the sea and a wide sandy beach - with a long, classic Victorian promenade and old-world waterfront that harks b

RGBE - Off Inverleith House Lawn

RGBE Inverleith House Lawn
Nr Inverleith Row/Arboretum Place
Edinburgh EH3 5LR
Botanic Garden, Edinburgh

A central spot in the 70-acre Royal Botanic Garden. The lawn is in front of the terrace cafe, and Inverleith House. Two famous art commissions are installed near the lawn: eco-artist Andy Goldworthy's trademark slate cone and Ian Hamilton Finlay's neo-classical sundial which includes the Little Sparta artist's concrete poetry "“Umbra solis non aeris” ("The shadow of the sun and not of the bronze").