Edinburgh

Walking

Urban walks.

Edinburgh is a very sprawling city - the centre is divided in two by the large Princes Street Gardens, and also has large blocks of land given over to monuments and administrative buildings such as the Scottish Parliament. As a result you will likely either have to walk a fair way or take a bus to get anywhere. The whole of the city is also extremely hilly - with the old town divided over two levels with South Bridge passing over Cowgate at around the fifth floor level. The main sights of are along Princes Street and the Royal Mile, so if you want to plan a simple walk, get a map and make sure you take in these two roads. There is very little need to plan however - the whole of central Edinburgh is quite picturesque and covered in worthwhile sights, so you could just wonder around until you are bored or tired.

Slightly more adventurous are the walks alongside the canal, which runs from Fountainbridge in the west of the town centre for around 4 miles (before it is cut off by a large and rather unpleasant estate). Passing below the canal at Slateford is the Water of Leith, which runs along an extremely winding path past Haymarket and the Modern Art Gallery before ending up on the waterfront at Leith. There is a tarmaced path alongside this for almost the whole distance, with clearly marked signs directing you along the stretches where you need to take the road. Both of these options are better in spring than high summer, since there can be quite a lot of midges.

Countryside walking.

If you just want to walk in greenery for a couple of hours the easiest thing to do is go up Arthur's seat. This is an impressive and slightly challenging hill surrounded by parkland right in the town centre. Alternatively Blackford hill, which is around 3 miles south of the centre below Morningside is a reasonably sized park/nature reserve with a hill that is a comfortable climb and gives a good view over Edinburgh. The Royal Observatory is also located here. Finally, Corstophine Hill is about 3 miles west of the centre in Corstophine (half the buses heading west down Princes Street go through here - see the route diagrams at bus stops). This is a fairly large park area and hill with well-marked paths and facilities for sports like mountain-boarding.

If you want to do some serious walking near Edinburgh, head out to the Pentland Hills for the day. The easiest way to get there is to catch a Lothian bus to Penicuik and walk from there. There are various trails marked out around the hills, but it is quite easy to get an Ordance Survey map of the area (from most large bookshops) and just wonder around.